Jai Ganesha!

Recently, at the Siva Murugan Temple in Concord, California, monastic aspirant Akash Katir observed his Namakarana Samskara, officially establishing himself with his new name and formally entering Hinduism. Once his legal name change process has concluded, he will be able to return to Kauai to pursue his monastic path.

The name-giving sacrament can be held at nearly any Hindu temple. Before the namakaraa saskra, the devotee informs family, relatives and close friends of his or her name change and intended entrance into Hinduism. At the sacred name-giving rite, the Hindu name is received, vows are taken and a certificate is signed, documenting the former name and the new name, place of ceremony and signature of the priest and at least three witnesses. This sacrament marks the formal entrance into a particular sect of Hinduism, through the acceptance and blessings of established members and the blessings of Gods and devas invoked through rites performed by an authorized Hindu priest.

Here's a short note from Akash after having had his Namakarana:

"The ceremony was a powerful one and the feeling of energy and peace was alike to that of the homas I attended at Kadavul. Additionally, the experience was not just for me and I think it was an important physical manifestation of my mental and spiritual change that my family and others can look to and say "wow, yea, that happened." Earlier, my mom said she was unsure if she would be able to call me "Akash," but now, after the ceremony, she seems happy to call me by my new name with only the occasional forgetful slip up."

Akash
"Space." The sky. Free, open space. Ether, the fifth and most subtle of the five elements—earth, air, fire, water and ether. Empirically, the rarified space or ethereal fluid plasma that pervades the universes, inner and outer. Esoterically, mind, the superconscious strata holding all that exists and all that potentially exists, wherein all happenings are recorded and can be read by clairvoyants. It is through psychic entry into this transcendental akasha that cosmic knowledge is gathered, and the entire circle of time—past, present and future—can be known. Space, akasha, in this concept is a positive substance, filled with unseen energies and intelligences, in contrast with the Western conception that space is the absence of everything and is therefore nothing in and of itself. The Advayataraka Upanishad (2.1.17) describes five levels of akasha which can be yogically experienced: guna rahita akasha (space devoid of qualities); parama akasha (supreme space), maha akasha (great space), tattva akasha (space of true existence) and surya akasha (space of the sun).

Katir
"Formless light," a name for Lord Murugan

Having seventy acres of land and tropical growth and not being consumed by its vigorous growth requires upkeep. the monks can do a lot of the maintenance, but for the biggest projects it is safer to bring in professionals with the right equipment. For about eight days JP Tree Services came to trim and clear. First they worked at the Pillaiyar Kulam, trimming back large limbs high up that were growing into the high electric lines—a potential danger. They also removed a banyan tree from the parking lot.

Then they moved on to buck up a fallen weed tree (a big one), take out a Rudraksha that was too close to the road, and then trimmed dead fronds from our giant Talipot Palms. Thanks to Jessie and his hard-working team of tree experts. Siva's Sacred Playgrounds never looked better!

They also cleared this other palm, Corypha utan

Aum Namah Sivaya

Following the rush of our end-of-year guests, Satguru decided to streamline our reservations for Kadavul Temple's morning puja with an online system. Recently (with some help from our Digital Dharma Drive) we've completed Kadavul Temple's new online reservations webpage. With our current limited temple capacity, this site allows guests to schedule a time slot for their Deity darshan while here on pilgrimage. You can book up to three months in advance of your stay and come for either the 9:00am Siva puja or for the 11:00am slot which is good for quiet personal worship and meditation. Visit himalayanacademy.com/reservations/ to schedule your visit! 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 "The Self God," a talk given in 1959.

Jai Gurudeva!

As a nice end to their previous lunar phase, our monks enjoyed the aadheenam's monthly pada puja to Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Sannyasin Tillainathaswami and Yogi Harandinatha performed the early-morning abhishekam in Kadavul Temple.

"Undisciplined people are generally people whom nobody can tell what to do. They won't listen. They can't tell themselves what to do, and nobody else is going to tell them either!" Gurudeva

Aum Namah Sivaya

On the event of this month's celebration of the Ardra Nakshatra, a beautiful, handmade gift was placed at Siva's feet. An anonymous bhaktar spend many hours producing this masterpiece. Its future is to rest upon Iraivan Temple's Spatika Lingam. The mala is made of our large, Kauai-grown rudrakshas interspersed with rose quartz crystals. In these photos you can see it as Deva Seyon brought it into the Media Studio for our monks to see. In the last photo you can see it on the Lingam, as it was placed there during Ardra.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Recently, sculptor Holly Young created this wax for what will become the future golden-bronze support for the yantra in Iraivan Temple's inner sanctum. The gold yantra will be placed in the center of this lotus, and the lotus will hang upon the back wall of the sanctum aligned behind the tip of the crystal Siva Lingam.

Aum Namah Sivaya, The Aadheenam recently received photos of our soon-to-be shipped red granite tiles for the top of Iraivan Temple's foundation. This is the last major construction project for the completion of the temple. These tiles are being sourced from a major worldwide supplier of red granite in China, and it's here that we found a specific red granite that the monks thought had an ideal look and finish. The team readying the shipment has completed the packing of two shipping containers and are working quickly to fill the third. A total of 2558 tiles will soon be shipped to us, the vast majority are Iraivan Temple with some extra for the flooring of the future, yet-to-be revealed Svayambhu Lingam Mandapam. Jai Ganesha!