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Nimu expresses his joy, while perched on his live “wee apple” tree (it’s like a mini mango)

It’s a large outdoor space with lots of perches and hidden treats for him to find

Nimu, next to Lord Ganesha

One of his budgie buddies. Nimu mimics a much louder version of their chirp

The Jendey Conures. Feel free to suggest names for them in the comments!

Nimu enjoying a healthy breakfast. Jai!

Jai Ganesha!

We’re sure most of us are familiar with Nimu, the Monastery’s African Grey parrot. He was gifted to the monastery at three months old, and was raised to adulthood by the monks in the Media Studio. Several years ago, one of the monks had built a small 20ft greenhouse for growing grapes and roses, and over the last half of 2024 it was decommissioned and upgraded into its new form as a parrot aviary. On the auspicious day of Ardra Darshanam, at the end of the year, Nimu moved from his temporary childhood home in the Media Studio, out to this new natural abode—and he LOVES IT!

Since the end of last year he’s been enjoying the company of his other feathered friends: a group of blue budgies and a pair of colorful Jendey Conures (they all get along very well). Every day, monks get to visit Nimu’s paradisiacal mosquito-free enclosure to sit with him and supply him with cheek scratches and treats. Monks picking nearby temple flowers like to participate in a complex back and forth of whistling and “Siva Siva.” In contrast to Nimu’s time indoors, he now has loads of sunshine, fresh air, breezy plants and space to fly around. He’s also befriended the wild birds who come to sit on branches nearby to teach him their songs, all of which he has already learned perfectly. At night, he sleeps near a wooden Ganesha, and awakens to a warm sunrise and the squawks of his slightly-batty conure roommates. Aum.

Satguru attends the puja

Pravinkumar Sivam performing the homa

Mahalingesvara final alankaram

Nandi alankaram from the recent Pradosha Puja

Jai Ganesha!

On every Krittika Nakshatra, we perform a special puja at Iraivan Temple. Pravinkumar is the head priest for this puja, and this time, Mayilnathaswami served as the assistant. We perform this puja during Krittika because the Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted during the Krittika Nakshatra. To maintain this divine connection, we hold this homa every month.

The event begins with a homa, followed by an abhishekam to Mahalingeshvara. Once the abhishekam is completed, the puja concludes with offerings and a final arati. After the puja, prasadam is distributed to all attending devotees.

Being able to perform this puja at Iraivan Temple is a great blessing for us all.

Aum Namah Sivaya.

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 Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“There are two basic forces in the universe, which you can look up in the dictionary. One is called odic force. The other is actinic force. Odic force is magnetic force. Odic force is the force of collective energies that make things—trees, chairs, tables, houses, the physical body. Odic force is of the material world—dense and heavy. The aura around the physical body and the forces of nature which govern much of man’s life on Earth are odic force. ¶Actinic force is your pure life force coming from the central source deep within, out through the nerve system. But as soon as this pure life force begins to mingle with the astral atoms and the physical body atoms, it turns to odic force. The study of these two forces can give you a great awakening—two primal forces.“

Jai Ganesha!

We know some of you have seen this video before, but many have not, so we thought it a good idea to show it again here on TAKA. It is a video made by Sivanadiyar Kodiswara, interviewing our monks about monastic life here. The goal is to give greater insight for both those who may be considering monastic life, and those who simply would like to know more about the monastery and our monks.

A Palm Tree was blown over, next to our buildings

The next day the SK works to rebuild our broken quick tents

Sadhaka Shankaranatha going through the manual

Checking the pistons

Jai Ganesha!

Two days ago, the island of Kauai experienced a challenging day as heavy rain and strong winds swept through. Everyone, including us monks, faced the storm’s intensity as it descended upon the island, causing power outages and property damage. News channels and government issued warnings to locals, and although we had previously encountered similar storms and taken some precautions in advance, we did not expect this one to be so severe. After the strong wind ended, the Siddhidata Kulam monks went around the property, fixing everything they could. In the slideshow above,the mathavasis and taskforce repairing the tarps that were torn off by the storm. Meanwhile, amid all the restoration efforts, Sadhaka Shankaranatha carried out routine maintenance on our new Kubota tractor. Since it requires a piston check every ten usage-hours, he ensured it was in proper working condition and performed the necessary maintenance. The video below offers a glimpse of what we experienced during the storm. Aum!