In July the silpi craftsmen began the arduous task of “sanding” the 64 stones that comprise the front steps at the temple’s main entrance which were installed in June. This process uses flat faced “sandpaper chisels” to give the stones an even texture across the 30-foot span. Umut and his two-man team continued installing the lava rock facing on the four-foot-high foundation. On the West side of the temple, the first layer of stones is now complete.  The gold leaf for the temple’s gopurams is now being made to order, a process by which machines hammer the gold into super-thin sheets. Thanks go out to those who enthusiastically stepped forward during the pandemic to sponsor this essential project. We look forward to a time when it will be safe to relax Hawaii’s quarantine and travel restrictions, so that our team from The Guilders Studio in Maryland can come to Kauai to start the gilding.

Umut Yegul in the foreground fine-tunes the concrete being pumped into the plinth rocks by the team behind him

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami continues to give weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple. His talks in July, based on lessons from Gurudeva’s Merging with Siva and Living with Siva, have been uploaded to our website for your enjoyment. These talks focused on charya, kriya and yoga padas, the first three progressive stages of the path to enlightenment.

Pancha Ganapati: The five-faced Lord Ganesha, decorated with garlands, greets the thousands of devotees who attended the monthly homa when the Mauritius government eased the rules for gatherings.

In late June the government of the island-nation of Mauritius lifted the COVID 19 quarantine restrictions on public gatherings. This allowed our Spiritual Park near Rivere du Rempart, on the east side of the island, to reopen for the monthly Ganesha Homa. Thousands of devotees arrived from across the island to offer written prayers to Lord Ganesha through the homa fire. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami’s devotees also gathered at the park in July to celebrate Guru Purnima.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami blesses four monks after their vow renewal ceremony following our events of Guru Purnima.

For this year's celebration of Guru Purnima in mid-July, the monks celebrated with a padapuja to Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. On this day, Satguru recieved a gift from devotees around the world in the form of a book. The Gurus Holy Feet is a publication of rich and varied testimony, alluding to the magic and power of our guru parampara. Enjoy the stories it tells from all parts of the globe. Download the PDF file here.

The upcoming October-November-December issue of Hinduism Today.

Our publications team here in Hawaii finished their editing work on the October-November-December issue of Hinduism Today and sent it off to the printer. The feature story covers the impact, positive and negative, to the Hindu world of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will also be an article about Pancha Ganapati, the gift-giving year-end holiday for Hindu children of all ages. The rise of Ayurveda in Italy is highlighted in an article about neurologist, Dr. Antonio Morandi’s, new Ayurvedic Point clinic in Milan. This issue contains Anu Kumar’s story from Paris about the (irrational) world-wide preference for light complexion.

We are pleased to report that in the last few months we have completed the 10th through 13th of our music videos, which are part of The History of Hindu India documentary project. That rapid progress has been a side benefit of the Covid-19 pandemic as all our principal contributors have been under lockdown and undistracted from their assigned tasks on the project. These include Eclipse Nirvana singers, Aks and Laskhmi of Los Angeles (specialists in electronic bhakti music); lyric composer Dragan Stojkovski (an accomplished multi-lingual musician of Macedonia); and video editor Igor Burenkov of Yaroslavi, Russia (that’s a 160 miles northeast of Moscow). This international team has brought a multitude of talents to the music videos. The 10th through 12th videos cover part four of our documentary series. Video 10, “Swami Vivekananda,” covers in brief the life of the great saint (1863-1902) who was one of the key figures in the ultimate independence of India and resurgence of the Hindu religion. Video 11, “The British Raj,” covers the British military dominance of India from the mid-eighteenth century and establishment of the British Raj which dragged the once-rich country of India into famine and poverty. Video 12, “India’s Fight for Freedom,” portrays the long struggle for freedom, both the non-violent movement led by Gandhi and the militant approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and others. As of August, the team has completed “India Awakes to Life and Freedom,” the first of four planned videos for part five of the documentary. This video covers the success of independence, the disaster of partition and the formation of a modern nation free at last from foreign rule. The final three videos are in various stages of completion. The first covers six key Hindu concepts that have spread around the world, including religious tolerance, ahimsa and karma. The second celebrates pilgrimage and the third touches on India’s far-reaching soft-power impact in the world, including Ayurveda, Indian food and even Bollywood! Visit our youtube channel for more.

