Divine friends, welcome to Skanda Vale on this most auspicious day in our calendar. This reunion of Shiva and Shakti in the form of Valli, Devani and Lord Subramanium is the

beginning and the end of our year. This is when we renew our mandate as a community to serve God, to obey God, to do everything in our power to uphold Dharma, to uphold the will of God.

This year has been most extraordinary; who would have thought that we would have had police breaking into our Temple and that one of our bulls here would become the fo-cal point of an international story that has travelled around the world.

Of course this year we have also seen the bodily departure of our beloved Guruji. Many of you are fortunate enough to know him; many of you didn’t know him and will wonder who this extraordi-nary personality was who es-tablished such a unique place from nothing.

Divine friends, we are all on the same journey, slowly evolv-ing, given a human incarnation as a boon from God, in order that we can slowly pay our karma and come to realise that we are also Divine by nature, part of the nature of Almighty God. One day, maybe in this incarnation, maybe in twenty incarnations, you will have completed that journey; you will have paid your karma, you will have come to realise that your nature is the nature of God. Guruji was such a human being, a soul who many incarnations ago completed that journey. For such a human being to take birth is a very unique, a very special event because he didn’t have to; unlike the rest of us still attached to the cycle of birth and death and rebirth until

we have completed our journey. Guruji was brought to us on a different basis, to do a special job, given a mandate on behalf of Almighty God to do a job of work. And he did that job. He completed it. He fulfilled what the Lord required him to do, perfectly. Not a string was left untied, every ‘ i ’ was dot-ted and every ‘ t ’ crossed. He completed his mandate to serve God and establish Dharma here in the western world and then it was time for him to go.

Divine friends, many people don’t understand what a real Guru means. He was born with a different relationship with his physical body than you or I have. His body was there as a vehicle to serve God. He was never involved in it or attached to it in the way that normal human beings are. What does it mean to be a Guru? It means absorbing karma. Exactly the same as Christ, Guruji came to earth fully conscious that his body was going to pay karma. When he gave a blessing, when he gave Shakti to his devotees he was absorbing part of that karmic burden from that human being to make their journey, their path of evolution easier. What is that karma? Karma means suffering and we experienced that in Guru-ji’s life, throughout this last year and ultimately to his death about one month ago. Karma means suffering and his physi-cal body had to pay that debt of other people’s karma, whereas the rest of humanity is still struggling to slowly identify with their Divinity. There came a point last year where Guruji’s Paramatma withdrew from his physical body, because in or-der for that karma to be paid his body had to suffer, had to go through pain and discomfort and hardship. For those of us caring for him, it was an amazing experience, because in looking after him, in caring for his bodily needs and mak-ing sure he was as comfortable as possible, you felt that you

were looking after the whole of humanity from whom he had taken karma. Surrounding him was an immense vibration of love, an immense power, and that power is still here with us. Where is Guruji now? He is bigger than the night sky, he is smaller than a grain of sand. The liberated human being is part of the universality of Divine consciousness. He has a very special place in the heart of a human being who has love. If you have love, then Guruji will reside inside you. No, love then you will never know who he was, you will never know God. God is love.

Many people have asked: when are you going to appoint the new Guru? Who is he going to be? But our Guru was a revolutionary amongst Gurus, because instead of establishing a community and a monastery, where he was the focal point of everyman’s attention, he never did that. Instead he stepped back and said: “No, you worship God. Don’t come to me, you link with God directly yourself. I am just the traffic cop di-recting humanity to identify themselves with God.” And it is because he did that, Divine friends, that this community is very strong, that this community will go forward in the same consciousness that Guruji revealed to us. If he had, and he could have done, made himself the king-pin of the commu-nity, we would now be running around in circles like headless chickens wondering what to do without him. But that was not the Lord’s will. Who is the head of the community? God is the head of the community. We can put an advert in the Carmarthen Journal advertising for a new Guru: “A monastic community has lost its Guru. We need a new one. Must be very good looking. Must be very charismatic. Must have a lot of experience. Must have boundless, immense love. Must be able to give Shakti to everyone who wants it. Must be able to take karma from the people who entrust their lives to him.”

Divine friends, human beings don’t make Gurus. Gurus are made by God. Guru is God. He is present here with us. If you have love, he is always with you.

Discourse given by Swami Brahmananda during the reunion of Lord Subramanium, Valli and Devani

Lord Ranganatha

Guruji has a very special place in the hearts of the

those who have love

The community is very much now like the image you see of Das Avatar. The Lord is depicted with many facets and many arms, many weapons. All of the members of the com-munity are different facets of the embodiment of God, work-ing harmoniously with a common aim, not for ourselves; but for the benefit of the community, for the benefit of the ob-jectives of the community, which is to establish Dharma, to serve God, to uphold the will of God. Here we have an administrative sys-tem of the Council of Swamis who come together regularly, who meet to make decisions, but no human be-ing is indispensable here, never will be, because this community is about God. It is not about human beings.

Your focal point in your life must be to establish a link directly with God. You don’t need a Swami or a priest or a Guru to do that on your behalf. You have to do it yourself. And that is the age that we live in now.

