Join us at 3:00pm (Kauai time!), September 9th for our puja and abhishekam to Lord Ganesha on the occasion of Ganesha Chaturthi.
Aum Gam Ganapataye Namah.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part one 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 River of Life,” a talk given in 1957.

Aum Namah Sivaya
Today is the last day of our monks’ phase, so they’ll be heading into two days of retreat. We’ll see you again soon, but for now we leave you with this profound quote from Yogaswami:

“Existence is a value which is always judged by a conscious being.
The absence of consciousness cuts at the root of all value including existence. 
Thus the very perception of phenomena is the proof of Brahman.”

Over the last retreat, Siddhanathaswami, Tillainathaswami, Yogi Dayanatha and Alexander traveled to the southern shores of our island for a beautiful hike along the Maha'ulepu cliffs. The cliffs are made of countless layers of compacted sand and lava rock. They are slowly being eroded by the powerful ocean waves, creating unique and stunning formations along the cliffside. This part of the coast is also incredibly windy, with constant gusts that make it hard to hear anything else apart from the clapping of the salty waves.

The hike began with a walk along the Makauwahi cave trail, which leads past this ancient cave and down to the Makauwahi tortoise reserve. After that our adventurers made their way along Maha'ulepu Beach and around the point to Kawailoa Bay Beach which marks the beginning of our cliffside walk leading to Kamala Point.

"From the top of the mountain looking down, you see the natural role of a raging ocean and the steep cliffs below--they are beautiful. From the bottom of the mountain, the ocean can appear ominous and the cliffs treacherous. The fact remains that deep inside you is perfection. So, you see, you have a choice. You can remain in the valley, live in fear of the stormy ocean of life and death, or you can scale the nearby mountain and see from the top how it is from that perspective. Either way, you and everyone in the world are all right in the now." - Gurudeva

The monastery has commissioned Suresh Muthukulam of Kerala, India, to paint ten works of art for a book we plan to publish next year. It is Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami's own commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. We thought you would enjoy seeing them now and then as they come in. This one is a blissful yogi on a flying carpet hovering above Siva's Mount Kailas in radiant blessedness. His carpet is held up by a gust of wind created by Vayu, Lord of the Wind.

Aum Sivaya

Over the last month, one of our monks had been documenting the existence of a baby praying mantis, until one day something changed in the life of this unique little creature. Look through the slideshow to enjoy the full story! Aum Namah Sivaya

Today the Ardra nakshatra was celebrated with our monthly abhishekam to Lord Nataraja in Kadavul Temple. Many blessing to you from Kadavul Temple on this auspicious day!

"Following the luminous column in the spine that shines with all brilliance and showers the nectar of bliss, if the sādhaka reaches the highest plane of dvādaśānta—which is identical with the Golden Hall of Lord Naṭarāja—he could see the presence of Śiva whose form is of the nature of the pure space of supreme consciousness. To those sādhakas who are firmly established in such a supreme yōga and who are efficacious in safeguarding their present blissful state without being affected by the five senses, to them Lord Śiva would always be a perennial source of ineffable Bliss causing the unfoldment of the exalted eight qualities, sarvajñatva and others.

"For the dance which is efficacious in enabling the aspirant hear the melodious inner sounds, He is the composer and He is the theme. He Himself assumes the form of akāra, ukāra and other seed letter. For the tattva-dance which is characterized by the letter ‘hrīm,’ is Śiva Himself, the presiding Lord. The transcendent location in which He dances has emerged as willed by Him. The performance of this unique dance known as the ajapa-dance is itself Lord Naṭarāja. He is both the performer and the performance." - Tirumantiram 815, 901

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives part ten of a series of talks which give insight and elaboration into a variety of fascinating concepts revealed in the Shum language of meditation. Here, Satguru gives special attention to the 54 mambashum—important areas of the mind detailed by Shum.