Jai Gurudeva!
Yesterday would have been Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s 93rd Jayanti. To celebrate the occasion, Natalie Levin sketched for us this wonderful portrait of Gurudeva.
Aum Namah Sivaya.

“To transcend the mind and reach the ultimate goal, seekers need the guidance of a satguru, an enlightened master who has followed the path to its natural end and can lead them to the Divine within themselves.” – Gurudeva

This morning we begin our winter season, the Moksha Ritau by raising our coral flag. This morning was also the Chitra Nakshatra, prior to the parade and flagrasing, monks and devotees attended a padapuja to Gurudeva in Kadavul Temple. This is the cool season, from mid-December to mid-April. It is the season of dissolution. The key word is resolution. Merging with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Metaphysics is the focus of study and intense investigation. The colors of this season are coral-pink, silver and all shades of blue and purple; coral for the Self within, silver and blue for illumination, and purple for enlightened wisdom. High above flies the coral flag, signaling Parashiva, Absolute Reality, beyond time, form and space.

The Moksha Ritau is a time of appreciation, of gratitude for all that life has given, and a time of honoring elders, those in the sannyasa stage of life.
Moksha Ritau is excellent for philosophical discussions, voicing ones understanding of the path through an enlightened intellect. In finance, it is the time for yearly accounting and reconciliation. On a mundane level it is a time of clearing attics, basements, garages, sheds, warehouses, workshops and desks, getting rid of unneeded things, of pruning trees, of streamlining life on the physical plane of reengineering.

Indivar Sivanathan offers this wonderful video of Gurudeva's 2019 Mahasamadhi celebrations. Aum.

This morning we observed the monthly occurrence of the chitra nakshatra with our usual padapuja to Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.

"When through meditation, we view the universe from the inside out, we see that there is not one thing out of place or wrong. This releases the human concepts of right and wrong, good and bad." Gurudeva

Our October 2019 covers recent event at Kauai Aadheenam including: the progress on Iraivan Temple construction; our 2019 Ayudha puja; the installation of three large stone chains and the observance of our 2019 Mahasamadhi celebrations.

Jai Gurudeva!

Following another day of classes, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, the monks and pilgrims all gathered together in Kadavul Temple for a homa and final abhishekam to Gurudeva to conclude our 2019 festivities. Kumar Gurukkal performed the ceremony with the help from the monks and Satguru.

"The Self God is within all of this. It is beyond all bodies. It is beyond all form. It is beyond all intellect, beyond time, beyond space. That is the big realization on this planet, the thing that should be yearned for, sought for; all desires should be pointed in that direction. And then, once realized, you live out the life of the physical body and do what you can do in service to your fellow man, who is also coming along the same path that you have walked on before. All knowing also is right within you." - Gurudeva

On the second day of our Mahasamadhi Celebrations, Satguru, monk and pilgrims joined together at Kadavul Temple in the early morning for a padapuja to Gurudeva. It began with a round of Sri Rudram and concluded with a short puja performed by Yogi Jayanatha and Yogi Dayanatha. That was followed by a short meditation and some singing. After breakfast, the next activity was a late-morning class with Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami. One item Swami presented was the profundity behind the form of Siva known as "Sadasiva." As it happed to work out, the lovely bronze Sadasiva, created by artist Natalie Levin in Tucson, arrived at the Aadheenam on the first day of our festivities. Swami brought the group out to see the statue in its current, temporary location. Aum.

Jai Gurudeva!

Yesterday we began our 2019 Mahasamadhi celebrations in honor of Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Pilgrims from around the world arrived over this last few days for the event which began with an early morning homa in Kadavul Temple. Devotees then enjoyed a class with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and in their afternoon took some time to explore the grounds, do sadhana and more. Aum Namah Sivaya.

"Seeking for God in the depths of one's being through control of the mind, control of one's thoughts, feelings and emotions, gives birth to the highest qualities of nature." - Gurudeva

It has been raining every day for weeks. This poses a challenge for the Deva and Tandu because the sizing/varnish on Gurudeva takes forever to dry. After two weeks they are back on the job.

It was in June, 2009, when the team from Michael Kramer's Gilding Studio came to Kauai to put the gold leaf on Iraivan. At that time they trained our members on how it was done. We also gilded the statue of Gurudeva at the same time. He has been sitting in Kadavul temple for 10 years. Flowers, malas, fingers touching his feet... all this gradually wore the gold leaf away. Kulapati Deva Seyon and Tandu Sivanathan having taken on the task of re-gilding him.