After accepting the astonishing fact that Hanuman had split in half, the senior monks met to determine how to make what seemed like a disaster into a boon, something Gurudeva was always modeling and teaching to us--see Siva's Will in all that happens, the good as well as the bad.


In consultation with the Sivacharyas of Tamil Nadu, the temple sthapati Selvanathan Sthapati and the great Pundit Sabharatnam of Chennai, we devised a plan that would meet Gurudeva's wish.

The plan called for capturing the artistry and darshan of the stone and turning it into bronze. It is revealed that the broken stone is a gift, because the bronze Hanuman that will rise in its place is even more remarkable. The stone Hanuman was quite similar to the stone Dakshinamurthi, both 13 feet tall. Having Dakshinamurthi in granite and Hanuman in bronze makes each one more special. And, bronze will also last for 1,000 years. Plus the bronze will have more delicate details, details that were impossible in the granite sculpting. Holly added refinements impossible to achieve with a hammer and chisel. A masterpiece of this scale, in bronze, will be a marvel far into what Gurudeva liked to call "The future of futures."

We flew the master sculptress Holly Young to the island twice. The first visit Holly molded the granite stone on the front side. In April of 2017 she returned after we had hired a giant crane to turn Hanuman over, so Holly could capture the back side. It's a tedious task, requiring extremely careful work so all the future metal parts will fit right. It also requires much chemical and materials knowledge, layers and layers of painting on various coats of goo and waiting for the layer to dry before the next one goes on.

In all Holly made 65 molds which were sent to Loveland, Colorado to a team that is arguably America's greatest bronze experts. That story in Chapter Five.

Enjoy the sight and sound of stones being chipped and placed for Iraivan Temple and its Nandi Mandapam

Over this last week the silpis have installed all 12 of the pillars for Iraivan Temple's Nandi Mandapam. As mentioned in a previous post, each of these pillars represent a full six months of carving. With the mandapam well under way, the team is also making headway with the three stone steps that sit at the entrance to the Temple. It truly is a wonderful site to have Iraivan Temple moving closer and closer to completion with each set stone.

Aum Namah Sivaya. Sivaya Namah Aum

Aum Gam Ganapataye Namah!

For the last month we've recorded Lord Ganesha each day just following His 3:00am abhishekam and alankaram. Please enjoy these images of this great and powerful Lord of Dharma.

(The text throughout the slideshow are excerpts from the Ganapatyatharsirsham, a translation from Sanskrit by Dr. Vasant Lad)

A short visual journey from a small lava tube in the Wailua River up to the majestic, hand-carved Iraivan Temple.

On this auspicious day of the summer solstice, we held a short blessing for the installation of first of 12 pillars which will stand in Iraivan Temple's Nandi Mandapam. In the late morning, Satguru and the monks gathered at the temple for the event. Satguru placed gems and the first trowel of mortar for this initial pillar and Sannyasin Yoginathswami performed a short Ganesha puja. The pillar was then raised into place with great precision. For perspective, it takes one carver six months to create just one of these pillars. If one person were to have done all these pillars, it would have taken them six years. Even if one were to do this carving with a machine it would still take them one one and a half months to complete.

Satguru Bodhinatha recently came back from malaysia, and while he was there he visited the samadhi shrine of Natha siddhar Swami Jaganatha in the town of Tapah, where there is currently a renovation going on. We are connected to Swami in a mystical way, and we wrote about it in Hinduism Today in 1987.

Our slideshow today contains a blogpost from http://agathiyarvanam.blogspot.com/2013/07/jeganatha-swamigal-jeganatha-swamigal.html

The short article from Hinduism Today is below:

Swami Jaganatha was born in Puri, India, two years after the American War of 1812-a time when the British were establishing a mercantile beachhead in India. He died 145 years later, in 1959, in the emerald jungles of Tapah, Malaysia-his physical home a small, rude hut far from civilization, his spiritual home the infinite realms of Siva consciousness.

He lived in Tapah some 78 years, originally migrating out of India to Burma when he was 18, performing body-numbing tapas (austerities to accelerate soul unfoldment) and finally crossing into Malaysia in his late 60's. Swami Jaganatha was a siddha par excellence of the Natha Sampradaya (tradition of the Siva masters). He left a legacy of pinnacle spiritual achievement for all Malaysia Hindus and a posthumous prophecy of international scope that bore true. Few knew him personally. He mainly strode the corridors of our dream-world, the realities of the Devaloka surrounding this planet.

Finding him was difficult enough even if he inwardly wanted to see you. And the jungle and Japanese soldiers in occupation kept the fainthearted away. But some came. And if they could stand the tests of their own mind they followed Jaganatha as Sat Guru. One such earnest seeker was K.S. Gurusamy Pillai.
Gurusamy Pillai recounts his first meeting: "Some people commented, 'Why do you want to meet the madman who goes about dressed only in a loin cloth and always mumbling to himself!' The hut was almost completely grown over with vines and creepers. The swami asked me to first thank the man who had called him a madman. I sat on a low table. Then swami locked the door. Soon after, the swami disappeared and a cobra descended from the ceiling hissing loudly and, strangely, the hissing sounded like Aum. I was in great fear. Then the swami appeared, and the snake coiled back up to the roof and out of sight."
Three months later Gurusamy Pillai revisited Jaganatha. The swami asked Pillai to write to a close disciple in Sri Lanka telling him to go see Yogaswami (a renowned Sat Guru of the Natha Sampradaya who died in 1964). Then Jaganatha predicted another "soul" from America called Subramuniya would come. "He would reside in Hawaii. Subramuniya will travel around the world and everyone will receive his darshan. Then I, too, will join him," the swami declared. And indeed Sivaya Subramuniya, born in America, look Yogaswami as his guru, founded Saiva Siddhanta Church (headquarters in Hawaii) and travels annually from the West to the East.

Reflections on Tour Day from a local shishya:

"It never ceases to amaze, the brilliance of our Gurudeva! He could have established his monastery on Kauai and remained remote, kept the gates locked and trained his monks in cloistered seclusion without any intrusion or distraction from the outside world. But he seized the opportunity to reach out to those from every walk of life and welcome them in. "Come in and look around, see how the monks live, see how they worship and live, and what they believe—that the soul is a spark from God." It is a breath of fresh air for countless visitors. It is a sacrifice, having people walking through and around Kadavul, their monastery center, seven mornings a week, or for the guided tour—all over the property once a week. A big sacrifice for the quiet work that the monks do. But listening to our guests, their appreciation, their wonderment, in seeing such dedication to spiritual life and their appreciation for the positive message Hinduism has for the world—then you get it, you catch what Gurudeva could see as clear as the morning Sun."

For the first time in eight years, a puja was held for Iraivan temple's constuction. Satguru was there to bless the perimeter wall's first short-pillar which begins the placement of of the rest of the perimeter wall stones. He laid the first layer of concrete as well as placing some gems underneath.

Another blessing was given to the placement of the Nandi Mandapam's Gomukai. Truly a fantastic step in Iraivan's progress.