Kauai Aadheenam

A group photo at the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon

Exploring the lotus and lily pond at Kew Gardens

The glass structure is the palm green house, which is well over 100 years old. They will soon rebuild it in the same style.

Inside reminds us of Kauai. Our tour guide talks palms with Paramacharya

Outside are many varieties of happy roses

some amazing trees here as well

Off to the cacti and succulent greenhouse

there’s even a baobab tree in the middle

easy to miss all the amazing little life forms

Satsang at the Santhirapala home

The following day’s visit to the British Museum’s special India exhibit

An explanation from one of the exhibit’s creators

The next day’s visit to the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon

Some expertly sung natchintanai from the temple’s oduvar

London was the next stop for Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami and Sannyasin Tillainathaswami on their way to Mauritius. They had a wonderful time there, hosted by members and enjoying a few of London’s unique experiences. On their first full day there, they went on an outing to Kew Gardens, exploring the many plants. They got some good ideas for small additions and improvements to our sacred gardens around Iraivan Temple on Kauai. In the evening was a satsang at the Santhirapala home. After natchintanai singing from members, Paramacharya gave an inspiring presentation on managing one’s karma and on the mystical insights of Tayumanivar, while presenting some of the Tayumanivar songs that we’ve had recorded for our website.

The following day, members brought our monks into central London to enjoy a special exhibit at the British museum, featuring artwork, architecture and ancient murtis from all across the Indian subcontinent. One of the exhibits creators kindly gave a special introduction to our monks, explaining a bit about the informative experience they were trying to achieve. On the final day in London, our monks visited the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in Wimbledon. They enjoyed brief worship followed by a satsang at the temple’s Yogaswami shrine. The group included several staunch Yogaswami devotees, most of whom had met the Lion of Lanka when they were young. Aum.

Our swamis enjoying some artwork (a Van Gogh to be precise) in New York

Manhattan skyline as seen from our plane

Walking trough the Indian section with the Tanzi family

Jai!

Sekhmet, the Egyptian Durga, as far as we can tell

We noticed these conches, as we’re currently editing an article about conch carving in Hinduism Today

Must be a Chinese Muruga right?

Off into the forests the next day for a walk

fairy houses everywhere

Aum Namah Sivaya

Our traveling monks have been making several stops along the way to Mauritius. After they left the Bay Area, they spent a few nights on the East Coast and took a quick journey over to Manhattan to enjoy some of the classic New York experience. The Tanzi family met them at the MET, and everyone enjoyed exploring the towering marbled halls of this world-renowned museum. Apart from the 3000 year old Greek statues, Egyptian sarcophagi and some of the world’s most famous paintings (including a few of Monet’s water lilies!), there was a wonderful display of ancient Indian murtis in both metal and stone. Some of them still had some notable shakti to them, especially Ganesha.

The next day, while waiting for their evening flight to the UK, our monks went to a nearby trail outside of the Newark area to get some much-appreciated time in nature. The trail is known as the Fairy Trail, and features countless little fairy houses to be discovered around every turn. It seems to be a place that families love to bring their young children, as well as a place artists enjoy. There must have been about 20 painters around the trail, each settled down to canvas a different fairy abode. Aum.

Arrival at the Concord Shiva-Murugan Temple

The temple is looking wonderful!

A blessing before entering

Shivacharya brings our swamis around to the temple shrines

Starting with Ganesha of course

After darshan from Murugan, we sit down for a short satsang

The next day, a picnic under some California redwoods

A short hike in a nearby forest riverbed

Nice to be in nature again after airplanes and hotels

Evening dinner

Recently our traveling monks, Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami and Sannyasin Tillainathaswami, enjoyed a visit to the Bay Area for several days. The two are making their way across the globe to Mauritius. On their first day in the Bay Area they traveled to see the Concord Shiva-Murugan Temple which was recently completed. They were warmly welcomed and went around to visit each shrine, with a short worship at Muruga’s central shrine. They also took a brief tour of the still-under-construction community center nearby. One thousand copies of the October issue of Hinduism Today (which features the temple and Murugan on the cover) had been sponsored for the Temple to have and distribute. After some unexpected delays, the magazine copies finally arrived on the same day our monks did. Several were placed in the Muruga shrine for the blessing.

After the puja, our monks, members and students sat down in the temple for a simple satsang. Paramacharya gave some insightful information about Tayumanivar and played some of the recently recorded Oduvar work we’ve had done. He also covered some useful advice for our members there. Tillainathaswami gave a short presentation on self-discipline. 

The next day everyone headed up to the nearby redwoods for some nature time and a picnic, followed by a small evening dinner. The next day the monks flew to the East Coast in continuation of their journey. Aum

A collection of photos that Senthilathiban took while here at Kauai Aadheenam on our taskforce program

Senthilathiban takes a stroll through the rudraksha forest

One of his projects while here was to help clean this entry arch

He also enjoyed attending pujas at Iraivan Temple

Sadhaka performs the daily San Marga puja. Our wild chickens are very devoted to this daily event.

