It's an overcast Monday morning on Kauai, and the homa was so sweet today. Gurudeva's talk afterwards focused on empowering our guests to return to their homes on the mainland, there to send three messages deep into the Hindu community: take care of your priests, live in harmony (especially the management committees and stewards) and never hurt or strike your children.

Gurudeva then spoke on the Self and Siva:

"You are here on the Earth to realize the Self God within. That is the only purpose for being here. Many on Earth follow the path of the personal ego. I call this the anava marga. They anger easily. they live in states of jealousy and negativity. They are the first to say, if you ask, that they know little about their religion, which just means they don't really have a religion at all. That's the anaga marga, the ego-filled path. Eventually they realize there is a better way, and they begin to pilgrimage, begin to go to the sacred temple, but they still find excuses for perfecting their bhakti. They still fear God and so their temple going is based on service only, simple seva. Only later do they evolve a deeper communion, and then begin on the path of kriya, of genuine worship, of real devotion to God within the temple. This later leads to raja yoga, but for most that comes much later in life."

Once each month we have a full abhishekam on our six-foot-tall bronze Nataraja, pouring milk and yogurt, water and sacred sandalwood on the mysterious murthi. Today was that day, at the nine am puja, corresponding to the Ardra Abhishekam held at Chidambaram.

The rainbow you see here going behind the bamboo grove is from yesterday, not today. Elsewhere at Kauai Aadheenam our teams are working with creative fervor on the Iraivan issue, called Island Temple. Artists, photographers, writers, scanners, designers are all coordinating their efforts toward presenting Iraivan beaautifully to the world.

Some very special squashes were planted in the garden today (and a dozen or so out by the amphetheater, under the rudraksha trees where they can grow into the full sun when they are ready, a butternut, a spagetti type and a third, like a giant acorn squash.

Our Paramacharya Bodhinatha is in Chennai, India, today, traveling for 6 weeks with Yogi Tapodhana and Nilakantha Veylan. They will be meeting with key members and artists and publishers and such for a few days.

Yesterday the monks put up a wooden fence, about eight feet tall, near the Nepalese Ganesha at the entrance to the property. It will give a nice privacy there. And lastly, the Ashwagandha bush in the garden has flowered and fruited! Yes, one of India's most important herbs (a caution we are told, use only the root, since the red berries are actually poisonous.)

Thanks to the translation work of Myriam Catania & Gabriel Frangoudis in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Spanish version of "How to Become a Hindu" (Como Volverse un Hindu) is now on the Web under "Education and Study Materials" at /academy/

Muchos gracias, amigos!