Many of you will have seen the drama that was enacted here in Skanda Vale just last Thursday when we had hundreds of police officers breaking into our temple and taking Shambo the bull out. And this was televised around the globe. It was an amazing drama that we all witnessed. All the media and all the newspa-pers couldn’t understand why we in the community were not troubled by anything. It was not traumatic, it was not frightening because we were worshipping God and we were insu-lated from any negative reaction by the grace of God. It was an amazing enactment of Dharma being fulfilled.

Shambo himself is like a bovine Christ and has become this amazing icon representing what the power of God is about for people, they will be talking about him for months and years to come. For us it’s already like a distant memory. It’s gone, it’s an illusion. You think your life in the world is some-thing real, but it’s impermanent. This physical world we live in is just a reflection of the reality of God. So don’t be at-

tached to it. As sure as you have been born, you also will die. Nothing that you have can you take with you. Only when you learn to love, when you learn what compassion is, what un-derstanding is, what service to God means, then you have an opportu-nity to break out of this trap of birth and rebirth. The drama we saw with Shambo was in some ways the most amusing thing that we experienced. The police officers had never en-countered anything like this before, they did not know whether to arrest us or give us a cup of tea, because they were expecting violence and ag-gression. There was none of it. We were all very charming and smiling and they carried us off one by one. They were doing their duty. Their allegiance is to the police force. The same for the animal health officers, they were doing their duty because their allegiance is to the government. We were doing our duty because our allegiance is to God. And because we were steadfast in that allegiance, because we didn’t falter, there have been no consequences, only immense grace, immense joy. I dread to think what we will be talking about in one

because we weresteadfast in our

allegiance to God, there have been noconsequences, only

immense grace and joy

year’s time, if all this has happened at Skanda Vale in just one year. It is the Lord’s will that the activities of this community have suddenly become a global phenomenon. And we have to work very hard to make sure that the values and conscious-ness set out by Guruji in his life are upheld.

Divine friends, you must play a part in that. Never allow anybody in this community to devalue what we have now, the highest embodiment of the consciousness of God. People long to experience God, they long to know what love is. Don’t be involved in semantics and philosophies. God is real. That is what Skanda Vale is here to show people. Not a figment of imagination, it’s not a concept that you can take or leave and say I am a believer or I am not a believer, or I am a Hindu or a Christian or an Atheist – it does not matter. Divine friends, you are part of the nature of God whether you believe it or like it or not, you rely on God for every breath you take. We

live in a world where people have lost the consciousness of what life is about and we have to reinstate that in people’s consciousness. Nowadays everyone is talking about climate change and global warming – this is one facet of life where people are realising we have to come to terms with our rela-tionship with God. And the sanctity of life is another facet of that. A revolution is taking place. Enjoy every minute of that revolution. If you are connected with God you will see the funny side of it. Don’t take life too seriously.

I don’t want to delay you too long because I know we had a late start today. We are now going to chant the 108 names of Lord Subramanium and then we will carry the palanquin back to the temple where the Lord and his two Shaktis will be installed in the Gopurum for another year. Please join us in that. May the grace of God go with you today. Thank you. Bless you. Swami Brahmananda

Without exception, all of life is sacred and part of the nature of Almighty God. For every life force birth is a grace from God, an opportu-nity to pay off karma accumulated during the

process of evolution in the journey to achieve perfection, the realisation of the Universality of God. Only God can give life and only God has the right to end life.

To nurture and care for life is to serve God. In helping to save life we are extending the opportunity for that life to pay off karma and evolve towards realising its Divinity. When we are able to identify with and in some degree help alleviate the suffering, distress and hardship of others we are able to express our love for God. The expression of this selfless love through action is karma yoga.

Karma yoga, together with Bhakti yoga - union with God through devotion - forms the basis of Lord Krishna’s teach-ings in the Bhagavad-Gita. Through ap-plying these teachings in our lives we slowly come to realise our Divinity and that everything is part of the nature of God. Skanda Vale is founded upon these teachings of Sanathana Dharma - the timeless consciousness of God - and throughout his life Gu-ruji, as founder and spiritual head of the community, taught by example. For him life was simple; he had such love for God that he took every opportunity to serve God.

Skanda Vale is based in a predominantly agricultural area of West Wales. Most of the farms in the area are livestock farms where animals are bred for either meat or for the production of milk. For farmers these animals are primarily a commod-ity, when an animal reaches the end of its useful commercial life then it is generally slaughtered and a replacement animal purchased. For cattle, the average commercial life is two years if bred for meat, four to five years if bred for milk production. In contrast a cow left to live its full natural lifespan often lives well into its twenties.

Guruji would often travel to local farm sales and auctions with a view to purchasing cattle or birds that would otherwise be slaughtered. The animals would then be given a home for the full extent of their natural lives at the Temple and cared for by the members of the community. It was at one such sale in September 2000 that the lives of four six year old milking cows were saved and they joined our family at Skanda Vale. One of the cows, Shivani, was heavily pregnant and in January 2001 a beautiful black male calf was born and Guruji named him Shambo (one of Lord Shiva’s names, the bringer of Joy).

