The lovely spring weather brings with it the opportunity to spend more time giving tours out and about the sacred gardens, and of course Iraivan Temple could be one of the greatest things to see now that the silpis are back.
Dato Vijay Eswaran and his wife Umayal are visiting from Malaysia and excited to see the Nandi Mandapam, completely sponsored by the couple.

The monastery is in full motion for our short four day phase followed by a long three day retreat.

The silpi's just arrived from Bengaluru to begin the finishing work on Iraivan Temple.

After months of visa coordination, on-site clearing, cleaning and preparation, the last batch of silpi artisans arrive on Kauai. Today they are getting settled in to their new home and start orientation tomorrow.

Yoginathaswami reports that the first objective will be to check where we left off all those years ago and measure critical markings on the Nandi Mandapam again so we can establish accurate continuity.

Much more to come from Iraivan in the days ahead. This is an exciting time to say the least.

The monks are now beginning their work week. In the world this is usually called Monday, however in the monastery's lunar calendar today is Sun 1 and we will work until Sun 5 before having our version of a "weekend" consisting of "stars."

The Ganapati Kulam's office building, the Media Studio, is undergoing more refinements with the help of shishyas Aditya Vinadhara and Jnanideva Cevel. The two will help for several weeks on our taskforce program.

The mighty Siddhidata Kulam are rounding up granite stones and moving them in place for the next batch of silpis who arrive in just a few weeks. The foundation of Iraivan is getting cleared for work, and that means moving some serious crate collections that have built up over the years. Luckily our monastic staff has forklifts, big-wheel trucks and gas-powered pressure washers to get the work done swiftly. Here's a small slideshow of their recent effort.

One of the most recent additions to the monastery is this grand new entry sign welcoming people upon arrival. For scale you can see the older sign below the large one, most definitely an improvement.

The photo of Sadasiva you see here is not a photo at all. It is a 3-D digital image, part of a remarkable process that has been happening for over a year. So remarkable, auspicious and miraculous, in fact, that it has been awarded the 2018 Monks' Superlative Achievement Award for Amazing and Awesome Accomplishments. Not an award we give lightly.

In sum, this image was scanned from a small, 14" tall sculpture lovingly envisioned and crafted by two long-term supporters of Gurudeva's work and the monastery and its magical spaces. The small statue is called a maquette in the art world, a diminutive version of what will eventually be a larger work.

The miniature (which has as you see astounding detail for its size) was scanned with state-of-the-art technology as the slideshow reveals. It will be scaled up to 54" tall and then a 3-D printer will slowly build the sculpture at the final size. That will be fine-tuned by the artist and a mold made for casting the sculpture in bronze. It takes dozens of skilled artisans to bring such a master work into manifestation.

It is to be a gift to Siva's Sacred Garden and will ultimately be shipped to the monastery for installation and for all future pilgrims to encounter this most mystical and mysterious form of the Divine. Indeed, there may be no image of God with such profound meanings.

If you want to explore the full depth of Sadasiva, you can find it here at the Hinduism Today website where we did a major story on this traditional form.


The highly-illustrated PDF with all the amazing art and charts can be downloaded here

Meanwhile, join us in putting our palms together in gratitude to the couple who is creating it, and enjoy more about Sadasiva in the following slideshow. Aum Namasivaya!

After a long rest in Hawaii, Iraivan Temple construction picked up today with a new arrival of granite stones--one of the last shipments needed. Soon all of the stones will be here on Kauai and 40ft containers of granite will be a thing of the past. Our stone carvers are also expected to arrive in a few weeks to begin the final touches and placement of the Nandi Mandapam, perimeter wall and general spot-checks. 2018 is going to be an exciting year.

Our team in India is hard at work getting the last of Iraivan's stones to Kauai where they will be put together by the next batch of silpis. Both the silpis and the stones are expected to arrive early next year.