Recent activity at Kauai's Hindu Monastery

A live presentation by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami plus devotional singing, discussions & testimonies by participants. Choose the session best for your time zone.

Hosted from Singapore:
10 AM Sunday Singapore Time
To join email: dohadeva.samugam@gmail.com

Hosted from California:
10 AM Sunday Pacific Time
To join email: easan.katir@gmail.com

• Study Gurudeva's Master Course, which is filled with philosophical, practical, soul-stirring information potent enough to inspire even a skeptic to change his ways of thinking about life and the ultimate goal of existence on this planet: 
himalayanacademy.com/livespiritually/become-student/mc-options
• Read Gurudeva's books online at: himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/books
• Listen to Gurudeva's inspired talks: himalayanacademy.com/looklisten/talksindex

The monks gather on the steps of Iraivan Temple for an annual photo

Reservations are required to enter the monastery temple due to the overwhelming post-COVID rush of visitors to our little island. To make it simple and convenient, Satguru decided to streamline the reservation process for Kadavul Temple’s morning puja with an online system. This was recently completed (with monetary support from our Digital Dharma Drive). The page allows guests to schedule a time slot for their Deity darshan while here on pilgrimage. You can book up to three months in advance, choosing either the 9am Siva puja or the 11am slot, which is ideal for quiet personal worship and meditation. To avoid disappointment, we highly recommend you make reservations well before your flight to Kauai. Go to himalayanacademy.com/reservations/ to schedule your visit!

A Red Granite Pot at the Temple carving site in Bengaluru 

Three 20-foot shipping containers have arrived on Kauai from China carrying some 30 pallets of 2,080 red granite floor tiles for the Iraivan Temple floor between the temple and the outer wall on the foundation perimeter. Brian Oliver, owner of Island Custom Tile and Stone, is assembling a team of tile setters to begin placing the flooring this summer. Thuraisingam Rajasankara, of Artha Enterprise in Bengaluru (the Iraivan Temple carving site) is having the team construct strong wooden crates to protect the last items needed for Iraivan: the red granite pots which adorn the perimeter wall, two Deities (Ganesha and Murugan), massive stone work for Kadavul Temple’s Kodimaram, balipitham and Nandi, and lots of gold-plated copper sculptures.

Satguru continued his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple on the inspired teachings of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in Merging with Siva. See Satguru’s presentations on our Kauai’s Hindu Monastery YouTube channel Satguru has been holding weekly Zoom Satsangs every Saturday and Sunday since March, 2020. It’s a live presentation by Satguru plus devotional singing, discussions and testimonies by participants. You are invited to attend. (See details on page 1.)

Mayuran Muttulingam and his 11-year-old son Chandipati spent 13 days with us in February participating in the monastery’s taskforce program. They stayed in a nearby guesthouse and came to the monastery each day to serve with the monks. During their time here, they completed many tasks, helping in the garden, greenhouse and light construction as well as harvesting Noni fruit at the Himalayan Acres orchard. Chandipati took his brahma­charya vrata and expressed soft interest in a future monastic life.

The Guru Chronicles book Tamil translation is close to completion, with only the glossary and index remaining. The translation is by Ram Prasad Lakshmanan Rao in Chennai. He has already completed the Tamil translation of Merging with Siva which can be seen on our website. Path to Siva in French has also been completed. It can be downloaded on the hindouisme.org website. The French translation of Lion Sage, by Rajen Manick of Mauritius, has reached the proofreading stage. ¶In the hydroponic greenhouses, the bigger-than-your-fist Roma tomatoes are super happy with the weather and the vines are laden with large crimson fruits. Who knew you could grow food without dirt? Wailua River Noni Soap, the latest product of our noni orchard, is now being sold individually in the temple gift shop, and in boxes of twelve online.

Hinduism Today’s latest issue has gone to press and is now available online free of charge at www.hinduismtoday.com. You can also download the free Hinduism Today app and get the entire magazine in a mobile-friendly format for your device at

hinduismtoday.com/get-the-app/.

In his Publisher’s Desk, Bodhinatha offers the Hindu value of tolerance to counter today’s world of “stubborn opinion, bigotry and callousness.” The Educational Insight presents Satguru Sivaya Subramuniya’s profound map of the mind which charts existence from the outer physical world to the deepest spiritual one. He does so through an identification of seven dimensions of the mind, beginning with the first, the inside of things which we cannot see or touch, to the third, “the interrelated magnetic forces that exist between people and people and their things,” to the sixth, “where forms are conceived of inner sound and colors” to the seventh, “awareness expanded into endless inner space.”

