Aloha all! Today the first 28 of some 50 pallets of floor stones from China arrived today at Iraivan Temple. These are one-inch thick, red granite slabs up to two feet by two feet square. They will go on the second prakaram, the floor area between the temple building and the outer perimeter wall. They're first being set on the ground in front and beside the temple, where they will wait patiently to be raised up to the floor near the Nandi mandapam. We'll soon be meeting with the tile setter, Brian Oliver, to figure out how best to organize the 1800 individual tiles which are in about 70 different sizes. A real-life, very expansive puzzle! Precutting all the pieces allows for more uniformity in the final floor, and also makes the tile setters' job easier—if they can keep track of which tiles go where! Aum Namah Sivaya

Today two women from a spiritual podcast titled "Two Average Girls" came today and recorded an interview with Sadasivanathaswami. They brought all of their equipment and set up microphones and cameras in the media studio where the podcast took place. The woman to Sadasivanathaswami's right is Anne, the wife of Warren Owen, and the women to his left is Denise, who is a friend of the Owen's and frequent visitor to the monastery. They are good friends and their spiritual podcast is a regular activity of theirs. Denise lives in California and is on island with her husband. Dennis Wong, who does a lot of excavator work for the monastery, also does a lot of work for Warren, whose house the monks go to get coconuts for festivals. Kieth who builds fences for us, is Warren's property manager. It's amazing how connected people are here, it really is a small island. When the podcast is uploaded we might share it on TAKA so look out for that! Aum!

How does the One appear as two? We don't know, but what we do know is that some stunning stone murtis and lingams are on their way to Kauai along with the final stone shipments needed to complete Iraivan temple. All of them are carved by adept artisans from the same site where Iraivan's stones are crafted. These stone carved items will be put up for sale in the mini mela for anyone to buy.

Jai Gurudeva!

Over their recent full moon retreat, our monks celebrated the Chitra Nakshatra with our monthly padapuja to Gurudeva. Local shishya were able to attend this month's padapuja as well. Everyone enjoyed Gurudeva's calming presence as Yogi Dayanatha and Nirvani Tejadevanatha performed the abhishekam. Aum.

"There is no place to go except inside yourself." - Gurudeva

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 Astral Body," a talk given in 1960

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 Astral Body," a talk given in 1960

The Guru Chronicles is the inspiring tale of our Nandinatha Sampradaya, a spiritual storybook which explores over 2,000 years of the history and lives of seven extraordinary gurus. Gurudeva set the book in motion in Sri Lanka back in 1972. It was decades in the making and was finally printed in English in 2011. Today, inspired by the Hindu New Year, we announce the release of the recently completed Tamil translation of this important book.

You can go here to download the pdf, epub or mobi:
https://www.himalayanacademy.com/view/the-guru-chronicles_ta

To learn about the amazing work required to create the book, go to the web link below which takes you to the English version of the preface.

https://www.himalayanacademy.com/media/books/the-guru-chronicles/web/09_fm_09.html#para-1

And, we will soon upload a version to the web, so that you can read it online.

Everyone likes to have something new, how about having a happy new Year!

Today, the Sun moved into the sign of Mesha (Aries) which marks the beginning of a new year on many Indian calendars including those of South India.

For us it is the time for beginning our new spring season, the Nartana Ritau!

Nartana Ritau, the season of Dancing with Siva, begins on Tamil New Year. This is the period of creation, the warm season, from mid-April through mid-August. The key word of this season is planning. The colors are orange, yellow-gold and all shades of green-orange for renunciation, yellow-gold for action and green for regeneration.

High above, the main flag flies the color orange, heralding the Nartana Ritau throughout this season, symbolizing sadhana and self-control. The other colors adorn smaller flags. This is the season of giving special attention to those in the grihastha ashrama. It is a time of awakening, renewal, review. The emphasis is on seeing ahead, planning for future years. It is a time of planning retreats and other activities for youths and adults for the entire year.
The Saiva Dharma Shastras are studied; and any needed additions in supplementary manuals, representing new growth, are made. The practical focus is completion of unfinished projects. Secular holidays to observe among the families include Mother's Day in May, Father's Day in June and Grandparent's Day in August.

This season of harvest and new growth is also the time to review and reestablish picking and planting routines for the gardens. It is a time for ordering seeds and plants for the year, of planting trees, fragrant vines and the annual crop. Review is made for scheduling the care of all realms of the Aadheenam's acreage. Kadavul temple and the Guru Temple are cleaned and renewed during this season and the adjacent grounds receive special, abundant attention. Karma yogis are invited to help in this and other areas with planting and weeding, digging, fertilizing, fence repair and more. The daily sadhana is the Sivachaitanya Panchatantra: experiencing nada, jyoti, prana, bhakti and darshana. In Sanskrit, it is a time of learning new slokas and mantras. In the family community, prasnottara satsanga is held for one and all to attend. Families plan for their annual pilgrimage. Shrine rooms are renewed and redecorated for the year, and the clothing of all is renewed in the Hindu style of the current fashion. It is a time of doing things for others, religious outreach. It is a time of hatha yoga and philosophical teaching.

May your new year be filled with blessings, enjoy the photos of our monks raising the season's bright orange flag. Aum!