A small hula halau came to dance near the Wailua River, especially to chant the famed and historic Pihanakalani Hawaiian chant. They were so grateful to be on the sacred land, to chant and drum and dance with the forest as their witness. They brought a traditional gift for the monastery, wrapped in ti leaves as in days of yore. 

Last night the monastery had more than four inches of rain again! Wai in Hawaiian means water, and waiwai means wealth. It's true, all life and abundance comes from water.

Doing a damage-control tour just now (none), the monks captured this vista in Rishi Valley, from which you can see four of the 20 waterfalls! And the cocoa colored run-off waters from the deluge.

"No life on Earth can exist without water, and water's ceaseless flow cannot exist without rain." Kural 20

Each year Kauai holds its local farm fair, and each year the monastery participates in its own small way. This year the monks were asked to give the opening blessing for the 3 day event. Acharya Arumuganathaswami and Sannyasin Yoginathaswami attended. Following a short blessing, which included chanting and reading of quotes from the Tirukkural about farming, the monks presented Roy Oyama and his family with shawls. Roy was being honored at this year's fair for his vast contributions to Kauai's farming community. We also had our Wailua River Noni Juice on display at the Kauai Grown booth which only carries locally produced products.

KURAL 1031
Wherever it may wander, the world follows the farmer’s plow. Thus despite all its hardships, farming is the foremost occupation.
KURAL 1032
Farmers are the linchpin of the world, for they support all who take up other work, not having the strength to plow.
KURAL 1033
Those who live by the plow live in self-sufficiency. All others lean on them to simply subsist.
KURAL 1034
Those whose fields lie shaded by abundant sheaves of grain will see many nations overshadowed by their own.
KURAL 1035
Those who eat food harvested with their own hands will never beg and never refuse a beggar’s outstretched palm.
KURAL 1036
When plowers of the fields stand idly with folded arms, even desireless ascetics will not last long.

Today 18 elders visited the Aadheenam from the Kalaheo Senior center. Some of them have visited before with the center and looked forward to seeing the progress. Others had visited back in the days of the "Tropical Inn" before Gurudeva purchased the property. While under the large banyan tree one of Japanese decent reminisced of the days when there were many such giant trees on the island. They could swing out into the ocean on a rope tied to the branches and swim back to shore. However, during WWII, the large trees were cut down to protect the shores from potential hiding places for enemy troops along the costal shores.
It is always enriching to share the beauty of the temple with our island residents.

Molly Leon, a professional photographer, poet and blogger was one of our visitors recently and shared these beautiful photos with us. Please check her out at mollyleonstudios.com

With great enthusiasm, the monastery welcomed the two-day visit of Swami Aksharananda of Guyana. Swami has mixed with us at the annual HMEC meetings in the US and recently at the World Hindu Congress in New Delhi. Swami came with a mission, to help the  500 students in his school. He is eager to engage them more in Hindu studies and finds the Himalayan Academy books and resources the best out there for this work. Swami also has formally invited Bodhinatha to come to Guyana, meet his teachers and students, give talks and uplift the 300,000 Hindus in the nation. Swami told the monks during lunch that they probably do not know how deeply their work and life here affects the wider world. He said Gurudeva's ashram is unique in all the world, both for keeping the H-word in its vocabulary and for genuinely embracing and supporting all of the sampradayas in a truly universal spirit. We could add that Swami's own heart is of that same spirit. Swami Aksharananda is a key figure in the Hindu community of Guyana. As a Hindu scholar and Prinicipal of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) High School, he was honored by Vishwa Adhyayan Kendra and Keshav-Srishti on Friday January 4, 2008 during a ceremony at the Alkesh Mody Auditorium, Kalina Campus, Mumbai. Swami was honored for his work in the areas of education and social service in Guyana. He has an MA in Sanskrit from Banaras Hindu University and PhD in Hindu Studies from the University of Madison, Wisconsin.

Over the three day retreat, Senthilnathaswami and Nilakanthanatha took our three taskforcers Adi, Vel and Roshan, and our upakurvana, Sivarathna, on an outing to the other side of Kauai. While the east side of the island is lush and green, the west side is much dryer. The group traveled to the town of Waimea, where they took the road up the mountain to see Waimea Canyon. They enjoyed lunch together in Kokee park, visited the Kalalau lookout--which was unfortunately cloudy--and then went for a hike through the mountain forests.

Yesterday, three of the monks made a short visit to Kauai's annual farm fair. It is one of the largest events held on the island each year. The fair draws thousands of people from around the island to enjoy the food, carnival rides, animals, crafts, booths and the vegetable, orchid and bonsai competitions.

Recently the monastery was visited by the Kawakini kindergarden class. Just a few months ago a Kawakini middle school class also visited. It is a unique school in that until 5th grade, the only language used is Hawaiian.

The class offered a chant to Ganesha at the entrance, had a short tour, posed for a photo at the flagpole and met Kashi, our new bull calf.

Yesterday, Satguru Bodhinatha was invited as a Guest to the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay. Rotary International is a service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Bodhinatha gave a light-hearted, 25 minute talk and spoke about the various ways the monastery gives to the local community, most of which are unknown to many Kauai residents. Bodhinatha also discussed the progress of Iraivan Temple and our agricultural land, Himalayan Acres. The group had very good questions about Hinduism and the charitable works of the Monastery.