A few days ago Ramai Santhirapala received her Samaya Diksha, hearing the sacred Panchakshara Mantra and special instructions for daily japa sadhana from the lips of the Satguru. In the Saiva Siddhanta tradition this moment of diksha is considered a crucial point in the long journey of the soul, when the Lord Siva's Power of Revealing Grace comes down to the devotee through the form of the Satguru, opening the door and the opportunity and means to liberation. Ramai has been working hard to prepare herself for this day and will take the blessings back to her Ganga Niliyam in London. Jai to our Beloved Gurudeva! Jai to our Light-filled Bodhinatha! Jai to our Grace-giving Mahalingeshvara!

From Gurudeva's Saiva Dharma Shastras:

Samaya diksha, also called mantra diksha, is the fundamental Saiva initiation, for through it the devotee is formally connected to a particular lineage by virtue of the preceptor's spiritual power and authority. The sutras of Living with Siva carefully prepare the novitiate for samaya diksha. All initiates instruct newcomers not just intellectually but more by example. Novitiates are instructed in how to transform themselves by themselves through daily puja, temple worship, attending festivals, tithing, vegetarianism, pilgrimage, scriptural reading, Gang sadhana and more. Samaya diksha is the blessing and empowering to enter the kriya pada and perform certain daily sadhanas, including chanting the Panchakshara Mantra, Aum Nama Sivaya, each day at least 108 times on a mala of rudraksha japa beads.

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.

"What is your subconscious mind? Think about this for a minute. Realize that everything that has once passed through your conscious mind in the form of experience is resident right now within your subconscious."

Progress is steady with the new Siddhidata Kulam office and machine maintenance shop. The contractors have covered part of the roof and outside walls with metal sheets, installed windows and doors. The walled section in the photo is where the new office will be. There will be two flloors--office on the upper floor and dehumidified storage on the lower floor. Today our longtime devotee Easvan Param and his team are installing wall boxes for receiving the new electrical power.

Every once in a while during a major storm on Kauai or for other reasons, we lose power to the Aadheenam buildings. For decades we've had a gas generator that automatically turns on 17 seconds after the regular power goes out and it provides electricity to our central building including Kadavul Temple and the kitchen. Then it automatically turns off when the regular power grid returns back to normal. The generator was getting old and not working as well, so a close sishya donated a new one and installed it over the past couple days. We appreciate this stability-enhancing equipment.

This is Day 3 of the New Mahalingesvara Era. Everything is changed, only the Self beyond the Beyond remains unchanged, it seems. We wish to honor the Sivacharyars who performed their magic to install Mahalingesvara at Iraivan Temple. We asked Vivek Sivacharyar how many mantras he intoned during the 45 days of Mandala Puja and he said, "One lak, 20 thousand." That's 120,000 mantras. He added that that meny again were intoned by the Sivacharyars in March and again in May! The monks press their palms together to honor this noble clan.

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

"If we were alone in a desert, there would not be much of the conscious mind present. Our emotions would subside. Our perceptions would be keen and uncluttered. Our senses would awaken. Our reality would be mostly an inner reality. We would have to call upon our inner resources to subsist. But as soon as a city grew up around us with hundreds of people in it, we would experience the development of a vast conscious mind, for everyone would contribute just a little bit to it. Problems, projects, confusions and involvements of every kind would assert themselves, absorbing our awareness"

Jai Ganesha!
Jai Kailasa Parampara!
Jai Gurudeva!
Jai Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami!
Om Namah Shivaya!

Today our Mandala puja events concluded. This morning began at 6am with the sankalpam and a Ganesha Puja. Again the homas were kindled and the Deities invoked at the yagasala. This included a Panchakshara and Pancha Brahma Homa. As the final event, the mathavasis passed 1008 kumbhas into the shrine to be poured over Mahalingeshwara. More images and video of the events to come over the next week.

"We never outgrow temple worship. It simply becomes more profound and meaningful as we progress through four spiritual levels." - Gurudeva

Here are photos of the next set of pujas. Yesterday afternoon was the first kala homas in the yagasala. Five different shapes of homa kundas were operating simultaneously, each representing one of Sadasiva's faces-- Isana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Vamadeva and Sadjyotata.

Surrounding the large middle kumbha are 108 little conches in preparation for Sangu abhishekam.

Silpis were honored at the end of the evening with shawls commemorating the event.

This morning we began at 8am in Kadavul Temple with the priests performing the Bhutashuddhi ritual-- self-purification and "becoming Siva", as it were. This was the first time for many of the priests to visit Kadavul Temple, an important moment.

After that we paraded out to Iraivan Temple, and began blessing the 1008 small kumbhas placed in clusters around the sides. During this time, Satguru was honored with another shawl, and then he honored chief priest Kumar Gurukal with a shawl and rudraksha mala. The priests thanked Satguru for his support of the United States Sivacharyars Association since they launched in 2016.

After that we experienced a marathon of chanting Sri Rudram eleven times. The priests chanted very fast, and anyone else who chants Rudram tried to join and keep up! We then proceeded back to the yagasala for the second kala homas.

A short clip of the Mandala Puja events taking place this week at Iriavan Temple. This is the yagasala where five special homa kundas are kindled as per Agamaic tradition.

Led by Kumar Gurukal, nine Sivacharya priests arrived yesterday and today, bringing the total to eleven who are now performing the last of the 45-day Mandala Pujas post installation of the sphatika Mahalingeswara. Of the priests is Anand Sivacharya who officiates at the Concord, California Murugan Temple that we used to own and run. He has wanted to come here for so long, never having visited before.

They began yesterday afternoon, May 8th, with a beautiful Ganesha puja and homa, replete with vigorous chanting.

This morning, May 9th, consisted of the Vastu Shanti pujas to purify all the spaces. It included Panchakavya puja which honors all the substances produced by the cow, and a Bhumi puja which was performed in front of Dakshinamurti and honors Mother Earth.
While all this was happening, many of the devotees were helping with a huge task of preparing 1008 kumbhas to be offered in abhishekam on the final morning, May 11th. We couldn't husk that many coconuts, so we are using oranges instead.

This group of priests have formed the "United States Sivachariyars Association" and created a printed shawl to honor their coming here to perform Mandalabhishekam.