We’re asking people far and wide to send us their historical photos of Gurudeva, just in case we’re able to find something that isn’t in our archival collection. If you have such a photo, please click this link and drag the file(s) into the folder that it opens.

Please read this appeal for more information:

After many months of construction and recently passing occupancy inspection by county departments, the Siddhidata Kulam can now officially move into the maintenance and storage sections of the new building. They hired our Iraivan Temple priest, Pravin Kumar Gurukal, to perform a "house blessing" puja on his day off.

Enjoy this slideshow of images from the event. Satguru made a point to attend despite having only returned from the Bangkok World Hindu Congress a couple hours earlier.

Recently, the monastery held its evening celebration of Sivalaya Deepam, worshiping God Siva as a pillar of fire. This year, deepa lamps were placed throughout Iriavan Temple. Earlier in the day we observed the monthly krittika homa at Iriavan, and into the evening the deepas were lit, setting aglow Iriavan Temple's intricate architecture. After a puja to Mahalingeshvara, special flames were brought out to a pillar of wood, ghee and palm fronds, which was set ablaze. Aum Namah Sivaya. Sivaya Namah Aum.

For decades while living on the island, Gurudeva reached out to the Hawaiian community, invited them to events, involved them in our various temple consecration ceremonies. His love of the confluence of the two cultures continues this week.

On November 26th, Kumu Leihi'ilani Kirkpatrick and ten hula dancers came to the monastery with their friends and family, to dance the Pihanakalani hula, and chant the Pihanakalani Oli (chant). Kumu is among Kauai's most knowledgeable and beloved hula teachers, and it showed in the performances of her wahinis.

In her introduction she gave much praise to the monastery for caring for the aina (land) which her ancestors inhabited some 8-900 years ago. Such a joy to have them here, and to see their joy in a rare performance on sacred grounds. The rains held back, barely, as they danced from 3:30 to 5:30, and almost as soon as they finished the heavens opened to bless the event.

You can see a one-minute video here:

https://youtu.be/l2dxvCWodLI

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.

"Responsibly resolving karma is among the most important reasons that a satguru is necessary in a sincere seeker’s life. The guru helps the devotee to hold his mind in focus, to become pointedly conscious of thought, word and deed, and to cognize the lessons of each experience. Without the guidance and grace of the guru, the devotee’s mind will be divided between instinctive and intellectual forces, making it very difficult to resolve karma. And only when karma is wisely harnessed can the mind become still enough to experience its own superconscious depths."

The World Hindu Congress, held every four years, invited Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami to Bangkok to receive a special honorary award. He and Arumuganathaswami flew there and attended three days of events and panels. On the first night, the award was given from the stage before a crowd of some 2,000 Hindu leaders from across the globe.

Arumuganathaswami presented a Keynote on the magazine during one of six Hindu Media conferences. He also played the one minute Iraivan trailer to introduce all to Kauai Aadheenam, and we are told there were near gasps from the audience in seeing the beauty and sanctity of Mahalingesvara's Hawaiian home.

You can see a short and articulate introduction by clicking on the video below, followed by Bodhinatha's ten-minute presentation:

Longtime Saiva Siddhanta Church formal sishya, Rajen Manick from Mauritius, has arrived on Kauai for his first in-person visit to his Guru's home. He'll be staying with us for a few months to finally experience Kauai Aadheenam in depth and continue his service of translating the Master Course trilogy books into French. He also has extensive experience with conveying our teachings to seekers in Mauritius, so he will gather more resources and skills for that.

Jai Ganesha!

Recently Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Acharya Arumuganathaswami boarded a plane to begin their week-long journey to Thailand. The two are there to attend the 2023 World Hindu Congress at which Satguru will be receiving an award for Hinduism Today magazine and its global impact. Satguru and Acharya will also be giving talks while there. We wish them an enjoyable and fulfilling trip! Aum Namah Sivaya.

Meet the Associated Press (arguably the world's largest provider of news) described as: "The AP has a vast global reach, distributing news in multiple languages, reaching audiences across diverse cultures worldwide."

In July they sent a journalist (Deepa Bharat) and a photographer (Jessie Wardarski) to Kauai to do a story on Iraivan Temple. They work together as a special team, traveling internationally to cover specifically spiritual stories for the Associated Press. They spent three days on the island and later created an article and a 4-minute video, both very authentic and tasteful. Deepa is a Tamil woman, so she was deeply familiar with the subtleties of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy which would have escaped others; plus she could interview Pravinkumar in Tamil, who said some sweet things (watch the film). This morning we are getting messages from around the world asking if we saw this? Yes, and helped create it!

You can enjoy the video and the story here (and share it freely):

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-kauai-island-hindu-temple-11644b04626e6482a172821d1d0b356a

We share here a few photos of the Skanda Sashti puja a few days ago (which was also livestreamed), and in the middle of the puja, while Karttikeya was decorated, Brahmachari Shankara Veylan took the six-month Supplicancy Pledge. Having already taken the vow of purity, he now takes on two more vows, the vow of Humility and the vow of Confidence. This pledge declares his intention towards a life of monasticism, as he now begins the final process, by which he will ready himself for the life of the Postulant. From the Sacred Pledge booklet:

"The supplicant's foremost objective is to strive for mastery of the charya marga, or path of service. This begins with the avoidance of wrongful actions and the overcoming of base instincts and emotions as he learns to transmute worldliness into the higher states of devotion and selflessness. At this stage on the path, the Saivite devotee is content not to strive for profound spiritual attainments but to work diligently with the faults and flaws that are stumbling blocks on the path, learning at the same time to depend not only on his own resources but on the limitless abilities of the Gods to resolve all difficulties and dissolve all obstacles. The Supplicancy is a time of profound worship of Lord Ganesha, Lord Murugan and Lord Siva and of deepening commitment and service to Saivite Hinduism and to the Church. It is also a time of study, challenge and inner change. The supplicant is encouraged to strive for the perfection of service and for the monastic ideals of humility, industry and responsibility, renouncing personal needs for the benefit of others. In this service, he should strive for transparency, that quality of anonymous virtue in which the premonastic lives in full harmony with others, remaining centered within and not standing out or disturbing the surroundings. It is this ancient tradition of unseen service and unperturbable stability that the supplicant seeks to emulate, realizing that serving in unheralded ways and renouncing the fruits of even good deeds averts the pitfalls of the spiritual ego and nurtures the state of unpretentiousness. By putting great energy into premonastic life and by serving tirelessly for the benefit not of himself but of others, the supplicant opens himself to the inflow of Lord Siva's grace."Aum Namah Sivaya.