Several of our Innersearch participants are doing daily diaries. We will be sharing these as we move forward….
Summary of Day 1
Over the past 3 days, Innersearchers have been arriving from all over the world, from Asia and Australia, from Europe and South America, from the UK and the USA, from Mauritius, Mexico and even from Hawaii. It has been wonderful to see old friends and reconnect with them, and to meet new people. We all feel blessed to have Bodhinatha in our lives and to be able to spend time with him and the Monks in this way – and we all know it will be a special time here on Kauai, an intense and very inner time.
And so today our journey begins with our first gathering – a Welcome meeting in the Shutters Lounge of the Kaua’i Beach Resort. Our location is perfect, quiet and comfortable. It is a place that was special to Gurudeva, and for 8 years he spent each afternoon in the lounge here, working with the monks to write the Trilogy. Palaniswami related this story at the Welcome meeting, explaining that Gurudeva found his inner quiet, his deeper levels of consciousness, more visible, when he was away from the serene atmosphere of the Monastery. It was the contrast of his pure mind with the denser energy of these locations that increased its visibility. As Palaniswami then shared that he had invited Gurudeva to be here with us on our Innersearch journey, guiding each one of us, we had a moment to thank Gurudeva for the many things that he has created to assist us in our spiritual lives.
We were also welcomed by our Hotel in Hawaiian, connecting our Innersearch group with the ancient culture and spirituality of our host island.
Bodhinatha shared the story of the purchase and establishing the Monastery at its current location. The first Kauai Innersearch was held in a property that was on the current site of the Monastery, and so the first seeds that were later to blossom into the current day magnificence that is the Kauai Aadheenam were sown. Gurudeva liked to challenge his monks with tasks that seemed impossible, and so some years later, when the Monks were again in Kaua’i, Gurudeva asked them to go and purchase the property even though it was not on the market. Surprisingly, the current owners did mention a price, but Gurudeva instructed his Monks to offer around half of that figure. Again, almost against all odds, the owners accepted, the property was purchased, and two months later Gurudeva moved in.
Hearing these stories of Gurudeva and celebrating his life and his gifts to us is a wonderful way to begin our Innersearch journey. We received our Study Guides from Bodhinatha, and a lei from Aarti and Mayuresh Rahavendran and headed off to a wonderful first dinner together where we celebrated the birthdays of Devi Marks and Shanti Momtaz.
Aum Namah Sivaya.