Shambo grew up happily with other members of our herd. In December 2004 during a routine skin test for Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB), he reacted inconclusive. We were aware that on commercial farms, if an animal tested positive to bTB (a reactor) then it would be slaughtered and the farmer would receive financial compensation for the value of the animal. We understood this policy was an economic solution applicable for the commercial farmer

whose livestock or milk entered the food chain. It was very unlikely that any farmer would go to the trouble and expense involved in isolating and caring for an infected animal. Our circumstances however were wholly different, for us all life is sacred and contains Paramatma, a spark of Divinity; the thought of one of our family being slaughtered was abhorrent. We immediately wrote to DEFRA - the government organi-sation responsible for bTB testing and policy - to express our concern and confirm that none of our animals ever entered the food chain. We also confirmed that in accordance with our spiritual values and tradition it was our duty to go to any length and expense in providing facilities and veterinary care for any of our animals that may become ill. To our dismay, DEFRA replied that whilst they acknowledged our position, it was policy to slaughter any animal confirmed as reacting to the bTB skin test.

We offered the situation to the Divine Mother and her instruction was for us to immediately seek specialised legal advice because the fundamental issue was about DEFRA infringing the right of the community to practice and ob-serve our religious duty in caring and treating our animals. In addition to this Devi instructed us to protect Shambo if threatened with slaughter by housing him in the main Tem-ple. Bindmans solicitors, one of the countries foremost hu-man rights solicitors was engaged to represent us. They

wrote to the government reminding them of the discretion available to the minister responsi-

ble, enshrined within the Animal Health Act, not to slaughter and also of their duty under Article 9 of the Human Rights act not to act in a way that

would constitute an infringement on our right to practice our religion. DEFRA were invited to agree a proportionate response without resorting to slaughter that would pro-tect animal and public health whilst respecting our right to practice and observe our religion. The government failed to offer a substantive

all of life is sacred and part of

the nature of Almighty God

The Drama of the Dharma

Shivani

response and fortunately Shambo passed his retest in April 2005 which temporarily put the matter to rest.

As we moved into 2007, the most amazing Divine Drama began unfolding. Guruji had perfectly prepared the commu-nity for his ultimate physical withdrawal and yet the process of that withdrawal taught us so much. Guruji incarnated as an emissary of the Lord for the purpose of re-establishing Dharma. His life was totally surrendered to God; his whole being was the instrument of the Divine. No human being who incarnates is exempt from the paying of karma, how-ever, wherever he was able to, through the grace and Shakti of God, Guruji removed some of the burden of karma from an individual helping to ease their burden and move them forward on their journey to realise their Divinity.

The part of the karma Guruji took did not disappear, he wore it. To pay off karma is to suffer, not just physically, but with every part of ones being. In Gurujis own words, “I love to suffer because I love God”

As time progressed in order that the karma could be worn, Guruji’s Divinity, his Paramatma withdrew from his body. However the Divine Mother also took this opportunity to use Guruji as her instrument in a remarkable way. In sometimes the most outrageous and imaginative circumstances possible Devi used Guruji to teach members of the community about themselves and the nature of God. Through our experiences the narrow concept we had of God was blown away and we began to perceive the limitless extent of the Divine. Just prior to Mahasivaratri Guruji moved from his apartment above Devi’s Temple to the hospice in Saron. He had always been concerned never to die in the precincts of the Temple and it became an immense privilege for him to be the first in care patient at the hospice.

In March, members of the community led the Kiental Seminar in Switzerland. It was the first time that Guruji had not attended the annual seminar and for many, the reality of his imminent death began to strike home. It was a wake up call to begin to apply the years of teaching received from Gu-ruji, to use the vast treasure house of knowledge imparted by him to advance every one of ourselves in our relationship with God and to begin to share that knowledge and wealth of

experience with others.Upon returning from the seminar,

the Swamis of the community were inspired to begin preparations to consecrate Guruji’s Samadhi. For

many years Guruji had indicated the location of his Samadhi, just above the tree line at the top of the deer pen on the route between the Maha Shakti Temple and the Murugan Temple. He had specified that he was to be buried, his body had been continually occupied by the Divine during the course of his life and would serve as an intense source of spiritual power benefiting many generations of pilgrims. The most important part of the preparation was the consecration of the ground. The exact location was pinpointed and the site excavated ready for a yagam. During the course of the full moon poojas many special ingredients were prepared and given power. On the 2nd April, the full moon itself, Heramba Ganapathy led the procession from the Maha Shakti Temple. Each of the Swamis in turn carried the Lord to the Samadhi site. The area around the site was protected by an immense power and the yagam began. There was an overwhelming presence of the Divine, it appeared that so many facets of God became manifest as well as many Devas and other representatives of

the Lord. As soon as the yagam cooled the devotees present had an opportunity to place a small sym-

bolic item in a casket as an expression of their love and gratitude to Guruji. Whilst intense chanting and singing of bhajan, the casket to-gether with the one prepared by the Swamis containing the most sacred items was care-

fully placed directly on top of the centre of the yagam. It was an opportunity to also include

in the casket sacred items that had belonged to the two founding sisters of the community, sis-ter Topsy and sister Annabel who had dedicated their lives for the future success of Guruji’s work

at Skanda Vale. There then followed several hours of pouring concrete onto the area

to seal in and protect the newly con-secrated site.

