KHM

Aum Sivaya!

Krittika Homa is held monthly at Iraivan Temple, with Satguru always in attendance. Out of curiosity, we asked ChatGPT about Krittika Homa, and here is the answer it provided. Its response isn’t perfect, but it was better than expected:

The Krittika Homa, associated with Lord Shiva, is a ritual performed for various purposes, including purification, blessings and spiritual upliftment. It typically involves invoking the Krittikas (the Pleiades constellation) along with the worship of Shiva.

Key Elements of Krittika Homa for Shiva:

1. Preparation: Cleanse the area and set up an altar with images or murtis of Lord Shiva. Gather offerings such as flowers, fruits, ghee and specific grains.

2. Mantras: Recite specific Vedic mantras dedicated to Lord Shiva and the Krittikas. The chanting of “Om Namah Shivaya” is often central to the ritual.

3. Fire Offering: A sacred fire is lit, into which offerings are made while chanting. This symbolizes the connection between the material and spiritual realms.

4. Prayers and Intentions: State your intentions for the Homa, which could include seeking blessings, prosperity, health or spiritual growth.

5. Aarti and Pradakshina: Conclude the ritual with Aarti (a devotional chant) and circumambulation around the altar.

Benefits:

• Spiritual purification and enlightenment.

• Removal of obstacles and negativity.

• Enhanced connection with divine energies.

Jai Ganesha! As many have seen in our latest posts, Yoginathaswami and Nirvani Tejadevanatha recently visited Malaysia. A large part of their mission was to hold youth workshops (and maybe even recruit a few monks for our monastery!). Yoginathaswami came up with the brilliant idea to do a short video about the monastery and monastic life. So, our monks collectively came up with a plan to create a video that showcased the beauty of the monastery and featured what the monks do and what kind to teachings monastic life provides. Kodiswara was given the special task of creating the video. He interviewed the monks, asking questions prepared by our GK members. Our mathavasis gave some wonderful answer to all the questions, greatly enhancing the quality of the video. The video was played for all the members and students who attend the workshops in Malaysia. As few people around the globe tend to understand what a monastic life is like, we thought this video would help to inspire and educate youngsters about this great monastic path. The video was initially only intended for the workshop, but we thought with would make a great addition to TAKA. We hope it gives everyone a new insight into monastic life at Kauai Aadheenam. Grab some popcorn and enjoy!

A brand new home page

Access to our Audio Books

A new page where users can explore and listen Gurudeva’s and Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami’s talks

A brand new page for our Iraivan Temple

Our new TAKA page

Easy-to-find information for our many pilgrims and guests visiting the Aadheenam

An upgraded books gallery where you can search by title, category, language and author

Jai Ganesha!

On the most auspicious day of Vinayagar Chaturthi, we launched our brand new website for Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. It’s now live for the world and includes a more intuitive navigation, a comprehensive search, an attractive design, as easy access to our many books, publications and guru upadeshas, and all the many important pages for site visitors such as information about the monastery, our temples and Hinduism overall. As you can see this post is on this new website. There are still, however, several functionalities that need need to be completed, such as the Taka archives and access to our collections of bhajan and Sanskrit audio.

For the past few years Tillainathaswami has been gradually working to build the website bit by bit. Over the past few months, along with the help of Kodiswara, Swami has been working actively to complete the website and bring it to the world. After this long-awaited release, the monastics here, as well an many people who have written in about, are all really enjoying the website’s new look and feel and the ease of access to content. As of now the website’s base structure has been completed and as time goes by we will support it and implement innovations and upgrades. Don’t forget to check out all the sub-menus and explore the website even deeper. FYI: for the time being Taka will be only available from as far back as Guru Purnima 2024 up to the current day. We are still working to implement the Taka archives on the website. Hope everyone enjoys this brand new digital landscape! Jai Ganesha!