It is the last day of a short 4-day phase. We had our guest day tour… Iraivan is “in the air” with silpis in India about to go to the US Embassy for Visas to travel here…

Meanwhile we have another set of photos from Bodhinatha, Orlando mission. Jutikadevi sends them with captions…

Here is Bodhinatha in the evening at the temple in Florida… giving a talk to a several hundred devotees in the auditorium. (story continues further down…)

About thirty guests on the tour today..

This young man has a good strong arm…

Sthapati is a great spokesman for India’s ancient tradition of stone temple building.

Our silpis have perfected their weekly “show”… it’s really fascinating to watch how they work.

A travel magazine recently ran this article. The reporter describes her visit and experiences.

I was late for my appointment at Kauai s Hindu Monastery, and I practically flew through its trellised entry. Barreling along at a 21st-century pace, I suddenly felt like a bull in a china shop. Around me, a few men in flowing robes were sweeping and cleaning the grounds, moving gracefully in their jobs. Birds were singing in the breeze, and a rainbow hung in the light mist. A passer-by smiled and bowed to me, hands together, and I decided it was time to slow down.

Set in a tranquil upland Kauai forest, the 458-acre monastery casts a similar spell on most outsiders who pay a visit. While it maintains a low profile on the island, the transcendental destination is attracting growing numbers of people who visit out of respect, faith or simple curiosity. Almost everyone, however, comes to see its San Marga Iraivan Temple, a one-of-a-kind edifice under construction at the Wailua Valley retreat.

My guide was Saravananathaswami, one of the 20 monks who live, work, meditate and pray together at the monastery. He led me to a covered pavilion near the entrance and gave me some background as I perused informational displays.

The monastery was founded in 1970 by Hindu minister and teacher Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately called Gurudeva.

In 1975, Gurudeva had a vision of a new temple that would last 1,000 years and serve as a wonderful example of India s beauty in the Western world,  he said.

Since 1990, millions of pounds of granite have been quarried by hand in Bangalore, India. Massive blocks have been cut and shaped by master craftsmen, then shipped to Kauai, with the first pieces arriving in 2000.

It will take about seven years to assemble the temple, which will measure 100 feet long by 45 feet tall,  said Saravananathaswami. However, depending on the rate of fund raising, it will likely open a few years after that. 

Throughout construction, clients can see the growing white sanctuary firsthand during guided tours.

As we strolled through lush tropical gardens and enjoyed views of the Wailua River from on high, Saravananathaswami said that an average of 70 guests show up for each guided tour of the new temple.

Since we launched our Web site in the mid-1990s, more and more people have realized that there s something special going on here,  he said.

While a Web site at a rural monastery sounded like a contradiction in terms, it made sense when I peeked into a room full of high-tech computers where the monks publish a quarterly publication called Hinduism Today.

On the way to the new temple, we passed the monastery s existing house of worship, a small wooden temple with a colorful interior honoring the god Shiva. Visitors need not be Hindu to enter the temple and take part in a daily meditative ritual ceremony, which lasts about one hour.

Saravananathaswami led me along a footpath to the site of the new Hindu temple, and I heard a gentle tap-tap-tapping playing through the air like a musical prayer. Soon I saw the source of the sound. A small group of Indian craftsmen were rhythmically pounding enormous pieces of granite by hand, preparing them for placement in the temple. I touched the smooth white blocks, each carefully numbered, and held a few of the soft iron tools in my hands, marveling at the patience required for such a task.

Saravananathaswami showed me around the temple-in-construction, pointing out different design touches and describing what the building will eventually look like. Remarkably, the pieces of granite are being assembled without use of modern machinery or materials. Instead, they re held together by gravity.

There s nothing li
ke this anywhere else in the United States,  said Saravananathaswami.

The temple will be surrounded by groves of exotic sacred, medicinal, fragrant and decorative plants from around the world, he added.

As we said goodbye, I asked my new friend why Gurudeva chose Kauai for the realization of his vision.

He wanted a pure spot halfway between the East and West,  he explained. Our monastery is a place imbued with Asian overtones, in a remote U.S. location. India s pilgrimage sites are beautiful destinations far from big cities, places that take some effort to get to. This is the same sort of destination. 

Indeed, Kauai s Hindu Monastery is a lovely place to slow down and appreciate life s riches.

Devotees waiting to listen to Bodhinatha…

Diana, Robert Isaac, and their yoga student in the back, the Isaacs both are yoga teachers and live close by the temple they run the Lake Center Yoga. They both read Merging and Dancing with Siva for lunch everyday!

Jutikadevi runs our table of literature…

There were continuous visitors from Florida being dropped off by tourists vans with eager visitors every 5 minutes.

They got the guided tour of the temple. For many of them it was their first visit to a Hindu temple. They were all very fascinated.

Lord Venkatheswara is the main deity at homa tent.

Here is a group of devotees at one Homa pit, lead by Priest Anand Dixit from the Hindu temple of Ohio, he was brought here to perform ceremonies for Lord Krishna in the form of North Indian ceremonies.

He encouraged the devotees to be full of life by singing wonderful bhajans throughout the homa ceremonies.

Bodhinatha participates in the homa….

Bodhinatha seated to address the crowd in the evening.

His talks were very well received and there were quite a number of devotees who not naturally born Hindus who attended his talks.

By the entrance to the Auditorium, we set up a table so that anyone could come and sing up to receive their free informative Hindu Literature in the mail.

Back at the homa tent, Lord Venkatheswara was invoked for the coming day of the Maha Kumbhabhishekam.

Five other Swamis were present to also bless the event.