Shortly after the consecration Shambo was to again be-come our focus. In February he had tested inconclusive on the bTB test, we had immediately engaged our solicitors as a pre-caution and sought the advice of our own veterinary surgeon as to how we could effectively isolate and treat him if he were to react positive to a retest and go on to develop symptoms of the disease. Subsequently, when the state vet announced Shambo was a reactor, it did not strike us as such a surprise; it very much appeared that the Divine was intent on pursuing this particular drama. Through our solicitors intense efforts were made to engage with the animal health authorities to find a solution, for we knew that once a slaughter notice was issued the government would find it difficult to withdraw it. Unfortunately those efforts where not reciprocated.

As time quickly progressed Devi inspired us to take the precaution of ordering materials to make a home for Shambo in the Temple. On May 3rd we received the slaughter notice. The whole community swung into action and worked around the clock sectioning off the back part of the Murugan Temple, building Shambo his new secure home. We lined and boarded the floor and windows and then made a large straw pen for him. Ventilation was installed, and a new set of gates welded and bolted in place. A buffer zone was created to keep mem-bers of the public away from him. This area was also to act as a bio security zone and shrine. About 2am in the morning his new home was ready. Shambo was initially reluctant to leave his friends at the bull shed however he was slowly coaxed into our trailer. When he arrived at the Temple he walked straight into his new home, completely relaxed in the vibration of his new surroundings.

It was apparent a different approach now had to be adopted towards the gov-ernment. We contacted various organi-sations to enlist their support. It was imperative that the authorities realised that it was wholly unacceptable to des-ecrate a place of worship and slaughter a Temple bullock, the cow being such a revered and sacred animal. The press were informed and quickly gathered at the Temple to break the story. The cov-erage was phenomenal, across all the national and global media. Not content with this, Devi inspired us to set up an online petition which began gathering over 1000 signatures a day and a web-cam broadcasting a live stream of pictures of Shambo from the Temple, quickly named “Moo tube” by the press. We were inundated by calls and interest from all over the world; several of the Swamis were involved in constant interviews with TV crews, radio stations and newspapers. The issue was brought forward in the House of Commons and when David Milli-band - then secretary of state for DEFRA - was asked to in-tervene, like Pontius Pilate he conveniently washed his hands of the affair stating that it was a devolved issue and would be dealt with by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).

Rather than fading away into obscurity, news of Shambo spread like wildfire. The Divine Mother was totally responsi-ble for the most amazing media campaign. She inspired sev-eral pivotal people to our assistance notably, Ramesh Kallidai

and Sanjay Mistry from the Hindu Forum, who were dedi-cated to serving Devi and assisting the Temple. As with all dramas, Devi set the agenda. The focus grew from Shambo to encompass the sacredness and value of all life. His iconic fig-ure was embraced by all peoples who shared the basic human value that life is sacred. How often did we see about us kill-ing as the solution to problems, economics placed way ahead of respect for life. Through Shambo, Devi provoked thought and change in many people’s consciousness.

It was fascinating to witness how the Divine exposed the true colours of many of those purporting to represent the Hindu faith amongst others. Whilst some were clear, stead-fast and active in their support, many seemed confused over their own understanding of the core values of their faith. Life is sacred, there is no qualification. Many of those in positions of influence and authority appeared terrified of rocking the boat, fearful of losing concessions, funding for projects, influ-ence or positions on committees. In order to appease their own conscience they made half hearted gestures of support, no more than dipping their toe in the water. Devi was there smiling in the background as her dramas unfolded, silently watching people’s commitment to serving her and adher-ing to dharma. At sometime in our evolution we all begin to

learn that we reap the consequences of our own actions or inactions- such is the play of karma, cause and effect.

The Welsh Assembly Government was staggered by the publicity. They totally failed to respond in a coherent way, there was no minister appointed in charge of rural affairs because the recent elections had not returned a majority; government officials appeared paralysed by indecision. It was becoming increas-ingly likely that we would have to take the government to court to overturn the slaughter notice through judicial review. The Temple trustees gave unanimous support to prepare for this course of ac-tion, realising that if we did all in our power to serve the Divine Mother then she would provide us with the resources to fight for dharma.

Resources poured in, not just finan-cial but in the form of dedicated people from many professions who were galva-nised into action. David Taylor, the founding partner of the in-ternational zoo veterinary group

and also a DEFRA zoo inspector, came to the Tem-ple to examine Shambo. Mr Taylor had accumulated vast experience at successfully treating various species around the world, including animals affected with bo-vine TB. He declared Shambo to be in excellent health, exhibiting no sign of disease and suggested a course of preventative treatment using a combination of anti TB drugs coupled with isolation and monitoring. Behind the scenes devotees including doctors and scientists, spent many hours researching the complexities of bTB and the actual risks posed by Shambo. Alter-native solutions were addressed including finding Shambo a home in a cow sanctuary in India, even details of shipping, quarantine and import per-

mits were explored in depth and provisionally set up.A new twist to the drama developed two months after

Shambo tested positive with a retest of the rest of the herd. We had serious misgivings about the way the state vet conducted the retest. The vet declared that if read on a severe interpre-tation two animals would be classed as positive reactors and five animals inconclusive. This type of reading would be used over the far less stringent standard interpretation, if Shambo was confirmed to have bTB on post mortem culture. The result changed the whole dynamics of the WAG’s response. They now portrayed a situation of impend-ing doom, a total bTB herd breakdown, disease spreading out of control throughout the countryside threatening adjoining cattle herds, a serious risk to public health.

