Following that, everyone did their namaskarams to the gurus, final aarathi was carried out by two sumangalis, and everyone assembled finally sat down to have mahaprasadam. This was done with everyone seated in several rows, while a main paduka puja to Aiya and Amma happened at the front. After doing a small Kamadhenu puja and a puja to his own gurus (pictured left), Aiya watched his students perform their own paduka pujas to him. Guru Poornima, July 22 Aiya and Amma arrived at the temple in the late afternoon on this day and joined the procession welcoming them inside. The temple’s children and young adults organized and ran the Lord Dattatreya puja and chariot festival on the Sunday. The deities went around in procession on each day of this festival, and everyone in attendance was welcomed to participate. Hundreds of people filed through the temple over this long weekend, including busloads on the Saturday. Past Events Alankara Utsavam, June 28 - July 1 In addition to the Ganapathi festival on the Friday, the Chandi homam and chariot on Saturday, and the Dattatreya/Guru puja on the Sunday, we added the Bhairava Madai on the Monday to round out this exciting and jampacked festival. A few spots are still available, but you must contact as soon as possible! The annual India Yatra is scheduled again over Christmas break 2013, with a special puja to Aiya to happen shortly afterwards. Also, please contact if you did not receive an e-mail with a new password. If you’re not receiving temple e-mails, please register your e-mail address again on the new website. The temple has a new website! It is still at the same address of and your old log-ins and donation/sponsorship information are still effective. In the meantime, it was Shankar aiya who very ably ran the Aadi Puram festival Aug. 6th but left later that day to catch a flight to India. Soon afterwards, Aiya presided over theĪadi Amavasya puja on Aug. Our own camp, Vibhuti Saivaite Immersion, took place the week of July 27th to Aug. After Guru Poornima on the 22nd, Aiya educated the second group of kids who visited from Hindu Heritage camp on the 23rd. The evening of the 21st saw the Sashti-abdhapurthi of Mohan Kamat at the temple. On Sunday July 21st, Aiya and Amma participated in the food service at a local Rochester shelter in honour of Guru Poornima the next day. and involved over 12 hours of chanting and homams, followed by several more hours of bhajans. He went to Toronto on July 14th to conduct another wedding, but was back in Rochester before the 18th for his 70th birthday celebrations. Heritage camp visited the temple and Aiya was there to receive them. On the evening of July 9th, the first batch of kids from the Hindu The following week, Aiya and Amma were at the Scarborough Sai Centre to do the annual Paduka Puja and homam, with Lord Krishna as the main deity this year.
The annual alankara festival was held from June 28th to July 1 on a grand scale.
Yet another six days later on the 23rd, Aiya performed the wedding of Shinthujan. Five days later on the 17th, he presided over the wedding of Srinidhi and Ananth. Upon his return to the States, Aiya conducted a wedding on June 12th, that of Vinita who has performed many a classical dance program at temple festivals.
From June 1 to the 10th, Aiya was in Singapore doing house pujas, workshops, and homams for the various devotees in the area. September Newsletter Since the last issue.
The Source of the Cosmos The Journal of the Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam, Rush, NY