More today on the progress being made by the four-man team installing our dry wall. They are such concentrated workers, and a great team. From morning to night they never lose focus of the next thing, and they don't even converse among themselves except to get the work done. So you can imagine how efficient they are. A few photos of their work, and the mess they are making in the space!

What a wonderful surprise yesterday morning to encounter Chudika and Monty on the path. They are here for a week, Monty's first time in Hawaii. Monty is a policeman in a town south of San Diego.

Paramaguru Yogaswami's Ashram in Columbuthuri, Sri Lanka, has recently had an ornately carved gopuram installed out front. The gopuram reads: "Yogaswami's Samadhi Temple."
Yogaswami sits at its the center, facing towards Kauai Aadheenam.

"Bliss will come, if you remain still. Why then do you want this illusory world?
If you remain at the top you will see no difference. You can preach dharma only when you come down. If you remain at the top and see, everything will appear as one. That 'One' always remains pure. Nothing can pollute it. There is no guru and no disciple. All are That." - Yogaswami

Yesterday was chaturthi, the fourth day after the new moon. This is Lord Ganesha's day and is traditionally a time during which special worship is performed and a slightly more elaborate form of worship is conducted in his name. Our daily Ganesha abhishekam in Kadavul Temple occurs at 3AM and is carried out by one of the monks. Apart from our annual Ganesha Chaturthi festivities which are held each August-September, generally the monk performing this early morning abhishekam is the only soul who ever gets to witness it. In your absence from said puja, we offer these darshan photos of Lord Maha Ganapati of Kadavul Temple. May this sweet, jolly Lord fill your heart and mind with grace and upliftment. Om Gam Ganapataye Namah.

Today the Media Studio drywall is being installed. A local team is doing this work of transforming the building from one big space into several small ones. This truly is a big step in the process, which completely changes the interior, and moves us from one type of construction to another. The next big projects are to hang the ceiling, finish the doors and bathroom, put up the wallpaper, do the finishing work and cabinetry, and lay the flooring. Comparatively it feels like it's all downhill from here.

Gurudeva often spoke of the refinements of traditional cultures, in nations all over the world. Like many, he was unhappy to see some of those cultured ways of life abandoned. He wanted us, in wisdom and moderation, to hold onto the subtle sentiments expressed in such things as respecting others, serving humbly, deferring to the needs of others, and much of this is to be found in the Nandi Natha Sutras, those 365 couplets that guide our life.

So, it was fascinating when yesterday a CyberCadet sent the story below. It shows how culture used to be, and gives us a sense of how things have changed, and perhaps a hint about where they may be going. The slideshow is just fun, some old photos from Sweden so we can visually glimpse into the era that this story takes place in. Enjoy!


 "Today, I decided to begin to listen to one audio each day of both Bodhinatha's and Gurudeva's.'  I just finished listening to Bodhinatha's talk on "Karma Yoga".  In the part where he talks about treating your guests like gods...he says it is most polite to ask four times for them to stay.

     It prompted me to share this story with the monks.

     I was recently gifted with this rare, unpublished book.  It was written by my Swedish grandmother's aunt who was born in 1873.  She is writing her mother's story, my Great, Great Grandma.
     
     Here are some excerpts from the book that were reminiscent, to me, of the Hindu ways of hospitality...

    "Mother's Story"

    "Even to strangers was there a kind, warm-hearted hospitality.  Hardly had the stranger entered the home before the wife or daughter was busy setting the table with a simple meal of the very best they had and earnestly begging them to eat and to eat more --- "A jo! at mera, en kopp kaffe til Var inte blyg" ("but, yes! Eat more, one more cup of coffee.  Don't be bashful"), was their way of showing hospitality."

    "Guests were very hospitably entertained in all the homes.  The best room and bed was given them.  In the morning, a cup of coffee and "pepparkaker" (pepper cookies) or some other small cakes were served them in bed.  Their regular meals were served them in a special room in some homes.  In other homes, the father ate with the guests while the other members of the family ate in the kitchen.  After serving the meal, the wife left the room, coming back once or twice urging them to eat more."

    When there was a wedding "a large arbor, made from the birch tree and the evergreen was erected near the house, to accommodate many guests and shelter them from the sun's rays."

    "After the ceremony, the guests went to the home where there was much feasting and dancing.  When the feast was being served, it was customary for the invited guests to put on an air of humility, by keeping themselves in the background, in the yard or in a corner of the adjoining room.  The host or hostess would urge the guests, again and again, to come in and be seated at the appointed place of the table.  Unless these actions of the guests were traditionally correct, they would have been resented by the host.  But as it was, it must have been surprisingly ridiculous and interesting."

    "For example --- when a name was called by the host/hostess, the guest almost had to be dragged to the place assigned him...."Jonte & Kejsa Stina vr sa snalla a satt er pa denna plats" (Jonte and Kejsa please be seated in this place).  "Na tack, har ar allt sa bra." ("No thank you, it is all right here")   And they persisted on being seated at the further corner of the room.  "A nej, I sala sitta har ve' forsta bordet." (Oh no.  You must sit at the first table.")  It was necessary to invite at least 3 times before they consented to be seated at the proper place.  The fact was, it was considered rude not to wait for the third invitation."
That sounds familiar.

Click Here For many more photos of our annual Ganesha homa performed specifically to bless thousands of school students as they begin their new school year.

For two years the silpi team in India has been quietly working on a small project, a granite map of the island which visitors can explore and enjoy. The top section was uncrated yesterday and placed temporarily in Siva's Sacred Garden. It's quite heavy and took three strong monks to lift into place.

The base is completed, and will be shipped in January, so meantime a simple block of stone was found to provide support for the months ahead. The 3-D terrain is not to scale. If it were scaled properly, the tallest peak of mount Waialaale would be only one inch tall. So, we intentionally had it exaggerated, five hundred percent, making the peak five inches high on this model.

It has been placed amidst the plants out near the flagpole where visitors gather. They will be able to see just where the temple is on the map, and look above the temple to see the top of Mount Waialeale.