As ever the Divine dealt with the issues systematically, restoring a degree of reality and calm. The animals were isolated, bio se-curity measures were expanded to respond to the perceived risk and the Swamis with grace from the Divine were able to put this hyped drama into perspective and focus peo-ple’s minds on actual fact. The authorities were scaremongering, it was all hypothesis, nothing yet proven, something that would ring true in the course of time.

The WAG finally appointed a minister, Jane Davidson, to head rural affairs. Our campaign now developed a new focus as this was the person who had the responsibility of making a final decision and importantly, the person empow-ered to use ministerial discretion not to slaughter. Shambo’s supporters flooded Mrs Davidson’s office with emails, media pressure intensified for her to announce a course of action. Our solicitors continually pushed for dialogue and a nego-tiated solution to avoid litigation. Finally, at very short no-tice, WAG agreed for the first time to a face to face meet-ing. Swamis from the Temple alongside representatives from the Hindu community, veterinary expert Mr Taylor and our solicitor met senior civil servants from Mrs Davidson’s de-partment with the government Chief Veterinary officer and Chief medical officer. The meeting was a sham. The govern-ment came to present a decision they were minded to make to enforce Shambo’s slaughter and tried to explain why they were unable to

accept any alternatives. It was patently clear that behind the scenes, the farming unions were baying for blood; there was far too much vested interest at stake. The WAG was trying to push a failing bTB policy on the farming community and couldn’t be seen to accept any alternative for fear it could un-dermine their whole programme of slaughter and compensa-tion.

Shortly after the meeting we received a “minded to” let-ter, where Mrs Davidson set out the reasons why she was convinced that despite acknowledging a most serious in-

fringement on our right to express our religion, slaughter of Shambo was the only course of action available to eliminate all risk to public and animal health. We made detailed final representations in a final attempt to find a solution without litigation.

As the government’s course of action became steadily clearer, Lord Subramanium instructed us to install a moor-thi of himself on the shrine in front of Shambo. Following a Mahabishekam to the moorthi we carried him in procession

through the temple to Shambo’s home. What was remarkable was that as soon as

the Lord was installed, Shambo was drawn to him and despite what we

considered a safe distance from his pen to the shrine, he stretched as far as he

could and touched the Lord with the tip of his tongue.

Shambo enjoying his new home

Devi was smiling in the background

as her drama unfolded

Converting the Temple for Shambo

July 3rd was a unique day in the history of the community, the WAG issued the final confirma-

tion of their intent to enforce the slaughter of Sham-bo and Guruji died at our hospice shortly after 1pm.

The previous evening we were so privileged to be able to bless Guruji with the materialised Siva lingam, amrita and water from the very source of the Ganges. All the

members of the community had an opportunity to quietly come and spend time in his presence. A most beautiful peace and power resonated around him; it was now time for him to move on to the next stage of his journey as the instrument of the Divine and time for us to really start to discover our amazing spiritual inheritance.

It was so clear to us how involved the Di-vine was in this drama and as ever Devi’s timing was immaculate. The two week fes-tival to Lord Shiva had just ended with the full moon poojas and Guru Poornima; we now closed all the Temples for one week as a mark of respect. The WAG

confirmed no action would be taken to enforce the slaughter of Shambo prior to our judicial review set for 12th July, so we were free in our minds to totally focus on preparations for the funeral. The evening of Guruji’s death, we fulfilled one of his wishes. The whole community gathered and toasted him and our future success in serving God, with the most exquisite vintage Armagnac that Guruji had put aside for the occasion.

The date for the funeral was set for the coming weekend, the practical arrangements for Guruji’s body were put in place, thousands of devotees were informed, marquees were erected and decorated and the Samadhi site prepared. Gu-ruji’s body was laid in state to give devotees an opportunity for final Darshan, to express their love and gratitude and also importantly to grieve and begin to come to terms with the reality of his bodily death. The day of his actual funeral was a remarkable gathering of many whose lives had been transformed. The Swamis carried his coffin down the short length of track lined by pilgrims from the mar-quee to the Samadhi; as the procession proceeded a continuous shower of white petals adorned the

coffin. All the members of the community gathered around the Samadhi and the Swamis blessed the most unique yantra, encompassing the many facets of the Divine. The yantra was lowered into the Samadhi followed by Guruji’s coffin, kum-kum and final Aarthi was then offered. There was no gloom, but an immense feeling of joy and warmth, a celebration of a most remarkable and complete life. Guru and God are one; Guru is within us, all pervading and without limit, from form to formlessness in the timeless consciousness of God. God never dies.

Final preparations where made for our court case with our legal team working around the clock. We as-sembled in Cardiff high court and for the first time put faces to our colleagues representing us. Many media representatives were present, however, the presiding judge in-formed us that judgment would be reserved until the following Monday. We could not have been better rep-resented. The work and research that Saadia Khan and Stephen Grosz our solicitors had prepared, coupled with the skills of Maya Lester and David Anderson our QC, enabled our case to be presented in a most concise and formidable way. We returned to Skanda Vale in eager anticipation of the result and looking forward to the start of our main festival for Lord Subramanium.

