Kauai Aadheenam

New Welding Station in Hale Hana Building

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Welding rods
Nearby, the skidsteer is having some maintenance
This nifty broom automatically gathers debris into a dustbin as you push it
Nearby grass mower maintenance. The mower blade decks frequently need repairs.

The new welding station inside the Siddhidata Kulam’s building is now complete, sequestered by walls on three sides due to the flying sparks and smoke that occurs during welding. The equipment is all inside and the electrical work done.

A couple weeks ago we happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture a rainbow over Iraivan Temple–

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The Fine Art of Meditation, Part One

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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.

“Many seekers work or even struggle regularly with their meditations, especially those who are just beginning. “How does one know if he is really meditating or not?” That’s a question that a lot of people who meditate ask themselves. When you begin to know, having left the process of thinking, you are meditating at that point. When you sit down and think, you are beginning the process of meditation. For instance, if you read a metaphysical book, a deep book, and then sit quietly, breathe and start pondering what you have been reading, well, you’re not quite meditating. You’re in a state called concentration. You’re organizing the subject matter. When you begin to realize the interrelated aspects of what you have read, when you say to yourself, “That’s right. That’s right,” when you get these inner flashes, the process of meditation has just begun. If you sustain this intensity, insights and knowledge will come from the inside of you. You begin to connect all of the inner flashes together like a string of beads. You become just one big inner flash. You know all of these new inner things, and one insight develops into another, into another, into another. Then you move into a deeper state, called contemplation, where you feel these beautiful, blissful energies flow through the body as a result of your meditation. With disciplined control of awareness, you can go deeper and deeper into that. So, basically, meditation begins when you move out of the process of thinking. “

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Malaysia Visit Day Four

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Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Klang

Sadhaka Tejadevanatha reports:

Day four morning was spent at the Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Klang, where Yoginathaswami gave the first “Path to Siva Workshop” for 90 youth aged 16 to 22. He discussed Karma, Reincarnation, the three perfections of Siva, the three worlds, the mind, and the importance of Ahimsa. A key practice shared was Vasana Daha Tantra. Three videos were viewed about the monastery/monastic life, and one short video highlighted the Spiritual Workout app. The workshop concluded with a focus on daily sadhana.

After our Path to Siva workshop, we drove for about 1.5 hours and ended up at the peaceful Carpe Diem Orchard House in Serendah for our Dharma Camp event. We had about 30 younger church sishyas join us for this half-day, one-night, and then another half-day event.
Swami led some inspiring Q&A sessions, highlighting the teachings and tools Gurudeva and Bodhinatha have given us to tackle even the most difficult of challenges. We discussed the intended goals of the Path to Siva workshops.
The retreat center itself was amazing, tucked away in beautiful wooded hills. It was relaxing and uplifting for everyone. Swami did a Siva Puja on the second day, explaining some of the deeper meanings behind it. He stressed how important daily home puja and consistent daily sadhana are.

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I’m All Right, Right Now, Part Three

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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 mystic lives within himself and deals positively with the events and forces outside himself. He is always consciously striving to realize that limitless Reality within him. That is his practice. Yet he welcomes the challenges of the world, not as a karma forced upon him against his will but as his own self-created dharma. If he is really a mystic, he doesn’t run away from these challenges. He inwardly knows that life’s daily difficulties bring forth his inner strength in response to them. He sees the underlying purpose of life. He accepts and doesn’t reject. He searches for understanding, for the lesson that lies behind each experience instead of resenting the experience, which then creates another subconscious barrier for him. He knows that most problems are with man and the way he looks at things.“

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A Bit More on Satguru’s Visit to US Mainland

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While in the San francisco Bay Area, Satguru visited scenic Mount Tamalpais to retrace our late Gurudeva’s first walk to the summit. Here is what Gurudeva said in Merging with Siva lesson 123 about his times there: “For eleven years I led a bhakti pilgrimage, a devotional pilgrimage, to the top of Mount Tamalpais in California, the first Sunday of every month. I never missed one. The devotees, in looking over three cities with me, could intuit that within each city there were problems. Each home in each city contained an area of the mind that was problem ridden.

“Those who had the devotion went to the top of the mountain. Hence, the opportunity to expand their awareness for an hour or so and look over the external states of the mind. There they set their pattern for meditation for the ensuing month. It takes great dedication, devotion and bhakti to disentangle awareness from that which it is aware of, to flow into and become aware of expanded areas of mind. The rewards are great. We are able to look over and through our expanded vision the totality of the exterior area of our mind and intuitively know the answer to the experiences that we are going through.

“This may seem difficult to comprehend, but it is really very simple. When awareness is burdened in the exterior area of the mind, we simply release awareness from that area of the mind that it is aware of. Release the burden—but not by taking on more burdens or trying to find out the whys and wherefores of it all. In other words, we alleviate the pressures that awareness and our nerve system feel because of being involved in the exterior area of the mind and thus become devoted to our own superconsciousness.”

After flying to Dallas, Texas, Satguru held a satsang at the home of sishyas Sanjiva and Tiya Thielamay, where he spoke to those gathered about the purusharthas, the four goals of life. Priest Kumar Gurukkal also joined for the evening.

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The Noni Bottle Labeling Machine

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As the price increased for shipping our noni juice in large totes to California for bottling and labeling, then shipping it back to Kauai, it became apparent that we would save money in the long run by doing the bottling and labeling ourselves. This also gives the flexibility to bottle in small batches as needed rather than filling up large totes all at once.

We invested in a bottling and labeling machine. Today we share some photos of the labeler. It has many moving parts and is finicky during the setup process for each labeling session. The machine not only applies a label, but also stamps a expiration date on the label. All the micro adjustments must be perfect and often require sacrificing a few labels initially. Once it is running well, the rest of the session usually proceeds without a hitch. One of our part-time employees, Doug, does much of the bottling and labeling, under Arumuganathaswami’s guidance.

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