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Beginning the evening ascent up to the hillside temple

A view of the temple (in the background behind the hall) just before dusk

Shishaya wait at the base of the steps to warmly greet our swamis

Greeting Shivacharya at the top

The view of the town from the temple at night is quite lovely

Paramacharya is seated to give an upadesha to everyone

The temple’s hereditary manager introduces the monks

Aum Saravanabhavaya Namah

Vel Muruga!

Recently while in Mauritius, Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami and Sannyasin Tillainathaswami traveled to Quatre Bornes for an evening event at the Mayil Kovil there, which resides upon the nearby Corps-de-Garde hillside. Upon arriving in the evening, our swamis led the march up the lengthy stairway to the temple. Several hundred people were in attendance. After being greeted by the resident Shivacharya, the group circumambulated the temple and then stepped inside for worship at the main shrines, concluding with an arati to Lord Murugan. Paramacharya was then asked to give and upadesha to everyone. He discussed many of the joys and strengths of Hinduism, as well as provided advice for handling the encroachment from other religions, while including some stories about the advice that Gurudeva had given many years ago to crowds in Sri Lanka. Aum.

A song-filled welcome to the swamis from Hawaii.

At the Sivalingam Mandapam

Rohit chants the mantras.

With the river behind, Nandi gets a bath of milk.

And sandalwood.

Then flower decorations and final arati.

Nandi’s importance is shared with a large crowd.

Shining from His oil bath, H seems happy with the special rudraksha mala brought from Kauai for the occasion.

We go back a month to the arrival and installation.

Hard working team makes it happen.

A stone is selected as the foundation.

Early in the Mauritius mission, Sadasivanathaswami and Tillainathaswami were enthusiastically paraded through the Spiritual Park to the Sivalingam Mandapam. The path became a river of devotion, alive with sweet chants, flower petals, and a palpable, loving welcome from all present.

They were headed to a sacred consecration abhishekam for the newly arrived Nandi, recently brought from India. After an arati to the 9-foot-tall Panchaganapati who presides over the Park, the procession continued another 100 feet to the Sivalingam Mandapam.

There, Paramacharya offered an arati to Lord Siva and was then invited to bathe the newly installed Nandi murti with milk, sandalwood paste, and other sacred offerings. He had brought with him a small vial of holy water preserved from the 2023 abhishekam of Mahalingeshvara in Kauai, which was affectionately poured over Nandi.

A short talk followed, celebrating Nandi’s unwavering, joyous focus on God Siva and Gurudeva’s call to each of us to fill both our spiritual and daily life with the presence of Siva and the constant protection of the parampara. We also show a few installation photos at the end of the slideshow.

A group photo at the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon

Exploring the lotus and lily pond at Kew Gardens

The glass structure is the palm green house, which is well over 100 years old. They will soon rebuild it in the same style.

Inside reminds us of Kauai. Our tour guide talks palms with Paramacharya

Outside are many varieties of happy roses

some amazing trees here as well

Off to the cacti and succulent greenhouse

there’s even a baobab tree in the middle

easy to miss all the amazing little life forms

Satsang at the Santhirapala home

The following day’s visit to the British Museum’s special India exhibit

An explanation from one of the exhibit’s creators

The next day’s visit to the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon

Some expertly sung natchintanai from the temple’s oduvar

London was the next stop for Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami and Sannyasin Tillainathaswami on their way to Mauritius. They had a wonderful time there, hosted by members and enjoying a few of London’s unique experiences. On their first full day there, they went on an outing to Kew Gardens, exploring the many plants. They got some good ideas for small additions and improvements to our sacred gardens around Iraivan Temple on Kauai. In the evening was a satsang at the Santhirapala home. After natchintanai singing from members, Paramacharya gave an inspiring presentation on managing one’s karma and on the mystical insights of Tayumanivar, while presenting some of the Tayumanivar songs that we’ve had recorded for our website.

The following day, members brought our monks into central London to enjoy a special exhibit at the British museum, featuring artwork, architecture and ancient murtis from all across the Indian subcontinent. One of the exhibits creators kindly gave a special introduction to our monks, explaining a bit about the informative experience they were trying to achieve. On the final day in London, our monks visited the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon. They enjoyed brief worship followed by a satsang at the temple’s Yogaswami shrine. The group included several staunch Yogaswami devotees, most of whom had met the Lion of Lanka when they were young. Aum.

Jai Ganesha!

A few days ago, the same roofing team that worked on Kadavul Temple completed the roofing for the side shrines of Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga. Both roofs were previously in poor condition, but they now look significantly improved—cleaner, neater, and much more presentable. Aum.

Our swamis enjoying some artwork (a Van Gogh to be precise) in New York

Manhattan skyline as seen from our plane

Walking trough the Indian section with the Tanzi family

Jai!

Sekhmet, the Egyptian Durga, as far as we can tell

We noticed these conches, as we’re currently editing an article about conch carving in Hinduism Today

Must be a Chinese Muruga right?

Off into the forests the next day for a walk

fairy houses everywhere

Aum Namah Sivaya

Our traveling monks have been making several stops along the way to Mauritius. After they left the Bay Area, they spent a few nights on the East Coast and took a quick journey over to Manhattan to enjoy some of the classic New York experience. The Tanzi family met them at the MET, and everyone enjoyed exploring the towering marbled halls of this world-renowned museum. Apart from the 3000 year old Greek statues, Egyptian sarcophagi and some of the world’s most famous paintings (including a few of Monet’s water lilies!), there was a wonderful display of ancient Indian murtis in both metal and stone. Some of them still had some notable shakti to them, especially Ganesha.

The next day, while waiting for their evening flight to the UK, our monks went to a nearby trail outside of the Newark area to get some much-appreciated time in nature. The trail is known as the Fairy Trail, and features countless little fairy houses to be discovered around every turn. It seems to be a place that families love to bring their young children, as well as a place artists enjoy. There must have been about 20 painters around the trail, each settled down to canvas a different fairy abode. Aum.