Construction finally wrapped up on what is affectionally known as the "Way Back Room," which is attached to the previously constructed "Back Room," which itself is attached to the longstanding Pillaiyar Kulam administrative desk space rooms. A few days ago they help a simple puja to sanctify the new spaces, wrapping up about six years of extending the original building to add storage rooms for holding most of our publications and Minimela inventory. Next they will begin moving items in here and reorganizing all the rooms to make everything categorized properly and easily accessible.

One of our Master Course trilogy students in India, Madan Ganesh, was inspired to voice the Tamil  translation of Path to Siva lessons and, with the help of his family, accompany the audio with slides of images from the book. The three parts are now available on our youtube channel:

The new steel building has entered a new phase, with another team working on the framing of the interior office and equipment/storage spaces. A three-man carpentry crew is making progress with the walls, staircase and floors. This additional space, carefully designed to be super efficient, will help the monks to tackle land and construction projects into the far future. It has the additional benefit to the monastery of placing the sometimes noisy maintenance and building tasks far from the living quarters.

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.

"We have to adjust our subconscious to the idea that we are a superconscious being, rather than an instinctive being or an intellectual being driven by the impulses of the five senses. Awareness is the core of us. If we dropped off this physical body today, we would be a superconscious being without a physical body. If we stepped into another physical body tomorrow, we would still be a superconscious being, but with another physical body, different than the one we had yesterday, with an entirely new subconscious and new external environment."

Gurudeva gave us the Shum word nimu to describe "a devotee, a peaceful person." Nimu is also an African Grey parrot, recently gifted to the monastery and welcomed by all the monks. This is perhaps the smartest parrot of them all, the one that speaks meaningfully and contextually. Check out this YouTube video to see how smart they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yGOgs_UlEc

Our Nimu is just 3-4 months old, still a fledgling, a baby (he hatched around the same time Iraivan Temple was consecrated). He lives in the Media Studio, and will soon have a larger aviary as well. He attends all of the morning meetings of the Ganapati Kulam and we find him an adorable member of the team.

Three days ago, he said his first word: "Nimu!" However, You can imagine our worry when just a few hours later, he was on Tillainathaswami's shoulder taking his regular walk between our buildings when he was startled by an electric vehicle. Nimu has trimmed flight feathers (a law for large birds in Hawaii), but off he flew! Right, he was not supposed to fly; he was a baby who has never flown, and his flight feathers wouldn't fully regrow for another year, but fly he did. Off he went hundreds of feet into the wilderness. A 10-monk search team (complete with a drone) failed to find him, and we thought him lost. It is extremely rare for a baby bird unfamiliar with an area to be able to navigate well enough to return, or even survive at all.

The next day, after prayers in the temple and a special outreach to Detaza (the deva who can find anything), a small miracle occurred when a clumsy-looking, chubby bird was seen passing overhead. Upon calling his name, he would squeak back. We did this over and over until we found him, up some 100 feet in a tree. Since he doesn't really know how to fly yet, he doesn't know how to descend. All he could do is go from tree to tree, trying to get a little lower each time. After lots of coaxing, he gained the courage to fly to a lower tree, a palm tree, another lower tree, another palm tree, and then finally dropped into Tillainathaswami's arms (see video of this moment).

Traumatized by a night alone in the rain and darkness, and tremendously hungry, he gulped down his grain/seed slurry, getting half of it inside and half of it on his feathered body. So a warm shower ensued, and lots of "welcome back" with a little party for the monks to celebrate his return. This morning, Nimu was back at the morning meeting, seeming to appreciate it more than ever. We certainly appreciated him more than ever.

The moment Nimu makes it back after a day of being lost:

The path from rudraksha grove to Iraivan Temple is finally being paved so that pilgrims can walk safely. In between some rainouts and other responsibilities, our longtime earthworker Dennis Wong is making good progress with laying down rocks first, and then gravel on top. He is beginning with the most difficult section which stretches from the svayambhulingam (under white tent in photo), down the hill, through the rainbow eucalyptus grove, around a corner to the flight of steps leading up to Iraivan, and also a bit beyond that to a stream. After that, he will work backwards up the straight portion of San Marga path towards Muruga Hill and beyond.

After the rock and gravel is laid, the plastic grid will go down, which is then topped with soil and grass planted in it. It will look much prettier than a cement path, and also less expensive.

We have a small flock of nene geese now hanging out on our Aadheenam property in various places. Short description from wikipedia-- The nene, also known as the nēnē or the Hawaiian goose, is a species of bird endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The nene is exclusively found in the wild on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Molokai, and Hawaii. In 1957, it was designated as the official state bird of the state of Hawaii.

Today our peripetetic photographer roamed and captured a handful of the many botanical exhibitions in the garden. The amazing thing about a mature garden is that it is different each day, always something new, something blossoming, something growing high above in the trees.

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

"As we study the mystical teachings of our religion, we begin to reprogram the subconscious mind and mold it like we mold clay. We become more conscious of our fears. We tell ourselves, “There is nothing to be afraid of. There is not one thing to be afraid of.” We are able to talk to the subconscious mind in this way. It is called affirmation. “I am a fearless being. I am a fearless being,” we keep saying to ourselves time and time and time again. In affirming this truth we begin reeducating or reprogramming the subconscious mind. Finally, we begin to remove the layers upon layers covering the soul."

Activities at the Spiritual Park in Mauritius are moving forward dynamically, with classes, catalyst training, translations, satsangs and physical improvements at the seven-acre sanctuary where the river meets the ocean. Additionally, preparations ar underway to receive our two swamis in September for five days, a rare visit by Sadasivanathaswami and Tillainathaswami.