A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka		Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA
	December 27, 1999 - Krittika

It's Sun 4 today, a cool winter, at least according to Hawaiians! The temperature dropped to a life-threatening 58 degrees this morning. So we are now officially in the middle of our tropical winter and monks were actually seen with socks on. How do people survive in lower temperatures, we wondered aloud? New! Satguru Speaks Again! Today's Cybertalk: Due to technical difficulty, we could not bring you the talk we expected, but we have a treat. We have taken a portion of one of Gurudeva's recent talks and behind it we play the sounds of the chipping of the stones at the Iraivan temple site in Bangalore. The talk is an affirmation of your soul nature, and an urging for you to distinguish the light of your mind as separate from your thoughts. You will agree that this is worth hearing again and again. MP3 Streaming: Use the QuickTime controller above to listen to Gurudeva's upadesha in MP3 streaming mode. You must have the QuickTime plug-in installed in your browser. (Click here to get QuickTime.) Click here for Real Audio For those unable to play streaming MP3 or RealAudio: Option-click here to download MP3 file to your computer. Option-click here to download WAV file to your computer. Visitors came throughout the morning, many on family holiday vacations. When guests come wearing shorts and t-shirts, we give them a special frock for the women or sarong for the men. Notice the little girl, Anniruddha, in a frock made in Hindu Bali for our visitors. R. Suresh, Meera Suresh and Nagu. The children toward the right of the photo (mom is in red vest and Vivek and his dad are just behind in blue) are Pranai Cheroo and Vivek Cheroo. They are from Michigan and devotees of the Bharatiya Temple in Troy. Vivek and his father study Sanskrit together, and he has had his upanayana samskara. Shyam Mayasandra lives in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Their children on the left of the photo are Vivekananda and Aniruddha. We found some nice maps on the web, and share the URL today for TAKA visitors. At this site you can find maps just about anywhere in the US, street maps that show directions. We looked for Kauai, then asked the site to find 107 Kaholalele Road, our entry, and this was the result. You can even zoom in and out, and get directions for how to drive from one place to another. You can go to any city, punch in two addresses, and get a description of how to get from here to there. Check it out: http://destinations.previewtravel.com Today we received a number of digital photos from our manager at the Bangalore Carving Site, Jiva Rajasankara. This is our first image of the doorway to the Iraivan sanctum sanctorum. On this frame will be installed the two massive sandalwood doors, land above the doors will be carved our Guru Paramparai, the last six Satgurus of the Kailasa Paramparai, all worshipping Siva together. Thank you, Jiva, for the photos. We'd love to see more of the Bangalore activities on TAKA each week. This is the topmost stone of the temple, and it was just finished in the last few weeks. It will be covered in gold leaf and sit over 35 feet above the temple floor. And here we see the second largest stone in the temple, the so-called Raja Gopuram entry, but it's not really that. It is the stone that crowns the entryway. Below it will hang the stone bell. This stone too will be gold leafed. Jiva tells us that this stone is too heavy to be lifted up vertically for the silpis to sit and carve. The silpi has to stand vertically and carve sideways and this takes extra time. That's a complex piece. It's a mystical face that will grace the side of the entry stone above. It is a good example of the intricate work our team of 75 craftsmen are producing. This Nasi head measures about 1.5 feet is done separately and is going to be fixed to each side of the Rajagopuram stone. One piece takes about 3 months to carved and it is so beautiful. There are two of these. One is almost completed and the other is about 25 percent done. Another part of the stupi stone, the crown at the top. In the garden of the carving village Jiva has placed this stone with our sacred Panchakshara Mantram. It is in rose colored granite, the color of the temple sanctum and flooring. Another view of the doorway stones. The final details are still being added. This is a corner of the roofing system of the temple. Notice that the chain is carved out of the same stone, not added on. So the carver began with a large stone, and slowly removed everything but the chain! Now, that's a bit of magic. More of the roofing stones, upside down as the carvers remove parts on the underside. More visitors to Kauai, seen here in the temple with Gurudeva in the late morning. Standing next to Gurudeva (on Gurudeva's right) is a 17-year-old member of our Church who came with his father to be here on a six months taskforce and also to experience monastic life, later to decide if monastic life is his path in this life. All the monks of Kauai Aadheenam gave a wonderful welcome to Nantha Kumaran Muniandy and his father Kulapati Silvarajoo Muniandy who is seated on the floor. We also give a grand welcome to Elder Tiru Jothiswarar and his family to Kauai Aadheenam who is here to receive his membership from Gurudeva into our Church. They are also here to celebrate Gurudeva's birthday this January 5th. Tiru Jothiswarar is a well known Vedic astrologer in Malaysia. Welcome one and all! Our beloved Satguru, with Mount Waialeale and some rare palm trees in the background. He received a nice note from a web visitor today you might like: Dear Gurudeva and brothers, I wanted to write and thank you for all of the services you provide on the Net for those of us interested in Sanatana dharma and spiritual growth. I heard of your organisation through Pundit Navaratnam who I studied Jyotish with in Melbourne and have found many of your teachings very helpful. I regularly consult the Panchangam and reflect on your writings and thoughts. The TAKA page is a nice way of connecting with you all and following the activities of your commmunity. May your work continue to flourish and thank you for the light you are spreading in the world. Best Wishes, John Waters If you wish to get a Panchangam off the web and have access to the Hindu sacred calendar for your time zone, click here: Year 2000 March Caribbean Innersearch Taking Reservations Now Don't Delay as the group is limited in size Gurudeva says, "Come with me to the Caribbean next March, on the Year 2000 Innersearch. Besides our wonderful study together, we are planning a gala gathering of Hindus in Trinidad for one day." We will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 25th and return to Fort Lauderdale on April 4th and be traveling on Holland America's spectacular, brand new cruise ship, the MS/Volendam. For information contact our wonderful tour agent who will be conducting the Innersearch: Kailash and Indra Dhaksinamurthi of Search Beyond Adventures, Inc. ASAP at search11@mail.idt.net Very Important!: Be sure to include your mailing address and phone number in the body of your message! Kailash will be mailing you information, but if you don't send an address there is nothing he can do.
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