This fund supports a children's school, a Tiruvadi shrine and the Shanti Lingam Temple. Your donations to this fund will help perpetuate a small Montessori school in the village of Kopay, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. This school has been very active in providing a sound religious education for the children who attend, as well as a quality secular education. Studies continued during even the most severe parts of the ethnic conflict.

Kopay, Sri Lanka

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Sri Subramuniya Kottam

The Sri Subramuniya Kottam was established by Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in Kopay, Sri Lanka. Its main purpose is to provide religious and secular education to the youth of the surrounding villages as well as being a Spiritual and cultural hub for the Saivite Tamil community.

Kottam Children’s School

The Kottam provides religious and cultural classes, including Thevaram and music to students. Scholarships and free tutoring insure students have access to classes regardless of financial condition. Many of the former students of the Kottam are now outstanding citizens in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.

Temple pilgrimages

An important public service that the Sri Subramuniya Kottam has been providing is fully-sponsored pilgrimages for devotees in Kopay and the surrounding communities. Individually, these devotees cannot afford to make these pilgrimages to distant temples. Such pilgrimages are a great source of joy for the elderly of the community. Also pilgrims around the world come and stay at the Kottam's "Aloha Guest House" and experience the simple village life and visit the Holy Temple in the Jaffna peninsula.

Thiruvadi Temple

The Thiruvadi Temple at the Sri Subramuniya Kottam enshrines a pair of traditional Thiruvadi that Gurudeva wore during his 1982 visit to Kopay. The puja ceremonies of this temple are conducted daily by the children studying at the Kottam. The Tiruvadi temple miraculously survived the war undamaged, and it continues to preside over all the activities of the Kottam as a symbol of Gurudeva's everlasting benevolence and blessings to the Hindu community of Jaffna.

Sri Shanthi Lingam Temple

The Shanthi Lingam Temple is an outgrowth of the Sri Subramuniya Kottam. It was established with Gurudeva’s blessings over 33 years ago through the efforts of the youth then studying at the Kottam. The temple's sanctum that houses the Siva Lingam was built almost entirely by the young students of the Kottam. Only one professional mason was hired to oversee the their work. Gurudeva, impressed by the dedication of the youth, came personally during the temple’s opening to place the Shanthi Lingam (the temple Deity) in the temple with his own hands on January 5th 1983, Gurudeva's 56th birthday. Since the temple's founding, it has been continuously serving the devotees through all of Jaffna’s trials and tribulations. Through Gurudeva's grace, the temple continues to exist and be of service to this day.

The Shanthi Lingam temple has kept Gurudeva's name and presence alive in Sri Lanka. People who come and worship here are constantly reminded of Gurudeva, by the very fact that he brought the Siva Lingam from Kauai Aadheenam and ceremoniously placed it in the sanctum. It is an important part of Gurudeva's legacy in Sri Lanka.

During the war in 1996 the temple mandapam sustained some damage. In 2005, with the kind and generous contribution of Kottam's world-wide supporters, a new temple mandapam was completed to replace the damaged one. The original sanctum structure put up by the youth of the Kottam in 1983 still remains as it is. The Shanthi Lingam Temple provides daily prayers for devotees. Yearly festivals such as Sivaratri, Thaipusam, Thaiponggal, Tamil New Year, Thiruvembavai, and Sivalayadeepam are celebrated at the Temple.

Fund #15