Skanda Vale

06/09/2026

Bala and Valli meeting properly for the first time, the morning after she arrived.

To everyone in Liberec: thank you for the messages this week. It's obvious how well she was known there and how much she was loved, and we don't take it lightly that she's here.

Our thanks to her keepers at Zoo Liberec, who looked after her for thirteen years and brought her here themselves.

More about Valli and Bala: https://www.skandavale.org/about/elephants/

Bala se má dobře. Děkujeme.

03/09/2026

Bala has arrived at Skanda Vale, and she and Valli are already inseparable.

Bala is 42 and has come to us from Zoo Liberec in the Czech Republic, travelling with three of her own keepers alongside our vets and a team of transport specialists, under veterinary care throughout. The move was made on the recommendation of the European coordinator responsible for the welfare and social needs of Asian elephants.

She and Valli took to each other straight away. There was a great deal of rumbling and squealing when Bala arrived, and after a quiet night's rest they came together in the morning, greeting each other like old siblings. Their bond is already very strong. Bala is gentle, quiet and beautiful.

Valli's companions, Camela and Laksmi, lived here for many years and died at the ages of 58 and 59, loved by everyone who cared for them. Planning for a new companion for Valli began the moment we lost Laksmi; introducing a new elephant earlier would have been too risky for Laksmi at her great age.

A move like this takes months of coordination between zoos, vets and specialists. Our thanks and deep gratitude to the keepers at Liberec Zoo, and to everyone who made the transfer so smooth.

Bala and Valli now have 24-hour access to their seven-acre paddock, and are making the most of it: mud bathing, grazing, browsing and playing together. Bala has come here for life.

Here's to many happy years together at Skanda Vale.

02/09/2026

🦚 Krishna Jayanti

Guru Sri Subramanium often spoke of Krishna as the embodiment of divine love, and taught that worship is about awakening that which is already within us,_"the deep awareness that Krishna dwells inside your heart, that the Lord is there."_

Join us in person to celebrate Krishna Jayanti at the Sri Ranganatha Temple, Skanda Vale, this Friday 4th September, at 9.30am.

27/08/2026

Skanda Vale welcomes prayer requests from the Nepalese community and all others, who have been affected by the recent devastating floods in Nepal.

All prayers are printed and offered at the lotus feet of Devi and the Lord.

Prayer request link: https://www.skandavale.org/contact-us/prayer-requests/

27/08/2026

First of all, be mindful. Mindfulness helps you to remove the obstacles that lie in your path that are an obstruction for your own spiritual evolution. What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the awareness of every cause and effect that you set in motion from the moment you wake up in the morning to the time you go to sleep, and when you are sleeping what state of consciousness you want to sleep in. This is very important.

GURU SRI SUBRAMANIUM

24/08/2026

🌿 Highlights from our Skanda Vale Children’s Retreat 🌿

Five wonderful days filled with fun, laughter, friendship, learning and discovery with activities, all inspired by Guru Sri Subramanium’s teachings and the values of love, serve and discover 🌸

From creative activities and games, the children embraced every moment with enthusiasm and joy.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make this possible 🙏

There will be more retreat events like this in the future, so please keep an eye on Skanda Vale’s WhatsApp and Facebook updates ✨

19/08/2026

You must be able to say 'God, I love to have your grace.' Open the chakra of your heart. Let the Lord reside in the chakra of your heart with deep love and compassion, and understanding towards all of life.

Have also this formula: ‘Never mind’. Never mind what anybody else says to you. Never mind what is happening around you. Have a thought inside you that I am the person who can advance spiritually.

GURU SRI SUBRAMANIUM

13/08/2026

Living in the consciousness of impermanence

"I am going to talk to you this time about the ‘Tandava’ (the dance of Lord Shiva).

The Tandava means: I create to preserve, to destroy, to recreate.

A lot of people don’t want to look at this aspect of God. Purely and simply it worries them that there is dissolution."

GURU SRI SUBRAMANIUM

Read Guru's full discourse on this topic:

We must have a consciousness, a mindfulness that in this 'Tandava', this dance of creation, everything is changing.

10/08/2026

Subramanium Festival Culmination 🔥

Our annual festival celebrated the Reunion of Lord Subramanium and his Shaktis after twelve days of separation: two processions from the Murugan Temple to the Yaga Sala, followed by a final aarthi back in the temple.

The separation of the Lord from his Shaktis creates a tension that we feel in ourselves — frustrations, difficult emotions, things that surface and have to be worked through. The Reunion helps resolve it.

After the Reunion Lord Murugan's energy stays heightened until the Vel pooja, when the sacred Vel is carried from the Murugan temple, up to our hilltop shrine for a mahabhishekam, overlooking the valley, alongside our 9 metre Vel and the 3 headed naags.

The Vel and the naags are particularly auspicious for us, as those are the forms in which the Lord appeared to our founder, Guru Sri Subramanium, many decades ago, giving him the authority to establish a place for His worship in the West.

These processions and pujas are a celebration of the purity of Guru’s intention: a non-commercial place where people of all faiths can live, serve and worship together, with no pressure to believe or follow.

Our celebrations ran smoothly due to our dedicated seva team; directing traffic, cleaning, cooking, serving food — none of it separate from the worship. Our deepest thanks to everyone who gave their time.

06/08/2026

Lord Subramaniam is called the commanding chief of the three worlds, the power supreme. He's Agni — the molten lava. He is the Agni that is in the mountains, in the rivers, and in the sea, and in everything. That is why very many devotees of his walk through fire and identify themselves with him.

This is the greatest privilege we have got here in the temple. The power there is so great, and his ever-increasing presence — for you to begin to change your whole nature, from the gross to the supreme consciousness. You have to make an effort to be involved in that.

GURU SRI SUBRAMANIUM