This fund was created by Ravi Nadesan of Concord, California. He explains what inspired him to create the fund, “As a devotee of the Murtis enshrined in this temple since 1978, I had moved our small family to Concord, CA, in 1986. Shortly after this, our Gurudeva came to the area on request of the local families. During his private visit with us, my wife and I asked if a small Hindu place of worship could possibly be established nearby. He graciously responded by suggesting we place a shrine to Sri Ganesha in our backyard and do daily puja. So, we did. Other devotees probably asked a similar question and received a similar answer. “Today, the CSMT is thriving with the continued support of the greater San Francisco Bay Area Hindu community and is successfully constructing a new temple of the South Indian traditional architecture on the same site. “Having personally been directly engaged with the management and operations of the temple since 1995, I, among many others, have a passion for the health and well-being of this temple and its contents. “I am grateful for our Gurudeva’s inspiration and guidance along with the blessings received from Sri Bodhinatha Veylanswami, the Kauai Monastery and HHE for the opportunity to easily set up this or any endowment for the betterment of the CSMT long into the future. The CSMT Endowment Fund is a designated beneficiary of my Living Trust.”

Read more about the Concord Shiva Murugan Temple at temple.org. The goal of this fund is five million US dollars. This amount will cover the funds needed for the above maintenance items for one year. hheonline.org/tool-kit.

For information on establishing a fund at Hindu Heritage Endowment, contact Shanmuganathaswami at 808-822-3012, ext. 6, or e-mail hhe@hindu.org.

Much of Iraivan’s visual power comes from the 23-karat gold leaf on its five towers and—in the future—the kodimaram. These glimmer in the tropical sun, contrasting strongly against the white granite. Getting thin gold leaf to endure in the tropical sun and rain has been a challenge, but our team near Washington DC (yes, the same team that does the gold cupolas on our capital buildings) has worked it out. They will be redoing all of our towers, and that is costly. Fortunately generous supporters have filled the gold roof needs as you see below.

SPECIAL ITEM: Gold Leaf & Installation The gilders who will be re-gilding Iraivan’s towers have determined that a thicker leaf is needed in the tropics than is normal in the US. Three times thicker! And they have identified and tested superior adhesives. The gold has been purchased and when, conditions allow, they will fly to Kauai for the installation.

Sponsorships
✔ (Already Sponsored) Kodimaram: $23,000
✔ (Already Sponsored) East Chinna Gopuram: $33,000
✔ West Chinna Gopuram: $33,000
✔ North Chinna Gopuram: $33,000
✔ (Already Sponsored) Stupi Capstone: $70,000
✔ (Already Sponsored) Rajagopuram: $95,000

