THERE ARE MANY WAYS YOU CAN HELP BODHINATHA’S WORK
Many have asked how they can support the monks. If you have a clear idea of what you want to support then you can click here to go directly to our secure donation form now and choose to feed the monks, help with our garden or enter your intention for your gift if you have something specific in mind. If you want more detail on various options, then read below.
If you are interested in sponsoring a project or need that is not listed below, please click here and add your idea in the “Special Notes” field.
Donate to Iraivan Temple’s Gardens
As the sacred gardens were developed over the decades, not much thought was given to how they would be maintained. But now they have become extensive and mature, making maintenance a must. If you are inspired by the gardens, their beauty and healing presence around Iraivan Temple, you can sponsor them for a week, a month or a year. A week of landscape help costs $500. You can make your donation online.
Contribute to the “Thank You Bodhinatha” Fund
Summary: If you have been inspired by Bodhinatha’s life work, grateful for his influence in your life, appreciative of the gifts that he has given us all, you may honor your sentiment with a donation to the Thank You Bodhinatha Fund. This fund is used for promoting Bodhinatha’s teachings around the world and the travel of Bodhinatha to spread the great truths of Hindu dharma. The fund is maintained as a permanent trust within the Hindu Heritage Endowment so your donation will grow and build through the years.
A second option is to help cover the current expenses for Satguru’s travel. To contribute to the Satguru’s Travel Fund you can click here to go directly to our secure donation form .
Feed the Monks
Annadana refers to religious feedings of different groups such as the poor, devotees at a festival, priests and sannyasins. It is considered an important source of earning merit (punya). In the traditions of Saiva Aadheenams, annadana is called Maheshvara puja and refers to the feeding of Saiva ascetics or to the feeding of close, usually initiated, followers of the Aadheenam, both lay and ascetic. Maheshvara puja conveys the idea that feeding Śiva’s spiritual servants is a way of worshiping Śiva Himself.
As our monastery is on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the preferred way that devotees offer Maheshvara puja is to make a cash donation. If you wish to sponsor the monks’ meals for a specific day, a donation of $501 will cover one day’s cost of food supplies and its preparation. Smaller donations are welcomed but will not be assigned a specific day.
You can make your donation online. If you are sponsoring a specific day, please indicate the date in the notes field on the donation form. Also, if the day’s sponsorship is to commemorate a specific event, such as the birth of a child or the passing of a family member, please include that information as well.
For those who would like to commemorate an event every year on a permanent basis, this can be accomplished through making a one-time donation of $18K to the Feed the Monks Endowment. For details please email Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami at shan@hindu.org.