Our April issue is unusual for the age range of its writers: at one end we have three Young Writers at 13; at the other, Dr. Karan Singh, 91, son of the last Maharaja of Kashmir. All four expound with insight, sincerity and eloquence upon what Hinduism has to offer in today’s modern world. In his “In My Opinion” Dr. Singh pleads for the Parliament of the World’s Religions to return to its original purpose of bringing better understanding between religious communities and not get sidetracked into secular issues like climate change. Our Young Writers tackle subjects as diverse as the celebration of Diwali in the US and India, the understanding of Hinduism by American Hindu youth, the value of a daily religious practice and the future of Hindu matchmaking.

The feature story takes us up into the Himalayas, to the Tons River, a main tributary of the Yamuna, and its marvelous tradition of carved wood temples. Other articles include a review of the book Revisiting the Educational Heritage of India by Sahana Singh, delving into the history of India’s great schools, such as Nalanda, which were unparalleled in all the world. Dr. Devadasen Vythelingum, originally of Mauritius and now living in the UK, explains the strong medical support for the Hindu practice of intermittent fasting—skipping meals regularly. Dr. Virender Sodhi concludes ayurveda’s recommendations on the treatment of diabetes. Speaking of Mauritius, many there will enjoy our Digital Dharma article on the French language, Saivite-oriented website, hindouisme.org developed by Bodhinatha’s devotees. Our usual features—Letters, Quotes and Quips, Scriptures and more—round out the issue.

For many years the monks have been performing a monthly abhishekam to Lord Nataraja on the nakshatra of Ardra. Once a year in the month of Markali (Dec 15–Jan 15) a grand homa and abhishekam is held. This is the major festival day of the year for the worship of Lord Nataraja, particularly at Chidambaram Temple. The festival’s name is Ardra Darshana, also called Tiruvembavai.

The scale of the Ardra Darshana celebration in Kadavul requires the monks to start preparations days in advance. Coconuts are collected, yogurt is made, garlands sewn and fruits and other offerings gathered. A list of the offerings is impressive:

• 108 gallons of milk

• 25 gallons of freshly made yogurt

• 20 kilos of honey

• 36 gallons of panchamrita, a fruit mixture

• Coconut water poured from 120 green coconuts

• 5 kilos of sandalwood powder mixed in 25 gallons of water

• 5 kilos of abhishekam powder mixed in 25 gallons of water

• 9 kilos of varied fragrant herbs mixed in 30 gallons of water

• Final kumbhabhishekam of rose water, fragrant herbs and saffron

Additionally, plates of cut fruit and cooked delicacies are offered after each part of the abhishekam. For decorating Nataraja, close to $2,000 worth of garlands are shipped by devotees from New Jersey and California, in addition to orchid flowers for garlands woven by the monks.

Kauai Aadheenam has a fund for the twelve abhishekams to Lord Nataraja—eleven monthly and one annual—called the Kadavul Nataraja Ardra Abhishekam Endowment. This is held as an investment that ensures that items needed for these sacred rites will always be provided.

If you would like to help the monks to abundantly perform the Nataraja abhishekams, you can donate to the Kadavul Nataraja Ardra Abhishekam Endowment at www.hheonline.org/donate/fund.lc?id=08.

You can help the monastery to continue to grow and be of service to even more Hindus by donating to one of the monastic endowments at www.hheonline.org/funds_mon_list.shtml.

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

Stone Chains: Among the “wonderments” of Iraivan Temple are the stone chains, each carved from a single solid block of granite. In all, 24 such chains, three feet long, will adorn the spaces. Twelve will hang from the corners of the Nandi Mandapam and 12 within the main temple. Asked why these marvelous artifacts are created, the master builder said with a smile, “To show off the extraordinary skill and artistry of the carvers.” Of course, they also add an ornate and charming visual masterpiece at the corners, and provoke a sense of awe in pilgrims who encounter them for the first time. The process, which takes around 350 man hours per chain, is so difficult that few have been made in the past hundred years, we've been told. Sponsorship is $10,000 per chain.

Rose Granite Flooring Stones: One of the last remaining large projects for Iraivan Temple is the installation of one-inch thick rose granite flooring stones (sample of the reddish stone below) in the second prakaram, the 6,500 square-foot area surrounding the roofed area of the temple. The diagram at left is a detailed map of the project prepared for the tile supplier and the professional installers The colors indicate the various tile sizes. Sponsorship is $1,800 for each 25-square-foot section.

For the six months of September 2021 through February 2022, our monthly goal equals $420,000. Excluding contributions directed toward special projects, we received actual contributions of $900,787.88.