Kauai Aadheenam

The Five-Day Family Festival of Giving

It’s day one and we begin with nurturing harmony among family members, those closest to us. 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, with the entire family working together to design and decorate the shrine with traditional symbols, rangoli, lamps and more. The color of the day is yellow. A grand puja is performed invoking the spirit of Pancha Ganapati in the home. The sadhana of the day begins with the family sitting 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. Once forgiveness is offered to all by one and all, they speak of one another’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 oneself to be the silent example for all to witness. Gifts are then exchanged and placed unopened before Pancha Ganapati. 

The Five Śaktis of Lord Gaṇeśa

A Reverent Doxology by a Śaiva Paramāchārya

Loving Ganesha! Dear to Siva’s men,

Within whose form the world of form resides,

Who earned the mango by a pond’rous ken

And made the moon to wax and wane in tides.

Aum Ganesha! Loved by saints and sages,

Whose skillful arms five potent shaktis wield

To guide men now as in forgotten ages—

The seeker’s shield, the farmer’s fertile field.

Aum! Ganesha’s first shakti is home life,

Protection, harmony, fertility—

Respect becomes the man, as love the wife,

Obedience their cherished offspring’s glee.

Aum! Ganesha’s second shakti’s family—

By blood, by marriage and proximity.

Word and thought controlled, like minds agree,

While faithful friends preserve community.

Aum! Ganesha’s third shakti’s the market,

Where commerce earns the earth stability,

Where forthright, selfless merchants, free from debt,

Conceive, produce, exchange prosperity.

Aum! Ganesha’s fourth shakti brings culture—

Refined expression, graceful artistry

In music, dance, in poetry and sculpture

Or common conduct performed consciously.

Aum! Ganesha’s fifth shakti is dharma—

Fair merit found in virtue’s charity—

Where love of God conquers ancient karma

And Siva’s slaves earn grace’s rarity.

Jaya Ganesha! Come, our hearts protect

From discord in the home, from strife with friend,

From business misfortune, from art’s neglect,

From soul’s dark night—these griefs asuric end.

Story

To be sure, modern life has its challenges, and they are far from trivial. But it’s easy to forget that life on earth has much improved in the last few millennia. So much so that many modern human live better than the kings and queens of yore.

Take Louis the XIV for example, France’s King who lived 1638-1715. When Gurudeva and his Innersearchers visited his royal residence, the Palace of Versailles, we were first struck by the opulence and stunning architecture. But as his life was described, we learned he lifed without many of today’s amenities. The King used an outhouse, and bathed from a bowl that held about two gallons of water. His life was harsh in many ways, compared to ours today.

In reflections of gratitude, we evolved a list of the King’s austerities, a list that would equally apply to others of his era—Russia’s Peter the Great, China’s Qing Emperor, Leopold I of Rome, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Powerful men, the most powerful on earth in those days, and yet life was rugged for them (and a hundred times more rugged for their subjects)

This made us feel immensely thankful for our life. So we carried that simple discovery further, and made a list of how, today, we all live better than the kings and queens of yesteryear. Enjoy

A List for Modernday Kings and Queens

On-demand transportation

The king summoned horses and carriages and waited. We summon a car in minutes that arrives clean, heated, and fast, day or night. If he traveled to England, it was a long and difficult journey taking 5-10 days by horse carriage and ferry. Today we can fly there in 3 hours, in comfort no less! Watching the latest movie and eating lunch brought to our seat.

Instant sanitation

Louis XIV used chamber pots and an outhouse. We have private flush toilets, hot showers, running water, sewage systems, and sanitation that would have seemed miraculous.

Medical care

A toothache could kill a king, and there was no Novocain. We now have drills to remove decay, antibiotics, anesthesia, health enabling drugs, imaging, emergency surgery, and pain relief on demand.

Hot water day and night

Royal baths required servants, fires, and time. We turn a handle and have endless hot water instantly. Nevermind a shower with water pressure.

Climate control

Versailles was freezing in winter and stifling in summer. the palace was either too cold or too hot. We maintain precise indoor temperatures year-round with heating and air conditioning. Not to mention we on Kauai seldom gets above 85 or below 65.