Building Fund Donations; ; AUSTRALIA: Marie & R. Bhanugopan US$108.00; Nagaratnam Jeyasreedharan 20.00; D. Karthigesu Family 100.00; Rama Krishnan 30.00; Luckshmi & Logan Siva Nirmalananda 35.00; Gunavinthan Siva Thirumalai 100.00; Thanavinthan Siva T. Thirumalai 100.00; Essen Subramanian Valayten 2.45; BELARUS: Tatsiana Mezhennaya 50.00; BRAZIL: Leonidas Coutinho 108.00; CANADA: Anonymous 126.18; Serge Bilan 50.00; Peter Christian 25.00; Frederik Jan Elbers 100.00; Rathinappillai Logeswaran 50.00; Rohan & Girija Malkhare 51.00; Ioana-Gabriela Manoliu 33.00; Raj & Nanthini Mathavan 108.00; Ian McLeod 25.00; Tilak Mehan 201.00; Changam & Kamachi Naidu 50.00; Vanesh Naidu 27.00; Mr. & Mrs. Pranavan 25.00; Thevagi Satkunendran 100.00; Vijaya & Thiru Satkunendran 25.00; Sivakumaran Sivalingam 21.00; Sayanthan & Anupama ; Sivanathan 11.00; Saravanamuthu Somasundram 50.00; GERMANY: Tharsika Chelvarajah Vasanthan 20.00; Jeeva Velusaami 21.00; INDIA: Anonymous 5.00; Lakshmanan Nellaiappan 10.00; Maragatham Nellaiappan 10.00; Kanmani & Jiva Rajasankara 30.00; Vikram Santurkar 51.00; INDONESIA: Mahadevan Gengadaram 75.00; ITALY: Cristina Ma Puja Canducci 20.00; JAPAN: Chiharu Hayakawa 101.00; MALAYSIA: Anonymous 120.00; Klinik And Surgeri BD 23.00; Devinasree Balasegaran 11.50; Om Krittik Balasegaran 11.50; P. Barathi Balasegaran 11.50; Balamurali Balasupramaniam 11.50; Hemakheshaa Naatha ; Batumallah 11.50; Mekaladeva Batumallah 11.50; Rathidevi& Veerasamy ; Batumallah 41.72; Theevhiyaa Chandrasekaram 23.00; Umaabati Chandrasekaram 11.50; Gunasegaran Chitravelloo 11.30; Sasikumar Darmalingam 11.50; Sai Aaditya Deva, Sai Janany, Sai Hamsiny, Chandran ; Ramamurthy & Kalpana Devasagayam 204.80; Omaya Devasagayam 22.82; Kavin Kirav, Shreiyaa, Leena ; akshmi Devasagayam & ; Anand Kumar Letchumana 91.30; Annapoorani Ganesan 23.00; Yoga Rubini & Chandra Ganth Family 11.50; R. Jayakumar & Yoga Bhavani Family 23.00; Uma Dewi & Dinesh Kumar ; Jayaram 6.70; M. Shanmuganathan & ; A. Kamalambikai Family 23.00; Anbu Kandasamy 28.00; Appasamy Kuppusamy 235.57; Amaraysh, Kumutha & Jarry Lai 22.82; Nameegri Marimuthu 22.64; Deevesh, Likel, Bathmavathy ; Batumalai & Ramesh Murthi 11.32; Logadasan Murugesu 11.50; Puvana Murugesu 22.82; Gowri Nadason 45.64; Kamalaharan Nadason 45.64; Ponnamah Nadason & Family 22.82; Rasiah Vallipuram & ; Pathumanithi Nagalingam 22.64; M. Suranthiran Naidu 82.15; Mohanavilashiny & Navukarasu 46.00; Yehanthini, Sivatarnee & ; Dhevashri Navakkarasu 46.00; Nalakini Niranjana 45.64; Palanisamy & Vasande 11.50; A. Paranthaman 4.50; Jayaram Rajaletchumi 11.25; Mogan Raju 69.00; Sai Ram 22.82; Supramaniam Ramoo & in ; Memory of Neelavathy Thangavelu 45.64; Raagini Ravindren & Senthil Ravindren 23.00; Jayaraj Kantharaj & Saranraj S-O Jayabalathilagam 27.40; Sanjana Saravan 22.82; Lachmi Savoo 22.82; Parimala Selvaraj 30.00; Ambikabathi Shanmugam Pillay 23.00; Indrani Shanmugasundram 11.25; Raja Singam Raja Ratnam & ; Shreema Rasiah 22.64; Saraswathy & Ramesh Sivanathan 11.73; Mohana Sundari & Sivasekaran 45.64; Girish Skanda 23.00; A. Sockalingam & Chandrasekari 45.64; Devi & the late Selvadurai Subramaniam 22.82; Vasanta Tanggavelu 34.50; Remalah & A. Thinathayalan 22.82; Saroja Vasudevan 11.50; Vikneswaran A. Vinsent 68.30; Yuvanes Waran 20.00; MAURITIUS: Anonymous 49.13; Soondiren Arnasalon 24.46; Soundarajen Arnasalon 9.78; Gunavadee Caremben 8.59; Moorghen Caremben 8.59; Ragini Caremben 8.59; Somasoundarum Caremben 8.59; Sukanta Caremben 8.59; Jegadessa Chenganna 12.23; Shree Saroja Devi Doorgiat 2.45; Rohit Jogessur 2.45; Meeravadee Koothan 4.90; Mooneenagen Koothan 4.89; Poospawadee Koothan 2.45; Sooreshen Koothan 24.46; Amravadee Kownden 46.49; Vel Mahalingum 24.47; Sivakumaren Mardemootoo 1,008.00; Kulagan Moonesawmy 2.45; Seedha Lutchmee Moonesawmy 2.45; Jayaluxmi Mooroogen 4.90; Revathi Mootoosamy 1.22; Siven Barlen Mootoosamy 4.89; Karoumee Pareatumbee 6.12; Naden Seeneevasen Pillay 2.45; Dayalen Renghen 3.67; Ezilveylen Renghen 9.79; Jagadissen Renghen 7.34; Madhevi Renghen 9.79; Siven Renghen 12.23; Varaden Renghen 9.79; Vega Renghen 3.67; Kannen Valaydon 24.47; Saroja Valayten 2.45; Toshadeva Valayten 1.22; Ulasa Valayten 1.22; NETHERLANDS: Prekash & Sabita Baladien 15.00; Hans & Jenny Ramcharan 110.96; NEW ZEALAND: Selvanayagam Ganesalingam 50.00; NORWAY: Anil Ananda Badhwar 60.00; Anuradha Badhwar 10.00; Meetu Badhwar-Hansen 10.00; RUSSIA: Oksana Kitaeva 60.00; SINGAPORE: Vasaant Krishnan 15.00; Easan, Lavanya & Sivakumar Saravan 400.00; Kavitha Darshini & Amitpal Singh 73.02; Kamala Devi Vaiyapuri 50.00; SINT MAARTEN: Gary & Radica Asha Yee-Fong 25.00; UAE: Muthukumar Jeyapalan 2,500.00; UNITED KINGDOM: Anonymous 11.00; Punitha Ganeshwaran 30.00; Georgiana Lukshmi Dorothy ; Barnes &Theeba Ragunathan 100.00; Clive & Puvaneswary Roberts 175.00; Sharavanan Selvadurai 200.00; The late Shree Vishna Rasiah & Sharmila Harry 68.00; USA: Benevity 2,634.05; Anonymous 13,596.00; Abhijit Adhye 50.00; Asha Alahan 25.00; Vel & Vaŋlli Alahan 25.00; Bryan Bailey 10.00; K. Balasubramanian 101.00; Arvind Bhakta 51.00; Srinivas Bhamidipaty 1,001.00; Gurdial Chadha 21.00; Mallik Chaganti 20.00; Asha Chaku 50.00; Uma & Kumar Chandrasekaran 251.00; K.P. Channabasappa 251.00; Neelam Chaudhry 101.00; Naren Chelian 51.00; Sharath Chigurupati 123.00; Charles Close 108.00; Sitara Rupali Contreras 108.00; Shyamadeva& Peshanidevi Dandapani 54.00; Janakbhai R. Dave 50.00; Bhadresh & Kusum Desai 100.00; Paul DeSantis 450.00; Amarnath & Latha Devarmanai 101.00; Venkat Devraj 108.00; Gayathri Dhanasegaran 25.00; Purushottam Dixit 101.00; Aiyasawmy Dorairajan 25.00; Ramya Subramani & Rajesh Ekambaram 211.00; Kali Futnani 51.00; Suketu & Mita Gandhi 51.00; Panshula Ganeshan 25.00; Rajendra Giri 20.00; Toshadeva & Kamala Guhan 18.00; Usharani Iswaran Magaña 40.00; David Jaffe 108.00; Chandrashekhar Jairaman 51.00; Ramana Jandhyala 108.00; Praveen Krishna Jangareddy 11.00; R. S. Jeyendran 101.00; Yogesh R. Joshi 35.00; Haran Kandadas 51.00; Srinivas & Shanthi Karri 90.00; Saravanan & Vasavi Kasthuri 2,941.00; Sundari Katir 20.00; Kavya Kaza 11.00; Richard Kennedy 10.00; Andrzej Kraja 75.00; Shrawan Krishna 