Off to Hawaii's Governor's Mansion

On Friday, September 28, Sadasivanathaswami and Arumuganathaswami flew off to Honolulu. They were invited by the Governor to attend and bless the signing of a Sister-State Agreement between Goa in India and Hawaii in the USA. The agreement will promote trade, tourism, information technology; and exchange of health and wellness, agriculture, culinary art, education and cultural programs between private sector organizations and universities of both states.

It was an important event, insofar as it was Hawaii's first official connection at the highest level with India. A delegation of three flew to Hawaii from Goa for the signing. The swamis were able to do other significant things before and after the mid-morning signing, mostly relating to the monastery's agricultural endeavors and our mission to save a $250,000,000 irrigation system that island farmers depend on, including us.

The slideshow tells the tale. Aum Namasivaya!

This is Washington Place, the official residence of the state\

s governor and where the event took place.'

In preparation, the delegates gathered in the offices of the president of the Senate, Ron Kochi. Senator Kochi is a Kauai boy, and now the second most powerful person in the state. He is third from the right in this photo. He was not expecting the monks to be in his office, and immediately began a long story of how he met \"the Gurudeva\" and how gurudeva became \"the most influential person in my adult life.\" Also in this photo is the father of Tulsi Gabbard, third from the left, Senator Mike Gabbard. And the three Goa delegates in the center.

After a session in Senator Gabbard\

s office, a photo is taken. In the center, to Arumuganathaswami\'s left is Dr. Raj Kumar who spent three years engineering this agreement. He was the hero of the day.'

The Governor, David Ige, offers his opening remarks.

Then comes the official signing.

Gurudas, the Director of Art and Culture in Goa, signs for his state.

Done deed!

Dr. Raj Kumar introduces us to the Governor and his wife.

Governor Ige has visited Iraivan temple years back.

But his wife has not, and is a bit stunned when shown the photos of the temple. She asks Sadasivanathaswami, \"This is on Kauai? Really? How come I don\

t know about it?\"'

We invite them both to visit. In fact, the Governor is coming to Kauai in a couple of days to oversee a meeting about food production in the state, which the swamis are also invited to attend. We returned to our island thankful for our quiet little part of the cosmos. Aum Namasivaya!

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