It was an amazing day at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, with magical happenings from dawn to dusk.

The morning began with Chitra Pada puja for Gurudeva.

Chanting Sri Rudram

This magnificent trident was a gift to Gurudeva from a jeweler in Salem, India. He and his wife were without children for many years and after meeting Gurudeva and expressing their desire were blessed with a child.

In gratitude he crafted this pure silver Trisula, which now stands next to Gurudeva’s shrine as the traditional temple guardian location of Bhairava Siva, just inside the temple doors.

Following the Padapuja for Gurudeva this morning, the focus of the day shifted to Iraivan, where the monastics and silpis began working on the raising of eight new pillars.

Bodhinatha is on site for the ceremonious installation of the first Yalli pillar.

Our mighty team of Siddhidata Kulam monks have everything ready.

All set for the puja.

Special rigging has been prepared in advance.

Upright and blessed.

The base is consecrated…

Gold and silver coins, and the 9 gems are placed in a small hole.

Now… up….

and… down…

Bodhinatha breaks a coconut to mark the auspicious moment.

Bodhinatha passes out to the silpis the traditional dakshina: cash bonus.

These will be the formal entrance to Iraivan, with pilgrims of the future walking between the two giants.

Amazingly, Kauai’s most gifted photographer just happened by. Here the crew that placed them poses for a portrait. That’s Tim Dela Vega in the blue shirt and green cap with the camera. He arrived just in time.

In the center is our crane operator Larry Conklin, who is now an adept in handling the stones for Iraivan. He wanted his friend Vard in California to know how much he appreciated everything that Vard passed on to him in working through the years. The expertise that Vard gave him has helped immensely in this delicate work here in Hawaii.

The creatures on the pillar, called yalli, are said to be seven different animals in a single beast with a lion’s body and an elephant’s head.

The monks return to the Aadheenam as the crane lift continues. Beside the two Yalli Pillars, six smaller chitra pillars went up today.

Meanwhile, at the Aadheenam, many, many visitors were arriving. Kadavul temple was full. A wedding party from Canada, has come to Kauai. The daughter of a Sri Lankan family has come to have the wedding on the island and receive the blessings of the Aadheenam. Here is Subramania Gurukkal from Edmonton who will perform the wedding ceremony tomorrow in Anahola.

When Iyer was just a boy of 8 years old, he was playing with other boys near his village temple in Sri Lanka, when an old man lying on a cot nearby called for him.

In trepidation he approached the white hair beared man who then told him one day he would be a big Gurukkal of a Ganesha Temple in Canada. “For now go and play,” said Siva Yogaswami.

20 years later Subramania Gurukkal came to Gurudeva’s ashram in Alaveddy, where he met Paramacharya Ceyonswami and began teaching him the Parartha Sivapuja. Then not long after the war broke out, Gurudeva helped Iyer move with his family to Canada where he has lived ever since as the head priest of the Edmonton Ganesha Temple.

This is Tim Dela Vega’s cousin, Phil Atwood. Phil has worked for Apple Computer in Cupertino for the last 27 years. He is currently the head analyst in the support organization for the MacBook Pro. He has the unusual and important job of gathering data from support calls and repairs, as well as actual sample computers exhibiting problems, analyzing them and then suggesting to the engineers what changes need to be made in the physical design and firmware of the computer to make it operate better and last longer, focusing on getting those changes in to each next production batch. He’s full of smiles, happy to be here on this special day and to talk tech with the monks. He spend most of the morning watching stones being placed at the temple site.

Meanwhile, Robert Brown, now known as Tandava, helps in the archiving of the publication photos.

Then, back to the temple… another chitra pillar goes up.

The creatures on the pillar, called yalli, are said to be a congomerate of different animals all blending together at the time of the Pralaya or dissolution of all forms back into their essence.

Careful alignment of these pillars is mission critical. The goal is to get them perfectly centered in line with the pillars that were previously set by the architect from India.

It was a many splendored day at Kauai Aadheenam!