Yesterday's visit by seventeen of our island's most effective leaders, in whose hands lies the future of our little community, was a rare and important moment. There was much sharing between the monks and these amazingly motivated men and women (lots of spiritual questions, too). At one point, Ken Stokes, an environmental scholar and county consultant, rose spontaneously to share with the rest of his group how much the monastery has learned and implemented in the arena of sustainability, and proceeded to take them to school using our experiences here. It is inspiring to know that the monastery means so much to our little community. The mayor (in the green shirt) was invited to share his Holo Holo 2020 vision, and he gave a most impressive list of the projects he has begun. The island is blessed to have a man who loves the land and its peoples so deeply, and is so determined to improve everyone's life here on Kauai. Our Wailua Mission members were applauded by the visitors for their selfless service and genial hospitality. Little-known fact time? Kauai has 64,000 residents. Plus every day 16,000 more stay on the island (tourists), and 2/3rds of them stay in condos and vacation rentals, only 1/3 in hotels.

While are silpis on Kauai have returned home, work on Iraivan continues in India. Here are photos and captions from Bangalore.

A close up here of the Karna Koodu stone in progress.

The nasikoodu comes on all four sides and ‘kodi pala,” the ornamental carvings on the corners. The vacant spaces in between has carvings too. This makes it a very ornate.

The silpi is chiseling the stone to the required shape.

Silpi Iyyadurai working on the karna koodu.

Silpi Murthi working on the same set of stone.

The initial detailed carving is in progress. The left side shows carving in progress and the right side shows the guide lines marked by the supervisor so that the silpi(stone carver) can follow.