Kauai Aadheenam

Senthilathiban Rajasankara (whose family oversaw the Iraivan Temple carving project in Bengaluru) is with us for a couple weeks. He attended our bi-weekly Pradosha Puja yesterday and took many photos, some of which are shown here. He is doing seva with the Siddhidata Kulam, and one photo in this collection shows him sorting a tomato crop from the greenhouse.

The last photo show our Bhairava a few weeks after taking his lifetime brahmacharya vrata (neutered). He was heavily medicated and had to wear a neck barrier. Now he is very happy to roam about once again on his daily walks.

Yesterday was our monthly “Iraivan Day” morning where we all do various tasks related to Iraivan Temple. First thing in the morning we gather as a group to prepare the next Kauai’s Hindu Monastery monthly newsletter mailing. They are now all in boxes in the postal room, ready to be run through the postage meter. Muruganathaswami uses a laptop to keep track of our multiple organization budgets—Hindu Heritage Endowment, Himalayan Academy and Saiva Siddhanta Church—that pay postage for parts of the mailing.

This second image collection shows Satguru giving second vishesha diksha (blessing and directive to personally perform puja daily) to a SSC sishya, then giving mantra diksha (blessing and directive to change 108 Namasivaya daily) to three SSC sishyas.

On subsequent days Satguru met individually with more devotee families and had a afternoon interview with Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation at their studio in Port Louis for a show called Encounter. The interviewer focused exclusively on philosophical questions. Satguru also met with the American Ambassador to Mauritius, Henry Jardine. His previous posts include Calcutta, where he learned Bengali, and Bangkok, where he learned some Thai. He is quite knowledgeable in the current state of Hinduism. 

A couple of young sishyas also produced a short video highlighting the monthly Ganesha Homa at our Spiritual Park and interspersed commentary given by Satguru and Shanmuganathaswami a few days ago. Here is the video

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A big “Thank you” to SSC sishya Rajen Manick for undertaking the French translation of Merging with Siva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Metaphysics. Spanning a couple years, he spent countless hours in Mauritius—and during a taskforce seva period at Kauai Aadheenam— to carefully translate the Introduction, 365 daily lessons, the resource sections such as Cognizantability, and the glossary. We know this will help the large French-speaking world get further introduced to Gurudeva’s insights.

You can read on the website or download a PDF or ePub here.

Today is the first full day of our new season, the Jivana Ritau. Early this morning, monastics and sishyas gathered in Kadavul Temple for a short puja (monthly Krittika Homa at Iraivan Temple was on the day prior) and then listened to a past upadesha from Satguru, who is traveling right now. Following the upadesha they proceeded out the the Aadheenam’s flagpole to fly the dvaja for the new season.

Excerpts from Saiva Dharma Shastras about the this time of year:
“Beginning with Hindu New Year in mid-April, three seasons of the year divide our activities into three great needs of humankind the learning of scripture in the first season, Nartana Ritau; the living of culture in the second season, Jivana Ritau; and the meditating on Siva in the third season, Moksha Ritau. Thus we are constantly reminded that our life is Siva’s life and our path to Him is through study, sadhana and realization. In ritau one, we teach the philosophy; in ritau two, we teach the culture; and in ritau three, we teach meditation.

During Jivana Ritau, the rainy season, from mid-August to mid-December,Living with Siva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Cultureis the primary text. The key word of this season is work. The colors are rust, copper-maroon and all shades of red rust for earthy preservation, copper-maroon for fulfillment and red for physical energy. The Aadheenam’s flag pole flies the rust-colored dhvaja, symbolizing environmental care. Copper-maroon and all shades of red adorn our smaller flags. This is the season of honoring and showing appreciation for those in the vanaprastha ashrama, life’s elder advisor stage. The focus is on preserving what has been created, manifesting goals and fulfilling plans made in the past. Inwardly the emphasis is on direct cognition and caring for the practical details of the external world. Practicality is a word much used this season.”