On the last retreat, Sannyasin Siddhanathaswami and Sadhaka Shankaranatha took our taskforcers on an outing. They went to Poipu Beach, a very popular spot for everyone on the island. The taskforcers had a great time swimming and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Aum
On Guru Purnima, Paramacharya Sadasivanathaswami had planned a special event—to plant a new bilva tree right in front of Iraivan Temple. During this auspicious occasion, Satguru joined in planting the tree along with our priest, Pravin Kumar. It was a meaningful and sacred moment for all of us, as the bilva tree is especially revered in worship of Lord Siva. Planting it directly in front of the temple made the event even more special. Now, Pravin Kumar will be able to offer fresh bilva leaves to Mahalingeshwara every day.
Many moons ago, our Ganapati Kulam monks hired a talented Oduvar, Vivek Raja, to sing all the sacred songs of Tayumanavar in Tamil. Tayumanāvar was a revered Tamil poet-saint and spiritual philosopher from Tamil Nadu, India, who played a vital role in spreading the profound teachings of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy to the world. A few months ago, we joyfully completed the entire collection of his songs and have now created a dedicated category on our website. You can listen to them online and immerse yourself in the deep spiritual wisdom of his verses. Aum.
This is where the button size wood decor will be placed. It will look better when it’s oiled and dried
One of the finished sides of the fish tank stand
Sadhaka shows us how to use one of the tools in the wood shop
Sadhaka is focused on cutting the right size
Some of the finished pieces
That’s our boy Yali cat. Always loves attention.
Jai Ganesha!
Today, July 1st, we took a walk around the Aadheenam and found Sadhaka Shankaranatha working in the wood shop. Acharya Kumaranathaswami manages the equipment in the wood shop, and since Swami is an expert in woodworking, he has gradually upgraded the shop with many useful machines and pieces of equipment. We asked Shankaranatha about the new fish aquarium stand update which he has been working on. He told us that it’s almost done and showed us the piece he’s currently working on. Right now, he’s cutting small, button-sized wooden pieces to use as decorations. He also showed us the finished sides of the stand. Aum!
In June, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Shanmuganathaswami traveled to other side of the world to meet with members and participate in Satsang and other special events. Satguru tries to do this yearly, meeting our members who are far away from Hawaii. Providing encouragement and support for facing life’s challenges and offering ways to uplift their sadhanas. While there, Satguru gave several initiations. Above are the photos of their travels. Aum!
Words of our Master
If you want liberation in this birth make your mind a cremation-ground and burn all your desires to ashes.
These high tunnel green houses produce and protect our more vulnerable vegetables
Mayilnathaswami mulches the beds while Nirvani maintains the coverings
Vivshvanathaswami fertilizes the beds
Nirvani Tejadevanatha is watering the keiki (baby) plants that will be planted in the future
Sadhaka Shankaranatha uses the tractor to bring more mulch to the garden
Panchamukha Ganesha in the garden
All these beds will be used to plants more vegetables
Our pumpkin harvest! We have have about 153 pounds of pumpkins here. Kudos to the team!
This thorny tree, when full grown, produces massive amounts of beautiful flowers!
Here it is! This large one just produced its first round of flowers earlier this year. Just like our inner spiritual growth, no matter where start, we can always grow greater!
Jai Ganesha!
On Sun One (which is like our Monday in our Panchangam calendar) the monks of the Siddhidata Kulam enjoy their weekly Garden Day. This week the team of monks joined together to sprout seeds, plant beds, add compost and other nutrients to the soil, weed, mulch and harvest today’s organic lunch. Thanks to an orderly system of maintenance the garden only needs to be worked intensely on once a week in order to go on producing all the vegetables we need. Aum!