KHM

Putting the wood through our extra-wide planer

Getting the wood from the machine

It’s a lot of heavy lumber to be moving around all morning

The wood after having oil finish added to it

Nirvani Tejadevanatha smiling while doing hard work

Mayilnathaswami storing all the extra wood

Jai Ganesha!

Since it’s the final day of the phase, we took a stroll around the property to see what the Siddhidata Kulam monks were doing. In the morning, we saw Sadhaka Shankaranatha working in the woodshop. He was cutting wood for Siddhidata Kulam’s new office and arranging the pieces in order. Over in the Siddhidata Kulam’s new office, we saw all the mathavasis engaged in cleaning the shop, as their weekly end-of-phase tidying. Aum.

Milk

Yogurt

Honey

Panchamirtham

Orange water

Vibuthi

Sandalwood water

Main Kumbha water

Final Arati

Vetri Vel Muruga Arogaraaa!

Vetri Vel Muruga Arogaraaa!

On February 10th, Mathavasis and devotees celebrated Thaipusam at Kadavul Temple in the presence of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. The event began at 3:00 PM and concluded at 5:30 PM. We started with an abhishekam, performed by Sannyasin Siddhanathaswami, of milk, yogurt, orange juice, panchamritam, honey, sandalwood water, vibuthi, chandanam and rose water. After completing the abhishekam, we performed the alankaram—dressing the Deity, which took about 30 minutes. Once the alankaram was finished, we continued the puja. Yoginathaswami sang Lord Muruga’s songs and the monks concluded with a final arati. A fun fact: Lord Muruga is considered the first and foremost renunciate—which is why this day holds great significance for us Mathavasis. Aum.

If you missed the live stream, you can watch it here.

Vetri Vel Muruga Arogara!

We will be celebrating Thaipusam here at Kauai Hindu Monastery. The entire puja will be live-streamed, and those who wish to watch can click the link above to join. Aum Muruga!

As we prepare for the afternoon puja, here are some of the items used during the abhishekam:

Pure Santalum Album (Indian) sandalwood powder

Cardamom powder

Nutmeg powder

Cloves Powder

Raw camphor crystals

Saffron

“Abhisheka Powder”– a mixture of herbs

Satguru attends the puja

Pravinkumar Sivam performing the homa

Mahalingesvara final alankaram

Nandi alankaram from the recent Pradosha Puja

Jai Ganesha!

On every Krittika Nakshatra, we perform a special puja at Iraivan Temple. Pravinkumar is the head priest for this puja, and this time, Mayilnathaswami served as the assistant. We perform this puja during Krittika because the Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted during the Krittika Nakshatra. To maintain this divine connection, we hold this homa every month.

The event begins with a homa, followed by an abhishekam to Mahalingeshvara. Once the abhishekam is completed, the puja concludes with offerings and a final arati. After the puja, prasadam is distributed to all attending devotees.

Being able to perform this puja at Iraivan Temple is a great blessing for us all.

Aum Namah Sivaya.

A Palm Tree was blown over, next to our buildings

The next day the SK works to rebuild our broken quick tents

Sadhaka Shankaranatha going through the manual

Checking the pistons

Jai Ganesha!

Two days ago, the island of Kauai experienced a challenging day as heavy rain and strong winds swept through. Everyone, including us monks, faced the storm’s intensity as it descended upon the island, causing power outages and property damage. News channels and government issued warnings to locals, and although we had previously encountered similar storms and taken some precautions in advance, we did not expect this one to be so severe. After the strong wind ended, the Siddhidata Kulam monks went around the property, fixing everything they could. In the slideshow above,the mathavasis and taskforce repairing the tarps that were torn off by the storm. Meanwhile, amid all the restoration efforts, Sadhaka Shankaranatha carried out routine maintenance on our new Kubota tractor. Since it requires a piston check every ten usage-hours, he ensured it was in proper working condition and performed the necessary maintenance. The video below offers a glimpse of what we experienced during the storm. Aum!

Aisles of the Greenhouse

Amaranth

Lettuce

Celery

Leek

Vel washing and cleaning the newly harvested tomatoes

Sadhaka Shankaranatha removing the old tomato plants

The revived Greenhouse that is producing the new tomatoes

Offering Ganesha the newly harvested tomato

Bandit waiting for his belly rub

Jai Ganesha!

Today, as we walked around the monastery, we noticed the Siddhidatta Kulam’s mathavasis and taskforcer working hard in the greenhouse. A few months ago, we had to shut down one of the greenhouses, which was growing tomatoes, due to a bug infestation that destroyed the plants. The Siddhidatta Kulam monks thoroughly cleaned the greenhouse to prepare it for new planting and resumed growing tomatoes. Just a week ago, they harvested the first batch of tomatoes and decided to offer them to Ganesha as a gesture of gratitude for helping them restore tomato production. Meanwhile, the other greenhouse, which grows various vegetables, is thriving and producing abundant greens for the mathavasis to enjoy. A variety of greens, including leeks, lettuce, amaranth and celery, are being cultivated. The images you see here are from the greenhouse producing these vegetables. However, access to the tomato greenhouse is restricted for the moment, to prevent another bug infestation. We hope you enjoy looking at these vibrant greens as much as we enjoy eating them. Aum!