Kauai Aadheenam

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“It is necessary for spiritual unfoldment on the path to enlightenment to live among others, be loyal, faithful, not promiscuous, to settle down and establish a cooperative routine of community life. Living among others—even having roommates who think, believe and have adopted the same spiritual, religious disciplines—grants the burden of good conduct, prompt resolution of problems and an abidance of sharing, giving and caring during the trials and happinesses that naturally arise in living with others.“

We have this screen above Gurudeva’s samadhi shrine in Kadavul Temple which changes the image every hour or so. Gradually gathering the best vertical close-up photos of Gurudeva through the years, we recently added another batch and now rotate through 45 images. Here they are in this gallery.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“The two paths—householder and renunciate—every young man has to choose between them. In Hindu tradition the choice is made before the marriage ceremony, and, if not, during the ceremony itself. The choice must be his and his alone. Though guided by the advice of parents, elder family members and religious leaders, the choice is his and his alone as to how his soul is to live through the birth karmas of this incarnation. Both paths take courage, great courage, to step forward and embrace the responsibilities of adult life.“

For many years we used a certain dirt road (in addition to other roads) for vehicles to go past Iraivan Temple towards the Swayambhulingam Mandapam and west borders of our property, but it was steep and consistently gouged from heavy rain runoff. It also negatively affected water drainage on the northwest side of Iraivan Temple, so we finally decided to close it off in preparation for creating a concrete utility road around Iraivan in the hopefully not-too-distant future. Dennis Wong recently brought in dirt and boulders to lift the area and close it. The photos show a few angles, plus a larger visitor group experiencing Iraivan due to the end-of-year holidays.

This morning during Chitra nakshatra we observed the monthly pada puja for Gurudeva.

We just recently completed generating the “Cognizantability” resource section of Merging with Siva in Gurudeva’s clone voice. This will appear on the audiobook page for Merging with Siva that is being created. Here are the first few sections:

Section 1 introduction–

Section 1, Canto 1–

Section 1, Canto 2–

Section 1, Canto 3–

The five days of Pancha Ganapati home festival have begun around the world. We have hundreds of extra visitors coming to our monastery temples during this holiday time until after January 1st, so we’ve put copies of the Pancha Ganapati article at the Kadavul Temple entrance threshold for people to learn from.

December 21, yellow: The family sadhana for the first day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony among immediate family members. The day begins early, and the entire family works together to design and decorate the shrine with traditional symbols, rangoli, lamps and more. Then a grand puja is performed invoking the spirit of Pancha Ganapati in the home. The sadhana of the day now begins. The family sits together for the purpose of easing any strained relationships that have arisen during the year. They make amends one with another for misdeeds performed, insults given, mental pain and injuries caused and suffered. When forgiveness is offered to all by one and all, they speak of each other’s good qualities and resolve that in the days ahead they will remember the futility of trying to change others and the practicality of changing one’s self to be the silent example for all to witness. Gifts are then exchanged and placed unopened before Pancha Ganapati. As family harmony is important to all Hindus, this sadhana must be taken very, very seriously.