Today at Kauai Aadheenam

Large photo alert! Pan and Use the pop-out or full screen option to see some marvelous wood grain.>
>
A few recent projects in from the woodshop. First, a redwood batton door, similar to the style on the original aadheenam building from 1929, but here we used tapered sliding dovetail crossmembers, inspired by work at the Russian Fort in California. Second, three photos of some window frames using drawbore pins; and third, a look at the lathe corner.

We offer you hi-resolution slides of today's homa. Click on the pop-out or full screen icons.

Bodhinatha departed for India yesterday with Arumuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami early in the morning. They reported in from Singapore that they arrived safe and sound.

Today Bodhinatha's paduka sit by the homa. Sivanathaswami presided and gave a marvelous talk quoting from Gurudeva, our shastra and Merging with Siva. he focused on the Yugas in terms of the soul's evolution from Manipura to Vishuddha chakras.

New Plants for Himalayan Acres

Some news from our nursery department with recent plant acquisitions and improvements. These new plants will be planted in the ground shortly and allowed to grow into large clumps for sale.

And on the practical side, we created a prototype of a nursery bench to solve two problems: both metal and wood benches rot out in a few years in Hawaii, and we have 1,500 feet of used 4" PVC pipe with no other use.... Having the pots up on the benches is both better for the plant and easier on the gardener who doesn't have to stoop to care for them.

[This slideshow uses large images. Move your mouse to pan and open the popout and full screen for detailed views]

Tomorrow is the last day of our Sadhu Paksha and on Thursday we change seasons, raising the flag of the Moksha Ritau. During these days of December some of the monks celebrated Sivalaya Deepam in a quiet way with lights outside Kadavul. This slide show bring us some sense of the peace and inner beauty of this ancient Festival of Lights.

With the holiday season many Hindu families with children are free to travel. Our last tour was on the 23rd. The Aadheenam gardens are a magical setting to share a few basic beliefs of Hinduism in the spirit of education. Many are from Western faiths and they are interested to hear the Hindu declaration that God never punishes. Our law of karma explains that it is our own thoughts, speech and action which are the powerful forces that spin out into the cosmos and return to us as the temporary creations and circumstances of our life. We also have Hindus coming to Kauai for events like a wedding only to be told by the locals about Hindu temple they can visit. Paramacharya Sadasivanathswami signed books for guests today. He explained to one fortunate couple Gurudeva's insistence on zero tolerance for inharmonious conditions, and how to apply it - both in the monastery and in family life. Holiday season brings the little ones and our new children's books are a big hit with Hindu families. They are real life stories of challenges children face with practical, modern examples and answers of how to work through them.