Repairing Redwood in the Courtyard
November 12, 2014Over the last few days, Dasan Mahadevan has been working tirelessly to repair the termite-damaged pillars in the monastery's courtyard. The courtyard is where the monks have lunch everyday and much of it's woodwork dates back to the early 1900's. The redwood pillars suffered termite damage to their surfaces long...
A New Laser Printer
November 12, 2014Recently, the Pillayar Kulam received and installed their new laser printer. For a number of years, the kulam has been using a smaller laser printer primarily to cut and etch wooden products for the Mini Mela gift shop. This new laser printer can cut much thicker, broader and longer pieces,...
Our Visit to Kailash Ashram
November 12, 2014[Seeking forgiveness for the typing here, as the post was composed on an Indian road in sometimes wild traffic] The family gathers at dawn in the shrine room for a short tutorial by Yoginathaswami, who gives them detailed insights into the Atmarta Puja which they perform each day as part...
Wingbeans and Double Digging
November 11, 2014With the extra help from taskforcers and karma yogis, the Siddidatta Kulam has been making steady progress in a variety of areas, including the upper and lower gardens. On Sun 1, the team did their weekly upkeep of the garden and then proceeded to weed the wingbean fence, which has...
Siddhaganga Mutt
November 11, 2014The Rajasankara family has a beautiful shrine room which follows Gurudeva's ideals: a central room decorated better than any other in the home, kept pure and immaculately clean. They asked Yoginathaswami to hold the morning atmarta puja, which he did for two days. There were leisurely moments each day for...
Bengaluru Worksite
November 10, 2014The Rajasankar family came out to greet us as we arrived in Bengaluru, welcoming us with loving smiles and flowers. Off to their home which is the headquarters for Iraivan carving here in India. After an arati by Yoginathaswami, we feasted on real food, which is ontologically different from hotel...
Outing to Kokee
November 10, 2014Over the three day retreat, Senthilnathaswami and Nilakanthanatha took our three taskforcers Adi, Vel and Roshan, and our upakurvana, Sivarathna, on an outing to the other side of Kauai. While the east side of the island is lush and green, the west side is much dryer. The group traveled to...
Worksite & the Mutt
November 9, 2014We began or first morning in Bengaluru with a meeting with long-time journalist R. Kesava Mallia who has written for Hinduism Today since 2002. It was only our second meeting in all those years, and much was discussed about articles for the future. He is a life-coach for major Indian...