Lighting

The palace relied on candles and oil lamps. We have bright, safe, adjustable lighting at any hour with no smoke or fire risk. And no cleaning up melted wax.

Entertainment

The king hosted musicians and performers at great expense and effort. We summon music, films, lectures, and performances from every culture instantly. YouTube alone gives us access to five billion videos!

Information access

Louis XIV relied on courtiers and messengers. We access the sum of human knowledge instantly, translated, searchable, and up to date—all on our private phone. And we can command an AI assistant to do all kinds of chores for us.

Communication

Royal letters took days or weeks. We send swift messages and speak face to face across continents in real time.

Food variety and freshness

Royal cuisine was rich but repetitive and seasonal. We eat foods from every climate and culture any day of the year. We can even have it delivered to our door. Mexican tonight, Chinese tomorrow, Indian the day after. And kept safe and fresh with refrigeration.

We have been sharing Saint Tayumanavar’s wonderful teaching of samarasam—the unitive amity between religions. The idea of such shared respect is no less relevant to our 21st century experience than to his time, some 300 years ago.

A real-life example took place a few days back at the Sri Subramuniya Temple in Sri Lanka. Here is the report from Rishi Thondunathan (who this morning is hunkered down in Colombo due to a massive cyclone passing over the island).

“Greetings! On Friday, a group of 120 Buddhist monks and devotees from Kandy visited the Yogaswami Samadhi Temple and our Sri Subramuniya Temple in Alaveddy. They shared that they had read about Yogaswami’s life and teachings in various books, and were deeply moved by his simplicity and the profound wisdom reflected in his words and way of life. This inspiration led them to visit the sacred places where the sage lived. They had already downloaded the English Natchintanai from the Himalayan Academy publication website, and they have translated the song “Engal Gurunathan” into Sinhala. They attended the pūja and then eagerly listened to the story of Yogaswami’s life.”

In Peace,

Rishi Thondunathan 

Mount Waialeale is one of Kauai’s greatest natural marvels, rising from the island’s emerald heart (more technically the island rises from its heart) and cloaked in near-constant mist. Its name means “rippling waters” or “overflowing water,” a reference to the countless waterfalls and ancient bogs that spill from its summit. Known as one of the wettest spots on Earth, Waialeale is revered in Hawaiian culture as a sacred wao akua, a realm of the gods, where clouds gather, nourish the land, and sustain life downstream. Its blue-green cliffs and perpetual rain have long inspired respect, marking the mountain as a living temple of water, fertility and spiritual presence at the center of the island.

We live with it daily and watch it change from hour to hour as the clouds come and go, as the setting sun sets it on fire. Gurudeva envisioned a futuristic coffee table book which would show all of its moods, and we share a few of those in today’s TAKA, taken by various monks over the years.

In December of 1968 Gurudeva brought 32 Innersearchers to Kauai and on the second day we hired Larry rivera, the island’s legendary singer/composer, to regale us all with his song about Waialeale. Larry warned us, as we gathered around what is now the temple pool, that the song makes it rain more often than not. We nodded politely, and asked him to continue. It rained before he ended!

Want to hear him sing it right now? Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0voBezB05cw

Like everything in life, our point of view shapes our experience. Here at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, we’re all familiar with the monks’ ground-level photos—bright baskets of vegetables, blossoms unfolding, quiet temple pujas, and those small daily miracles that make monastery life so rich.

But the photo above gives us something entirely different. It lifts us into the sky and turns us toward a direction we’ve never seen before. Suddenly the whole monastery reveals itself in a new light. Footpaths we walk every day connect into larger patterns. Buildings become part of a serene landscape design we didn’t know we were living inside. It’s a gentle reminder of how perspective changes everything.

As Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

To help everyone orient themselves in this rare bird’s-eye view, we’ve labeled the main areas. Enjoy this fresh glimpse of our spiritual home—and may it inspire a renewed appreciation for this sacred land that holds our daily worship, work and service.