Over the years we have released short videos chronicling the all-stone Iraivan Temple’s origins and progress. A longer documentary was created quite some time ago by a well-wisher. Forty-eight years have passed since the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s initial vision of God Siva to begin the process, and 33 years since the first granite stone block was chiseled in Bengaluru, India.

After the soft-opening consecration in March of this year to begin daily pujas in Iraivan Temple, we commissioned videographers to create an updated documentary film of the whole project through that point. Having completed months of coordination and editing of photo, video and audio resources, we are pleased to release the documentary now.

Join the Live Premiere!

You are cordially invited to a live debut on October 28th at 1pm Hawaii time (HST). Please save this link in your calendar for viewing. It will be made available on here on our youtube channel.

In the Meantime…
Please enjoy this short trailer!

Two events in one post:
1) A couple weeks ago Island School made their annual student field trip over here as part of studying world religions. They also visited other religions' places of worship on the island.
Isani Alahan gave a tour which included attending part of the Siva puja in Iraivan Temple. Most of these photos were taken by 8th grade teacher Pat Gegen. He reported afterwards, "Thank You again for the wonderful tours you provide for us and our students and the wisdom and insights into better understanding Hinduism as practiced here on Kauai. I continue to learn more every year and it is always a highlight for the students."

2) The other day we affixed a kalasam to the top of the small Ganesha shrine on San Marga path. A Ganesha murti will be officially installed inside in the coming weeks.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

"Intense desire for spiritual unfoldment eventually manifests itself in a breakthrough of actinic will, which permeates the subconscious mind of the devotee until he completely identifies himself as an actinic being. This happens from within the deeper realms of man’s mind and eventually manifests itself into consciousness, then into thought patterns and then finally into speech and action. Actinic will also appears from the transference of desire from material objects and activity into finding some real solution within oneself for the eventual quest of all men: peace of mind."

Each day in Siva's Sacred Gardens something magical is there to surprise and inspire. Nature's beauty and complexity are truly miraculous, if we but keep a wonder-filled heart and eye, alert to and aware of Siva's presence in it all, working from deep inside.

Here we share a couple of blooms from today, coupled with some interesting quotes about reincarnation....

This morning the silpis and monks observed Ayudha Puja at the small carving site located on the property. Pravinkumar performed the puja for everyone present.

"Ayudha Puja" simply translates to "implement worship," and is performed on Vijayadashami - the day immediately following the last night of Navaratri.

At this time, whatever items used to do his or her profession or other duties are cleaned well, adorned with vibhuti, chandanam, and kumkum, flowers, etc. and offered arati and incense. Any tool that is personally or professionally vital to the devotee is blessed. This could include computers, motorcycles, power saws, dish washers, calculators, musical instruments, theatre make up, farming trackers, etc. In this case it was for the tools that the siplis use to do their incredible carving.

The blessings of Goddess Saraswati are invoked, as well as Lord Ganesha. Everyone enjoyed sweet rice following the worship.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

"When the superconscious forces diminish, the subsuperconscious mind, in effect, recedes from the actual consciousness of the devotee, and he becomes simply conscious of his subconscious mind. In the very same way, from time to time, the conscious mind overshadows the subconscious mind, and the devotee becomes conscious fully in the external world, the subconscious mind receding from his conscious awareness of it. Therefore, the object of the devotee is to control the materialistic forces and the impressions that they create in his mind, so that he can become consciously conscious in the state of mind he chooses."

Today we take you behind the scenes to glimpse the process of creating art for our books. We show Art #3 (there are 10 in this series) which is a canvas showing biographical milestones in the saint's life.

The middle part of Tayumanavar's life is summarized here in four scenes. Seated at the style of desk from those days, he works as the finance minister for King Nayak, performing well the duties of an accountant and advisor. Having been sent back to the world by Maunaguru, he marries. Shortly after the birth of his son, Tayumanavar's mother passes away, and not much later his wife makes her great departure into a world of light. After conducting their funeral rites, the sage ponders the fleeting nature of life. Drawn to the renunciate's life, he determines he is not fit to raise his young son. With difficulty, he gives his possessions and the boy's care to his brother and his brother's wife, leaving the world behind. He adopts the life of a wandering sadhu. In the center the artist shows him seated in his simple hut, practicing yogic sadhanas. After Guru diksha, he experiences Self Realization, shown here as Siva's divine body merging with the sage. It is a foundational principle in Saiva Siddhanta that the efforts of the seeker, no matter how profound or disciplined, are not sufficient for realizing the Absolute. That final step on the spiritual path to perfect unity must be a gift of grace from God Siva.

The following Before and After slider shows the artist's sketch sent for approval, and his final work, fully colorized. Move the slider back and forth to see the effect. You may notice we had the artist add the sage to the lower right scene where he is giving his son into the care of his brother's family.

Completing another stage of construction on the new maintenance/office/storage building, the team spent a few days painting the sheetrock walls of several downstairs storage rooms. Some of these rooms will be dehumidified for storing sensitive material.

With lots of dry weather perfect for outdoor construction projects, much progress is being made with laying down rock and gravel on the San Marga entrance path to Iraivan Temple. Working backwards from the river, employee Dennis has completed up to and around Muruga Hill.

Today the Rudraksha edition of our magazine arrived from Moscow. Each issue the team there translates the articles, ports the text to our InDesign layout, adds local ads and sometimes a fresh article, the prints and distributes in Russia. An amazing beacon of light in the nation's difficult times. This is the same team that has translated and printed Gurudeva's full trilogy, plus Loving Ganesha, Path to Siva and more. What dedication can do!