He got to see a wonderful event, the sea turtles coming to shore at the beach

Many islanders gather for this event

In another act of Seva, Senthilathiban cleaned these granite bonsai stands

It’s longan fruit season here, and the trees are loaded

Aran returns Senthilathiban to the airport

Aum Namah Śivaya

Aum Namah Śivaya

Yesterday, Senthilathiban Rajasankara finished his several week visit on our taskforce program. He has been doing some temple construction projects on the US mainland, and was able to take some time to come here. While at the Aadheenam he helped the monks of the Siddhidatta kulam with a variety of tasks, such as helping in the gardens, doing cleaning an maintenance projects, and much more. Aum.

Our papaya-mango sunset after a long day of light rain.

“See yourself everywhere. You are the whole world.” – Yogaswami

“Your eyes are everywhere. Your ears are everywhere. Your mouths are everywhere.”

“See God everywhere and see bliss!”

“You don’t want powers or siddhis. You don’t want powers. You want to find out the Truth.”

“Examine yourself every day—examine yourself in heart, body and mind.”

“You are on the top, but you have forgotten. You must think that you are there; then you will be there.”

“You can enjoy—enjoy what comes!”

“He is a sannyasi, who surrenders possessions, life and spirit to God.”

“Just go about and do your work. Enjoy the beauty of the world!”

“Middle path. No extremes.”

“We are all bubbles in the ocean. The bubble is in the ocean; the ocean is in the bubble.”

“All is dream. I am dreaming. Here all are dreaming—all mirage.”

“All is play. God is just playing everywhere. All are bubbles-small bubbles going down and coming up to the surface.”

“Too much talk is nothing. Talk is nothing. Keep silent.”

“Be unknown. God is unknown.”

“Nothing has happened.”

“Truth is everywhere. All is Truth. you can see it from here, from there, from everywhere.”

“Everything is going on well. I say! Everything is going well!”

“Everything is in you. The whole world is in you. All are the same. All are the same everywhere. There is no movement, no change. Nothing changes. Changing in the changeless; changeless in the changing.”

“All the world is a playground. Very fine world!”

“I am not a master. I am only my own master.”

“Everything is impermanent.”

“Be loving!”

“I am everywhere. You are everywhere, but you don’t believe it.”

“All are flowers. Some flowers smell sweet; others have no smell—just for show.”

“Everything should be an offering to God. The world is an altar.”

“From what I have learnt of the scriptures and my own experience of great souls, I can tell you-there is no imperfection. God, the Infinite, overwhelms the finite universe. What a rare and beautiful world! The world is sacred and secret.”

“Chellappan used to say that there is not a thing that is evil. When God is everywhere, how can there be a place for evil? There are changes and they sometimes appear evil. Everything is at work. Only God knows what He is about. There is balance and order in the universe. Parashakti adjusts Herself to maintain this balance and order.”

“Everything emanates from the Great Silence.”

“Beautiful world. Dance! Dance as you like. Be as a child. Do as you please.”

“Don’t go halfway to meet difficulties. Face them as they come to you; God is always with you-and that is the greatest news I have for you.”

The Aadheenam has been getting some much appreciated rainfall in recent days, and our plants sure are loving the sweet tropical waters. A great time to take a walk through the gardens and appreciate the gleaming and glistening jungle flora at its best. Please enjoy this pictorial walking meditation, complete with some wise words from Paramaguru Siva Yogaswami. Aum Namah Śivaya.

Sadhakas Sabanatha and Shankaranatha offer flowers to Gurudeva’s granite tiruvadi

“The cosmos is perfect, you know. Its laws are divine, its timing flawless, its design unique.” – Gurudeva

“If we are still reacting to our experiences, we are only starting on the yoga path to enlightenment.” – Gurudeva

“We make very little progress when we strive to conquer these baser instincts in a good mood. However, vast strides are possible when we are miserable and work with ourselves to replace our misery with joy and understanding.” – Gurudeva

“Humility is intelligence; arrogance is ignorance. To accept one’s karma and the responsibility for one’s actions is strength. To blame another is weakness and foolishness.” – Gurudeva

“Turn awareness back in on itself and simply be aware that you are aware. Try to penetrate the core of existence.” – Gurudeva

Jai Gurudeva!

Early this morning, our monks celebrated August’s Chitra nakshatra with our monthly padapuja to Gurudeva. This was the first time Sadhaka Sabanatha performed the puja as the main pujari, with Sadhaka Shankaranatha assisting. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami is traveling, but our monks and island members attended, invoking the love and blessings of Gurudeva. Aum.

“We do not follow the way of words, which is repeating from memory verses and stanzas of scripture with meager mental interpretations of their meaning. We follow the way of transformational spiritual unfoldment. We follow the mārga of sādhana and tapas.” – Gurudeva