Kauai Aadheenam

Siva’s Garden is a daily wonder, reminding pilgrims of the beauties of life, the soft nurturing that surrounds us if we can just be still enough to see it. Today we bring you a small collection of the botanical creatures that live with us here at the monastery and are showing off, trying to impress pilgrims, to remind them of Siva’s infinite, and sometimes odd, forms.

Kavi Kat finds a quiet corner among the Calocasia Green Shield under the Bilva tree

A new arrival, Philodendron Gloriosum,

It is one of the most sought-after rarities in the botanical world today and we are working to make more copies.

Licuala cordata, a palm with almost perfectly round fronds

The Gold Rain tree in full bloom

New plantings along the San Marga path. Not impressive today, but they will be.

The leaf of a large anthurium

The purple is Petrea volubus or Queen’s Wreath Vine, with palm grass in the front.

It’s name tells the story of its abundance of flowers

Wow! A False Fruit tree shows its other-worldly look.

Looks so ancient

Such great engineering!

A devotee in Australia has been inspired to bring the monastery’s teachings to the youth, inspired by the needs he sees in his own children. His latest work is now available on YouTube. He calls it “Bedtime Podcasts for Kids, Parents and Teachers.”

He has taken the wonderful book that Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami inspired and used a special AI to narrate the text. There are 11 stories in all, and they render as podcasts of 18 to 30 minutes. Each is a life lessons for a teenager. The topics are real-life issues, problems and challenges faced by young ones these days. They all teach teens how to cope. Great for sharing with teens in your community. In the video below is the first chapter, called “Friendship Endings.” If you want to see the entire playlist, click on the small hamburger icon on the upper right corner.

The playlist on YouTube accessible with the link above.

The book cover

It’s a hardcover book now. You can order the book at Minimela.com. printed by Amazon.

Inside spread.

Last year the devotees in Singapore reached out to Kauai Aadheenam wanting to create a special edition of the Know thy Self booklet for introducing the new generations of Singaporeans to Gurudeva’s teachings and to Saiva Siddhanta. After months of back and forth, two days back the first copy was printed (on a digital press so one copy is possible). This morning a few small corrections were made. We thought you would enjoy a peek at the pages. Aum Namasivaya!

Front and back cover

Spread introducing Gurudeva’s inspired talk

Two of the 14 daily lessons

Our Saivite Creed in the back

Next steps for Singaporeans.

The black line shows the placement of the new path around Iraivan Temple

Here we see the old dirt road, and the arrival of asphalt to build the new one.

Many hundreds of loads were required over the months.

The material was stockpiled nearby then carefully placed. It lifts the elevation of the road, providing good watershed even in strong rains.

After the 12-ton compactor has pounded the material.

The new road through the wild guava.

Up a small hill to Tirumular’s murti.

Past Mango Pond and around a corner.

Chellappaswami keeps an eye on this section.

Paths and roads have been the great enablers for the Romans, the Vedic explorers, the early American pioneers, indeed all who wanted to go more than a hundred feet in a day. And the evolution from cow path, to walking trail, to dirt road to paved highway has marked mankind’s progress. So it will surprise no one that paths at the monastery are similarly evolving. For decades we had unimproved dirt paths and roads. A few years back we were able to upgrade a the major arteries, but until recently most access around the land (and visitor parking) was on unimproved dirt, often pitted with potholes that filled with water and mud whenever it rained, which is often as you know.

Fast forward to today. The monks are still getting used to proper asphalt paths, made possible by an unexpected gift. In the past 3 months we have paved virtually all roads and paths, several miles worth, so even on rainy days we can drive safely and comfortably around the monastery. It has changed our life in the same way cross country highways changed the dynamics of transportation in all nations. The slideshow shows the progress and the slider gives a BEFORE & AFTER of the path that now circumnavigates Iraivan Temple.

An Animated Version on Several Platforms

A devotee in Australia was inspired to create a series of podcasts and videos for his young son and all children, teaching them the 64 qualities discussed by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami in his Character Building Workbook. Such a great way to introduce the young ones to the qualities they need to develop into a fully-functioning human being. Of course, it’s a lifetime of work, but starting them now will set them on the Good Path early in life.

Check out these podcasts on various platforms:

• YouTube Video Playlist: Watch here
• Apple Audio Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Amazon Audio Podcast (Please search for it)
• Podcastle (Please search for it)
• Spotify (Please search for it)

Our gallery below shows some screen shots from the YouTube animations.

Here is the Playlist on YouTube. Take one quality a day and discuss it with your children.
Great conversation tactic!

Each quality is presented with ways to cultivate the positive.

Bodhinatha gives three examples.

The opposite is also presented with examples.

At the end Bodhinatha quotes from Gurudeva on that very subject.