Noni Building Groundbreaking

For some time now the monastery has been producing a small amount of commercial noni juice. This Noni Juice project is part of an initiative to support our mahogany, rosewood and koa hardwood forests while they grow. We have over 1000 Noni trees on our Himalayan Acres agricultural land on the other side of the Wailua River, which we harvest fruit from. The fruit is then washed and barreled, allowing it to naturally ferments itself into noni juice. This juice is then sent to a commercial bottler. Up until now the monks have had to rent a commercial kitchen for a day and haul thousands of pounds of equipment and product to and from that kitchen in order to create this juice.

But no more! Today (well, yesterday) we mark the official groundbreaking of our new noni processing building, unofficially known as "Hale Noni" meaning "House of Noni." Inside this building, which will be a licensed commercial kitchen, our monks will be able to perform the otherwise tremendous task of juicing noni, with ease! The process will be much more efficient and enjoyable.

Beginning with a Ganesha puja by Yoginathaswami, our monks performed a ground breaking on the North Eastern corner of the soon-to-be building and blessed the earth beneath. Jai Ganesha!

Sadasivanathaswami breaks ground on our new Noni Building!

Two bottles of our Noni Juice

This juice will be used as part of the blessing

Lord Ganesha will eventually reside within the building, blessing our many noni-related endeavors

These seeds are mixed with the broken ground and allowed to grow for a time. Traditionally their sprouts are then to be eaten by the temple cow before construction can commence

Yoginathswami begins the Ganesha puja before we perform the groundbreaking

Many of the monks join the event

This brand new shovel is ready to begin the project

It\

s a bright and shiny day, a good time for an outdoor puja'

These small blessing always have a surprising power to them and today\

s is no exception'

Acharya Arumuganathaswami has been the lead on our Noni endeavors. He has worked hard to make this building a reality

Final arati to Lord Ganesha

The shovel is then blessed

Sadasivanathaswami will break the first ground, followed by the other acharyas

This stake marks the North Eastern corner of the rectangular building

Jai!

The juice, milk and seeds are spread in with the dirt

Aum Namah Sivaya

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