On a schedule every three years, the monastery replaces all its computers. This brilliant innovation from Bodhinatha a decade ago keeps the IT side of our lives quiet most of the time, getting all of the purchasing done at once and then out of the way so we can focus on our religious work for the coming few years. We procure the latest and greatest computers that Apple has to offer, and then for three years we don't have to pay any attention to anything new that comes out. Warranties are also for three years, so we never have to deal with hardware that is out of warranty, which would cause untold inconvenience and unexpected expense.

February 2013 was the time for our hardware refresh, and like last time we flew out our IT engineers from Rocket Science Consulting in San Francisco to assist. Joe Russell, who has worked with the monastery since 2008, and Jesse Ruegg, a recent addition to the Rocket Science team, came for about a week, spending four days at the monastery installing and configuring new servers, helping the monks migrate their laptop workstations from old hardware to new hardware and conversing at length with Senthilnathaswami, who is responsible for the monastery's IT infrastructure and our relationship with Rocket Science, as well as Shanmuganathaswami, Siddhanathaswami and Sadhaka Mayuranatha, who helped with the project in many ways seen and unseen. Of course, Joe and Jesse had some personal time off to enjoy our beautiful island as well. It's always a treat for hired workers to come from the mainland!

Martin Mosco is with us again, working on the third and final model for Siva's Living Temple, the sacred gardens. The stewards visited the studio just down the street where he is creating this masterpiece and Martin was able to share his vision for the space around Iraivan. As you may know, it is essentially building a mountain of stone on the Mount Waialeale side, and a massive lake on the ocean side. The stewards made some small addendums and went away with a grand vision of the future, thanks to this brilliant landscape architect. Martin is a Buddhist and runs a small temple in Denver, Colorado. A few glimpses of his modeling skills are to be seen in today's slideshow.

Our Siddhidata Kulam works hard to keep the flow of fresh organic produce coming to the kitchen. This years winter crops were quite successful

Monks Master the Art of Making Tempeh

Sadhaka Rajanatha's has mastered the making of a popular fermented food. The fungi pre-digests the soy beans setting free the valuable protein amino acids and making the beans much more easily digested.

Click here for report and photos of Himalayan Academy Saivite Orientation session that integrated Satguru Yogaswami's Natchintanai songs.

Sharad and Smita Parikh visited our monastery for the first time from St. Louis, Missouri. They have actually visited Kauai before but didn't know we were here. Sharad heads the board of trustees for Hindu Temple of St. Louis, which Bodhinatha visited years ago. Today they specifically wanted to get Bodhinatha's knowledge and advice on temple project fundraising and how to get older youth more involved in their temple, as they are raising funds to build a cultural/educational wing.

Our Russian brahmachari, Dinanatha, emails us from the largest gathering of humans on the planet. He is traveling with 15 pilgrims from Russia. Despite all of the challenges, he sends photos of their last few days on the banks of the Ganges with tens of millions of Hindus.

After years of study and preparation, Saiva Siddhanta Church vratasishyas Tina Desai and Sahadevi Param received their samaya(mantra) diksha this morning, which means receiving spiritiual initiation from the Satguru to chant Aum Namah Sivaya 108 times daily on rudraksha japa mala. Prior to this, they were chanting Aum Saravanabhava Aum, and before that, mantras to Ganesha. Tina is from Ontario, Canada, and Sahanadevi is from California, USA.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami reads his editorial from the Apr/May/Jun 2013 edition of Hinduism Today magazine, confronting a long-stanging misapprehension about our faith, showing us why Hinduism is more than a way of life. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH3lhfJ-BC0

On March 1st the Monastery celebrated Gurudeva with a chitra puja. It was a lovely way to start the day. Many memebers attended, feeling Gurudeva's rose-like energy permeate the temple. Jai Gurudeva!

"There are only two things you can really depend on: one is the changeableness of life, and the other is the unchanging Self within you."
-Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami