In 2020, while deeply immersed in Siva’s consciousness and reading my Gurudeva’s teachings, I felt a powerful intuition and desire to build a temple for our beloved Lord Siva. I remembered a vivid memory from my 4th standard in 1989. During a school break, I visited a Maariamman temple near my school, where a wealthy man was sharing with the gathering that Devi had appeared in his dream, urging him to renovate the temple. As a curious child, I wondered: how could a god or goddess appear in a dream? And how could someone act on a dream?
Fast forward to 2020, when Gurudeva emphasized that the purpose of our human birth is to realize the Self and that devotees, whenever they are able, often build temples as an offering. This resonated deeply, filling my heart with a sense of duty and devotion to create a space for Lord Siva.
As a family, we decided to set aside Rs. 10 lakhs in 2020, keeping it as a fixed deposit for this temple initiative. At that time, we were also considering moving to Coimbatore and exploring land options. Unfortunately, many landowners insisted on cash transactions to evade taxes, which went against our Guru’s teachings of not supporting black money. Following his guidance, we looked only for genuine opportunities. By 2022, we chose to abandon the idea of buying land. Building a temple requires both a sincere heart and genuine means, and we did not wish to accumulate bad karma. We ultimately decided to use the budget for other divine projects instead.
Around this time, we met sthapathi (temple architect) who had worked closely with Gurudeva and shared many inspiring stories about our spiritual lineage. The Iraivan Temple in Kauai was nearing completion, and Kulapathi informed us of an opportunity to sponsor a golden earring for Nandhi Bhagavan in Iraivan Temple. The cost was Rs. 4 lakhs, and as a family, we chose to sponsor this project. We received a heartfelt message from the Paramacharya of Kauai Aadheenam, which deeply moved us.
A few months after sponsoring the earring, I felt a strong intuition to make a pilgrimage to the Kadavul Temple in Kauai and to perform Siva Thondu (selfless service) there. All arrangements were made, and Swami generously sponsored my 9-day stay. I am deeply grateful to the Swamis and my family for supporting this pilgrimage. However, as the travel date approached, Kulapathi Jiva, who was supposed to carry the golden earring and other important puja items, faced a visa issue and could not travel. These items included a small Nandhi idol that needed to reach the temple soon.
In a divine turn of events, Nandhi Bhagavan blessed me with the opportunity to carry the golden earring and other puja items to Kauai. I felt honored and blessed to deliver these sacred items to our beloved Satguru Bodhinatha.
This completes Part 1 of my journey to build a Sivalayam for Lord Siva. Part 2 brought more divine surprises, which I look forward to sharing soon.
