Many years ago a family commissioned these black granite murtis for placing outside their home. Years later plans changed and they no longer needed the murtis, deciding to donate them to our monastery. In discussing where these murtis could call home--at least for the time being--we noted than many general visitors stop by during our closed hours, so enriching the experience at our very front entrance (outside the gate) was felt to be most appropriate. A granite Sivalingam is already there, so now Ganesha and Murugan join Siva. A couple weeks ago when SSC sishya Gaurav and Ripla Malhotra family was here on pilgrimage, they and two Pillaiyar Kulam construction crew, Raymond and Kawika, helped to installed the two Deities.

This morning we received these photos from Thondunathan showing the amazing progress of the Paramparai Mandapam. You will recall that Gurudeva stayed in the home of Kandiah Chettiar in 1948-49. He later was given the land and built a small Siva Temple on the site, which functioned for some 30 years. That was eventually decommissioned and with Bodhinatha's blessings (he was there on Innersearch to bless the ground breaking) the local community designed a meditation mandapam on the land. It will have a Sivalingam at the center and four of our Satgurus, one in each corner: Yogaswami, Gurudeva, Chellappaswami and Kadaitswami.

The elders have added a Ganesha and Murugan shrine at the front. Here you can see the amazing progress. Shows how quickly such things go when you work with bricks and mortar instead of granite! We send our congratulations to all who are manifesting this sweet shrine which will inspire thousands to find summa, to touch the feet of the Kailasa Paramparai, to deepen their spiritual life and consciousness. Aum Namasivaya!

We recently received a colorful new banner to help enliven the atmosphere in Kadavul Temple during festival pujas. It has cute Nandis, elephants, roosters, a Sivalingam and kumbhas sewn on it.

Aloha all! Never look a gift horse in the mouth. What is a gift horse you might ask? Perhaps it's a magical horse that gives you whatever you ask for. We don't know what happens if you look into its mouth but we are too scared to find out. The gift horse of today's story is an energy company on Kauai who graciously gifted us a ripper-fertilizer they were no longer using. What the machine lacks for in grace it makes up for with the ability to cut deep into the ground while dropping fertilizer to ensure nutrients reach the roots of newly planted trees. This machine was picked up by two monks from the north island and will be used to plant new noni trees across Himalayan Acres. Aum!!!

A couple of our monks visited this 500+ acre plantation recently to walk beautiful public trails through its 82,000-tree mahogany hardwood farm, the largest of its kind in the USA. The Wai Koa Plantation was founded in 2006 by Bill Porter, founder of ETrade, and his wife Joan. The plantation also includes multiple food produce farms.

After walking through the mahogany trees, the trail leads to the beautiful Stone Dam and swimmable area above it. The property used to be a sugar plantation and the dam was created to provide irrigation at the time.

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 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Siva. Here, Satguru discusses "The Eternal Now," based on a series of talks given in 1961.

Aloha, Everyone loves getting new things, even better though, especially for the environment, is to transform something you already have into something new. This 1999 Ford F250 truck was on its way to the wrecking yard. The SK team had a crazy idea . The engine was too far gone to repair, but what if the front end of the truck was removed, a pintle hitch welded in front and a Diesel tank installed on top. Armed with an acetylene torch, the SK team cut the bolts securing the cab to the frame then blocked the truck and cut the frame. The engine and front cab was taken to the metal recycle. Next the frame was cut again and welded to a pintle hitch. Power washing, grinding off rust, more power washing, then paint was applied. The monastery has a 1968 military water tanker (600 gallon) that required replacement seals. Parts were ordered and installed and the tanker was painted and attached to the frame. Now we have a new tanker trailer! This concluded the story of an old dead truck, a tank and the power of reincarnation. Aum!

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 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Siva. Here, Satguru discusses "Color's Magic," based on a series of talks given in 1960.

Today is the first full day of our new season, the Jivana Ritau. Early this morning, Satguru, monastics and members gathered in Kadavul Temple for a homa. Following an upadesha from Satguru, they then proceeded out the the aadheenam's flagpole to fly the dvaja for the new season.

Excerpts from Saiva Dharma Shastras about the this time of year:
"Beginning with Hindu New Year in mid-April, three seasons of the year divide our activities into three great needs of humankind the learning of scripture in the first season, Nartana Ritau; the living of culture in the second season, Jivana Ritau; and the meditating on Siva in the third season, Moksha Ritau. Thus we are constantly reminded that our life is Siva's life and our path to Him is through study, sadhana and realization. In ritau one, we teach the philosophy; in ritau two, we teach the culture; and in ritau three, we teach meditation.

During Jivana Ritau, the rainy season, from mid-August to mid-December, Living with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Culture is the primary text. The key word of this season is work. The colors are rust, copper-maroon and all shades of red rust for earthy preservation, copper-maroon for fulfillment and red for physical energy. The Aadheenam's flag pole flies the rust-colored dhvaja, symbolizing environmental care. Copper-maroon and all shades of red adorn our smaller flags. This is the season of honoring and showing appreciation for those in the vanaprastha ashrama, life's elder advisor stage. The focus is on preserving what has been created, manifesting goals and fulfilling plans made in the past. Inwardly the emphasis is on direct cognition and caring for the practical details of the external world. Practicality is a word much used this season."