The festival began the day before the high court judg-ment. The moment the Lord was lifted and carried down the goporum steps for the first Mahabishekam a most incredible power manifested. It felt like at that moment, the Lord came in person, surveyed the unfolding scene to come, and said “I now take direct personal control and lead this drama forward in accordance with My will.” To be privileged to work with that immensity of power and presence of God is the increas-ing reality of our lives.

Judgment day arrived, we won, the slaughter notice was quashed and the government team panicked. Judge Hicken-bottom made a very comprehensive judgment, a brave and honourable man who upheld justice, and recognised truth. Our legal team were overjoyed and could not quite believe the outcome. We were awarded our costs and even though WAG

was given permission to appeal, the judge ordered them to pay our appeal costs whatever the outcome.

The appeal was heard four days later, giving both sides a very tight timetable to work to. It was imme-diately apparent that the three appeal court judges were very much part of the establishment. The WAG had thrown everything at strengthening their legal representation; we had to engage a new barrister as our QC had prior commitments. Our team did an amazing job in the circumstances, quickly realising that the case hinged on one central issue. Our barrister, Mark Hoskins refused to be distract-ed or deterred from pushing home our main arguments. The contrast to the

first case could not be greater, here we were dealing with technicalities and abstract concepts where as in the first hearing, the reality of the threat to the sanctity of life and the potential desecration of our religious practice was brought to the forefront of everybody’s focus. Judgment was again deferred until after the week-end. We drove to the Royal Courts of Justice in London and met with the remainder of the Temple Trustees and our legal team. The judgment was appalling, yet with hindsight predictable.

Basically the court found that it was a wholly proportionate response to kill Shambo as the only way to eliminate all risk to public and animal health. It was reasonable to seek elimination of all risk as opposed to management of risk no matter how small that risk may be, and that it was not necessary to identify the level of actual risk posed by Shambo. This was all despite the fact that they acknowledged that such action would constitute an infringement and desecra-tion of the most grave and serious kind, tantamount to sacrilege of our right to practice and observe our religion. A fur-ther important consideration cited was that slaughter was necessary to maintain the economic well being of the farming community. It was a sad day for society, and a very sad reflection on the values held by those responsible for upholding justice, righteousness and truth.

It was clear that this was the end of our legal recourse. We returned to Skanda Vale in calm resignation of the drama that awaited. We could never guarantee any animal in our care would now be safe. The next day we were visited by senior police officers, we made clear to them that we could never be in the position to just hand Shambo over to be slaughtered. He would remain isolated and cared for in the Temple. We would hold a continual prayer vigil in front of his shrine as a celebration of the sanctity of life. We assured the officers no one would be involved in confrontation or aggression, we are monks and nuns and would do what we do best-worship God.

Thursday 26th July arrived; we started the day at 4.30am with Mahabishekam to Lord Subramanium then Valli and Devani. As dawn broke, it seemed that the whole of the world’s media converged on the Temple for the day the authorities

would come to kill Shambo. Many dev-otees had arrived early in the morning to offer their support, at about 8am the pooja in front of Shambo’s shrine be-gan, the continuous bhajan and chant-ing carried an amazing energy, the press teams had never experienced anything like it and the whole day was beamed live into the homes of millions across the world. At about 9.30 community representatives met the arriving govern-ment officials and refused entry to the Temple precincts, the officials left for Carmarthen to obtain a warrant. When they returned, they were met at the gate by a crowd of press photographers and journalists, with all the community now involved in the pooja. The chain to the gates of the Temple precincts was cut, the first act of desecration.

The officials then proceeded to at-tempt to serve the warrant. Completely

out of his depth and overwhelmed by the intensity of the pooja, the officer from Animal Health lost all vestige of dig-nity as he took off his Wellington boots and proceeded to attempt to scream the wording of the warrant to the members of the community. The volume of the bhajan increased, the focus and concentration of the worship intensified. Four or five times, officers accompanied by police attempted to en-ter the group of worshippers, each time, they withdrew as if pushed back by a wave of Shakti. The press were in their element, following every move of the hapless officials. Occa-sionally members of the community would take it in turn to have a short break. We provided tea and lunch not just for the devotees involved in the pooja, but for the police officers and animal health officials. We had a job, as they did, we bore no ill feeling towards them, the Lord has a most beautiful way of disarming aggression and tension. Later in the afternoon

Swami Brahmananda and Swami Suryananda being interviewed outside the court house in Cardiff after our victory.

Thursday 26th of July

The next day we moved on, Shambo’s pen was dismantled, cleaned and disinfected we now had to prepare the Temple for the end of the Subramanium festival. What a beautiful day the reunion of the Lord and his Shaktis was. Hours of preparation in the morning decorating the Temple and pre-paring the moorthis contributed towards the Temple humming with power, the lady devotees led the palanquin with the Shak-tis to the Yaga Sala with the Lord following, carried by each of the Swamis in turn. The moment of the reunion, the com-ing together of Shiva and Shakti was a unique experience. Lord Subramanium was then returned to the goporum with Valli and Devani for the end of one year and the beginning of another.

the officials began to look for alternative ways to enter Shambo’s pen. We immersed ourselves in Devi and called for her to protect the sanctuary and Temple with her chakra and to protect her devotees from harm.