101.00; Jaya Krishnamurthy 4,000.00; Rajagopal Krishnan 108.00; Aruna Kumar 51.00; Viswanath P. Kurup 101.00; Gregg Lien 50.00; Abha Lokhande 32.00; Kishin & Varsha Mahbubani 101.00; Chandra S. Malladi 25.00; Mallikarjuna Rao Mamidipaka 25.00; Laura Devi Marks 108.00; Rohini & Vijay Mashettiwar 101.00; Cindy McGonagle 25.00; Palani & Selvarany Nadarajah 15.00; Nitya & Becky Nadesan 150.00; Manish M. Naidu 11.11; Rama Chandran & Rema Nair 1,001.00; Sanjaya K. Nath 11.00; Neelam Oberoi 21.00; Neela Oza 75.00; Gurudas Pai 101.00; Satya & Savitri Palani 51.00; Cassan Pancham 2,016.00; Easvan & Devi Param 101.00; Janaka & Bhavani Param 10.00; Jothi Param 51.00; Vinay & Hansa R. Patel 101.00; Salik & Sanjia Pathak 51.00; Gordon Pfeffer 1,008.00; Venkat Pichairaman 11.00; Indrathan Pillay 50.00; Senthamarai Prabhakar 101.00; Parthasarathy Rajagopalan 50.00; Mohan Deepak Ram 11.00; Janevi Ramaji 101.00; Ravi & Vaishnavi Ramakrishnan 101.00; Jeyashree & Venkat ; Ramakrishnan 50.00; Eswar Raman 40.00; Rajesh & Yatra Raman 11.00; Kasi Ramanathan 153.00; Sudharsanam Rathinam 101.00; Srinivasreddy Ravula 101.00; Cliff & Kathy Runge 50.00; Chamundi Sabanathan 4,810.00; In memory of Mrs. M. Sangarapillai 200.00; Aran & Valli Sendan 25.00; Suresh M. Sevak 151.00; Deva & Amala Seyon 51.00; Devyani & Nrupendra Shah 25.00; Rohit Shah 101.00; Salil Shibad 21.00; Terrill Silke 100.00; Vir Amarjit Singh 121.00; Iraja & Nilani Sivadas 108.00; Dharshi & Sivasothy Sivakumar 150.00; Jai Sivakumara 200.00; Muthumanimoli Sivakumaran 51.00; Jnana Sivananda 100.00; Lakshana Chetana Sivananda 51.00; Nathan & Sulena Sivananda 108.00; B. Sivaraja 10.00; Kiran Srinivasan 20.00; Padmapriya Srinivasan 25.00; Joseph W. Steelman 50.00; Yasotha & Thevarajah Subarajan 51.00; Brhadeeshwaran & Kamakshi Subramaniam 108.00; Mahesh Sundaram 208.00; Nandi Deva Sundaram 50.00; Savithri Sundaresan 51.00; Phani Kumar Sureddi 7.00; Karthik Suresh 108.00; Shanthi Suresh 101.00; Siva U. Thillaikanthan 30.00; Ramesh Thimmappa 21.00; Dushyant & Daksha Upadhyaya 21.00; Santhosh Vaidyanathan 10.00; Rama Vangala 116.00; Vayudeva Varadan 51.00; Avantika Vardhan 25.00; V. Venkatachalam 101.00; Rajiv Verma 108.00; Mahesh Viswanathan 25.00; Michael Wasylkiw 108.00; Richard Bosworth & Kerri Watts 202.00; Indru Watumull, in memory; of Gulab Watumull 1,000.00; Sundeep Yalamanchi 116.00; Shelah Young 51.00; Michael Zimmermann 5.00; Total Building Fund $51,784.93; Iraivan Temple Endowment: Anonymous 65.00; Frank Burkhardt 10.00; Terrill Silke 100.00; Total Endowment Funds $175.00; Special Project Donations (Gold Leaf, etc): Anonymous 1,008.00; Artemis Bimpiza 20.00; In Memory of Sri Durgam V.; Govindarajulu & Smt Susela Govindarajulu and Sri R. Viswanathan & Smt Adhilakshmi Viswanathan by Dr. Durgam & Subha Chakrapani Family 66,000.00; Frederik Jan Elbers 70,980.00; Meghan Ganzer 108.00; Valliammah Kandasamy 22.82; Silvarajoo Muniandy 35.84; Gowri Nadason & Family 1.228.28; Asim Srivastava 1,512.00; Piragash & Natasha Velummylum 1,008.00; Total Special Project Donations $141,922.94; Grand Total $193,882.87;