A Visit from Vamadeva Shastri

Almost every year Vamadeva Shastri and Shambhavi Devi bring a group up to the monastery to visit. Comprised of both Hawaiian residents and guests from Europe and India, the group is on the Island for a retreat to learn about ayurveda, jyotish and vedanta. They began with a visit to Kadavul Temple and then spent some time in the Media Studio talking with Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami. After that they braved the potential rainfall and took a walk with Yogi Jayanatha and Kulapati Ramesh out to Iraivan Temple and back.

A group photo in front of the 1008 Siva Lingam wall in the Media Studio

To begin, Paramcharya reveils the view from the Media Studio. Most of our guests hadn\

t seen this view of the river and temple yet'

It\

s quite stunning the first time you look at it... and every other time, really. '

All the present children cycle over to look at the aquarium

Everyone sits down for a chat in the cedar room to learn more about what we do here

After that the group puts on their mud boots and readies their umbrellas. It\

s been a rainy few weeks up here at the aadheenam.'

Some of our Rudraksha trees have starting droping their bright blue fruits

Umbrella Ganesha has the right idea today

A stop at the flagpole where yogi talks a bit about the temple\

s construction'

With the Shipli Pavilion we can give guests a more visual experience of how everything was built

Everyone loves the stone chains

A quick stop to see Dakshinamurti

While the pavilion is nice, we have the real thing taking place right now, so it is quite a treat for guests to see the carving in action

Yogi explains that the crystal they all saw in Kadavul Temple is the Siva Lingam for Iraivan.

We discover the spheres carved inside the lions\

mouths'

Something visitors always enjoy

This is a curious and mystically inclined group, so as we get to the panels showing Gurudeva\

s language of Shum they ask many questions.'

Both Vamadeva and Shambhavi Devi have been here before, but they commented later at how much they always enjoy their visits.

Aum Namah Sivaya

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