The moment police officers began to physically carry off devotees was the point we realised that Shambo would certainly be killed. At this point none of the worshippers knew what the police would do, were people being warned, arrested, roughly handled, led away to cells and charged? Devi was testing to the limit our conviction to be stead-fast and our reliance and trust in her. The members of the community acted with tremendous dignity, Guruji would often remind us to wor-ship the Lord with all your strength and all your might, on that day we all did.

Once officers had removed us all, they attempted to enter the Tem-ple. This proved a little difficult because of the ingenious welded gates that protected Shambo’s enclosure.

Animal Health offices and contractors dressed in ridiculous blue hard hats and overalls then provided an almost comic scene as they took several hours taking down the Saris and cloths which decorated the pooja area. When it became clear that they were finally breaking into the Temple, the monks inside caring for Shambo gave him his last rites. Officials were keen to completely screen off the area so no one would be able to view Shambo being led to the waiting trailer. The press were far too experienced to be put off by these tactics and positioned themselves in such a way as to film the whole process. Our webcam broadcast the final moment Shambo left the Temple. The whole drama was witnessed by the Lord himself, the moorthi of Lord Subramanium resonating with every tiny vibration of the day.

He went to his death with such dignity and grace, indeed a bovine Christ fulfilling the scrip-tures. As the trailer departed led by about fifty police officers, they all removed their helmets as a mark of respect. Shambo took one last look out of the back of the trailer on his final journey in this incarnation. He was killed the following day by lethal injection.

Towards the end of August, the re-sults of Shambo’s post mortem came through, it was confirmed that he

had bTB. The consequences of this was that two other animals

who had tested positive, when results were read on

severe interpretation, were now threatened with slaugh-ter, Bhakti, a fifteen year old recumbent Jersey bullock and Dakshini, a nine month old water buffalo calf. Again, our solicitors contacted WAG to

seek a retest because of our concerns over the way the initial test had been conducted by the state vet. Bolstered by the appeal court rul-ing WAG offered no concessions and refused a retest. A slaughter notice was then issued. We realised that it was impractical to try and move either animal to the Temple. In any event it was now crystal clear that the author-ities would not hesitate to go to any lengths to enforce the slaughter. The evening before the slaughter was to take place, we quietly blessed both animals with amrita and vibhuti dedi-cating their lives to God. When the officials arrived, we did not obstruct them, it would have been a devaluation of all we had achieved with Sham-bo to have been arrested and dragged off by police and the animals would still be slaughtered. Members of the commu-nity and devotees sang bhajan and bore witness to the kill-ing. They killed Bhakti in his pen by lethal injection because he was unable to move. Dakshini was traumatised by being separated from her herd and shoved into a waiting trailer

and killed at the state veterinary laboratory in Carmarthen. Karma yoga is about selfless service to God without being attached to the results of your actions. Through the drama of the deaths of these three animals Devi was teaching us so

much. There is no death; however we must constantly strive to use every opportunity to uphold dharma - that is our duty. We must fulfil that duty but can do no more, being involved in the emotion of frustra-tion through feeling helpless in the face of insurmountable obstacles, becomes an in-dulgence that separates us from God.The community now focused on preventa-tive ways to help the animals in our care gain resilience to disease, we looked in de-tail at their winter housing, diet, summer grazing, immune system, and our agricul-tural methods as well as natural veterinary practices such as homeopathy. The deeper we looked the clearer it became that we needed to return to basic principles. If the animals are healthy and have a strong nat-

ural immune system then they are far less likely to contract disease like bTB, the same applies to the wildlife. If the soil contains essential nutrients and trace elements and is nur-tured as a living organism, then in turn the animals that live off the soil will also be far more likely to be strong. You are what you eat. Our soil was analysed, trace elements applied, new winter housing and a radical change in our farming methods agreed. By the end of the year all the remaining cattle that had tested inconclusive, cleared on retest. Unsurprisingly, the result from Bhakti and Dakshini’s post mortem was totally negative-no trace of bTB.

Om blessed be GodOm blessed be Your many Holy Names

Om blessed be Your manifestation in all of creationOm blessed be Your presence in all of life

Om blessed be Your presence within our consciousnessOm blessed be Your presence installed in our hearts

Om blessed be Your presence installed in our Holy TempleOm blessed is God

Full moon in October just prior to Guruji’s birthday was the perfect time to install the new moorthis of Lord Ganesha and Sri Venkateshwara at the Sri Ranganatha Temple. The moorthis were sealed in place with their respective yantras and following a yagam per-formed by the Swamis the charged kumbums were of-fered over the Deities to consecrate them for worship. On Guruji’s birthday, the anniversary of the inaugura-tion of the Sri Ranganatha Temple, a special celebration of four simultaneous ma-habishekams was conducted; Lord Ranganatha, Lord Shiva, and for the first time Sri Venkateshwara and Lord Ganesha. It is not possible to

plan such a pooja, worship in this way takes on a spontaneous momentum of its own, directed by the Divine. The Shakti and grace that flows is utterly remarkable. At the end of the pooja, Sri Venkateshwara shone with a resplendent beauty, adorned

for the first time in his kave-shams. It was as though he had always belonged there and was so joyful to give Dar-shan. It was a most fitting way to end Guruji’s birthday. Ear-lier in the day the community had gathered with close devo-tees around the Samadhi for a simple service and chanted 108 names of Guru Subra-manium, names compiled by us all for the many differ-ent facets of a true Guru. Swami Suryananda

