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Bodhinatha is taking Gurudeva's teachings forward in a very powerful, practical and down-to-earth way. His talks are really advice you can put to use right now.

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We bring you a photo documentary to day of our Anna Purna Gardens. Years ago the plant devas told Gurudeva they "don't like that big machine that tears up the earth and makes all that noise." So Yoginathaswami and his team discontinued tractor farming in our vegetable garden and has changed over to a modified form of bio-intensive mound and mulch gardening. It is a great step forward in many ways.

We enter through this gate. You are supposed to stamp your feet three times hard on the ground to tell the devas you are entering.

Lord Ganesha presides here over the nature spirits in this vegetable realm.

Because of our intense rainfall and the rapid disintegration of organic matter we need to keep raised beds that will allow the plants to be above grade and drain well. Sadhaka Adinatha is here forming up concrete boxes.

These boxes are then "double dug" by hand, turning over the top layer of soil and breaking up the hard pan that has formed two feet down.

These are the form boards all set for pouring cement to make a new mound. There will be about 96 mounds in this upper garden when they are finished!

After the mounds are double dug, no one steps inside them again. This prevents any soil compression of the growing layers of soil.

A heavy layer of mulch is layed in over the soil and the plants are place through the mulch. A major advantage of this mode of planting is the very low weed factor.

Note the lack of weeds around the plants. Some of our members may remember years ago when we did tractor farming we had to have whole brigades of weeders come into maintain the garden.

As we enter the cool season the sturdy collards, broccoli and cabbages are doing well.

This mound of green beans is doing really well.

Okra does very well here and according to Ayurveda is a super brain food.

This eggplant really does look like an egg!

Young plants. in the mulch

We grow marigolds here and there throughout the garden. They are aid to control of a variety of pests and root nematodes, and provide flowers for the temple as well.

Many other flower varieties thrive amidst the vegetables.

This mound was just recently starting with new green bean starts, that have been set down deep through the mulch into the soil

Some plants take longer to mature. In the meantime we can use the space for flowers.

Kale is another excellent vegetable, considered on of the best for human consumption. You do need to cook it well though.

I'm not sure exactly what these are... young okra plants perhaps....

Some climbing varieties being tested. Snake gourd is famous in Sri Lanka and does well here too. Very delicious and nutritious.

Bitter melon is also a climbing vine plant.

Before long these will be wrapping the poles and reaching for the sun. Did you know that the definition of fruit include many things you think of as vegetables? A fruitarian can also eat: wing beans, squash, bitter melons, green beans, tomatoes...

Very healthy looking kale.

We are producing more per square foot now in the garden than ever before in the past. Once all 96 mounds are producing we will be able to feed a small army. Of course some of those mounds will remain fallow for a season, during which time we will plant nitrogen fixing plants that will be later turned back into the soil.

In other areas, our Pillaiyar Kulam guest-rooms-to-office-space renovation is going well. Today we finished painting. Here is Sadhaka Jivanandanatha, our new Information Manager and accountant for the Pillaiyar Kulam, painting the walls.

Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami on the left with his spackle to fill holes. He is the new talaivar of the Pillaiyar Kulam.

Tomorrow two members of his team will move in to this room and he will be back at his desk. He has big plans for the promotion of Gurudeva's books and outreach.

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The afternoon sun crosses some detailed work courses 11-13 of the Iraivan temple sanctum, giving us a glimpse of the beauty that will be Iraivan.

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Date: November_14_2002
Title: Honoring Gurudeva at Lydgate Park
Category: Kauai Community
Duration: 5 min., 7 seconds
Date Given: November 1, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha

Aloha! Good evening! We are so happy all of you could come this evening to honor Gurudeva at this time of one year after his passing.

This is our island event, reaching out to everyone, all our friends on the island and giving them a chance to come and remember Gurudeva together with us.

At the monastery we are also complementing this with five days of traditional Hindu ceremonies for the monks, the members and our Hindu friends on the island as well. So this is not our only event. This is just one of five days of activities.

Thinking about Gurudeva and what to say, I thought I would start by saying Gurudeva was certainly a spiritual leader par excellence, of the highest quality and in Hawaii we call it kilohana. He had the ability to lift up the spirit of everyone he met. He encouraged them to try again if they had not succeeded, lift them up from the negative states of mind, of anger and fear and despair and doubt into a positive perspective that everything is all right and that they have the ability to succeed. He expanded their vision of what it was possible achieve from the limited to the unlimited.

Of course, everyone who knew Gurudeva on Kauai considered him a spiritual leader. However, most had no idea how global his influence had been, how widespread his accomplishments. The commemorative magazine on his life that the monastery produced in April 2002 - there are a few copies in the back if you did not receive one - and mailed to many friends on the island, changed all of this. Afterwards many comments came in saying the same thing, "We had no idea of Gurudeva's global accomplishments. Thank you so much for sharing these magnificent achievements with us."

After Gurudeva's passing last November, all our friends on the island shared the same concerns about the monastery. Some verbalized them to us and others didn't but we knew they were wondering too. Would the monastery be able to continue at all without Gurudeva as leader? Was it going to still exist? Would it continue to support the same island projects as Gurudeva did? What about the building of that magnificent stone temple? Would it be able to continue? Would we be able to visit and show the monastery to our friends and families as before?

The answer to each of these concerns of course is a very strong, YES.

The monastery has continued to exist. It continues to support the same island projects as Gurudeva did. Yes, the temple construction continues at the same pace as before. Yes, a steady stream of visitors is found on almost all days on the monastery grounds.

In closing, I would like to share a portion of Mayor Maryanne Kusaka's acknowledgment of the invitation to this event which her schedule did not permit her to attend. To quote, "Gurudeva continues to be alive and vibrant in our hearts and minds. His spirit and efforts to make it possible for every student on Kauai to know Pilahi Paki's 'Aloha' values are unparalleled. In spite of his transition, the learning of those values will continue as children enter classrooms each day. His quiet, simplistic approach to reaching for the sky when setting goals and expanding a vision will forever be a source of inspiration in my contributions to community. Mayor Maryanne Kusaka."

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MORE UPLIFTING THINGS		Innersearch 2003-4 in India! We just completed the July 17-23 Kauai Innersearch, 2002. Bodhinatha will lead the next Innersearch to India, between Dec 2003 and Jan 2004. We will visit Bangalore and the Iraivan Carving Village, and settle in the South in Tamil Nadu, Click on the above for details on what will be an inspiring journey to our holy land of Bharat!
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