Performing the yagam for the inauguration of Sri Venkateshwara

MARCHMon 3 Sister Annabel’s Birthday 12.00 pmThrs 6 Mahashivratri 9.00 pm to 6.00 am FriFri 7 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 9 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmTue 11 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 amThrs 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pmSat 15 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 16 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmThrs 20 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 21 Lingam Pooja 5.00 am Good Friday Service 3.00 pmSat 22 Midnight Easter Mass 11.45 pm

APRILSun 6 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmMon 7 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 11 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 amSun 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pmMon 14 Rama Navami 5.00 amThrs 17 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 18 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 19 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 20 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pm

MAYMon 5 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmTue 6 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 9 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 amTue 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pmThrs 15 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 16 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 17 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 18 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmTue 20 Buddha Wedak 5.00 amMon 26 Coastal Path Walk

JUNEWed 4 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmThrs 5 Lord Ganesh Festival begins 5.00 am Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 6 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 9.00 pmThrs 12 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pm Lingam Pooja 9.00 pmSat 14 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 15 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmWed 18 Lord Ganesh Festival ends 5.00 amSun 23 Sister Topsi’s Birthday

JULYThrs 3 Lord Shiva Festival begins 5.00 am Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 4 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 9.00 pmSun 6 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSat 12 Maha Kali Procession 11.30 amSun 13 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pm Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pmThrs 17 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 18 Lord Shiva Festival ends 5.00 am Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pm

AUGUSTFri 1 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSat 2 Lord Subramanium Festival begins 4.30 amMon 4 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 8 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 9.00 pmSun 10 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmWed 13 Mahasarswati Pooja 6.00 pmThrs 14 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 15 Lingam Pooja 9.00 pm

Sat 16 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 17 Lord Subramanium re-union afternoon Lord Subramanium festival endsSun 24 Vel Festival 1.30 pm Lord Krishna Jayanti 6.00 pmFri 29 Hospice Fete 11.00am – 4.00pm Sat 30 Hospice Fete main day 11.00am – 4.00pmSun 31 Hospice Fete 11.00am – 4.00pm Sun 31 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pm

SEPTEMBERMon 1 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmWed 3 Lord Ganesh Chaturthi 5.00 amFri 5 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 amThrs 11 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 12 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.30 amSun 14 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmMon 15 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmMon 29 Navaratri begins and Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmTue 30 Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pm

OCTOBERFri 3 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 amSun 5 St Francis’s Birthday 9.00 pmWed 8 Navaratri ends with Dassara 6.00 pmThrs 9 Lord Shanmukha Full Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 10 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 11 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 12 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmMon 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.00 pmWed 29 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pm Divali 9.30 pmThrs 30 Skanda Shashti begins 4.30 am Guru’s Birthday 3.00 pm Anniversary of Sri Ranganatha Temple Inauguration 9.30 pmFri 31 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 9.00 pm

NOVEMBERSun 2 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmTue 4 Skanda Shashti ends 4.30 amFri 7 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 8 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmTue 11 Vel Pooja: Guru’s Mother’s Birthday and Anniversary of Inauguration of Subramanium Temple 5.00 am Thrs 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.30 am Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmThrs 27 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmFri 28 Maha Kali New Moon Pooja 5.00 am Maha Lakshmi New Moon Pooja 6.00 pm

DECEMBERSat 6 Maha Kali Full Moon Pooja 6.00 pmSun 7 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 1.30 pmThrs 11 Lord Shanmukha Full Moon Pooja 12.30 pm Maha Patini Pooja 6.00 pmFri 12 Lingam Pooja 5.00 amSat 13 Maha Saraswati Pooja 6.30 amWed 24 Christmas Eve Mass 11.45 pmSun 28 Lord Vishnu New Moon Pooja 6.00 pmMon 29 Maha Lakshmi Pooja 6.00 pmWed 31 Lord Ranganatha New Year Pooja 11.45 pm

From time to time we may have to change the date, time and location of Mahabishekams, please check our website

www.skandavale.orgbefore travelling

The Community of the Many Names of God

2008 Calendar of special Mahabishekams and Events

Daily Poojas are held at 5.00am,1.30pm and 9.00pm in the Subramanium Temple

6.30am and 6.00pm in the Maha Shakti Temple9.30am in the Sri Ranganatha Temple

Mahabishekam’s are held every morning at 5.00am during Lord Ganesh’s and Lord Shiva’ s Festival

at 4.30am during Lord Subramanium’s Festival and during Skanda Shashti and at 6.00pm during Navaratri

All the Mahabishekams at 4.30am, 5.00am, 1.30pm and 9 .00pm are held in the Subramanium Temple. Those at 6.30am, 6.00pm and 12.30pm in the Maha Shakti Temple.

Those at 9.30am and 11.45pm in the Ranganatha Temple.

In the summer months the 6.00pm Saturday Mahabishekam to Maha Kali will be held in the Yagasala.Where there is an 11.45 pm service, i.e. Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, there is no 5.00 am pooja

the following day.