Work continues on renovating the Mango Mandapam. Thought it is now without its mango tree, the mandapam is being greatly improved. It has a new wall around its base and has been made taller. Doug (left) has been working on the framing and supports, and today a large group of monks and some helpers lifted it up and rotated it into place upon its new footings.

A few days bak our neighbor took down a giant tree in his compound, and on it were hundreds of mature Staghorn ferns. He gifted them to the monastery, and today Sadasivanathaswami (ahead in the trackhoe) and Adi Srikantha (behind the camera) moved them to a spot near Iraivan. 

Yesterday the Wailua Mission gathered for their Rudraksha day. They have all worked very hard to collect and gather the seeds, followed by cleaning, drilling and oiling them. On this day they string them into malas and craft jewelry for sale in the Mini Mela. We are all very thankful for their efforts.

The deed is done, literally and otherwise. Escrow has closed on the acquisition of 19 acres of land adjacent to Kauai's Hindu Monastery. We are calling it "Siva Pannai," Siva's Farm. This is such an historic event it deserves a short story...

Back in 1975 Gurudeva had just acquired the San Marga lands, extending the monastery by about 38 acres. At that time he looked across the fence to lands owned by a wonderful couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ware. Gurudeva somehow intuited that one day their parcel might come to the monastery, and he noted that our current property and this land used to be all one piece and had been broken up decades earlier and might be cobbled together one day. Still, there were never any discussions or real possibilities that this would happen. 

Fast forward to 2012. Greg Smith, the Ware's grandson and current owner of the land reached out to the monastery to say he wanted to offer the property for sale, but only to the monks. Perhaps Greg, always an exemplary neighbor and annual visitor to Kauai from his home in Arkansas, recalled how the monks helped him get a tax break by planting a rare collection of palms on a few acres some seven years ago. Or maybe he remembered the private tours given to his family, wife Stephanie, daughters Cassie (a UCLA student) and Sienna (now age six), or the fresh yogurt, or the use of our water main over the years or the gift of palm trees for his 1994 landscaping project. Or it could have been his closeness to Kadavul temple where he loved to meditate. We were startled and honored that he would approach us first. 

One thing was clear: this prized land would only be sold once in our life. The monks all knew how crucial it was to the protection of the monastery far into what Gurudeva loved to call the future of futures. After all, it shares a fenceline with the aadheenam that is 1,600 feet long! It lies within a few feet of some of the monks' guhas.

With Bodhinatha's blessings and administrative genuis, we set out to make the purchase possible. It was a double blessing that the seller needed this sale for other of his development projects to proceed, so everyone was benefitting.

Fortunately, the stewards had set aside a large bequest years ago, for just such a contingency. Plus we had some emergency funds we could temporarily employ. But even that was not sufficient, and so we reached out to a wonderful family in Asia who contributed the difference. And the rest is history.

The 19 additional acres means that the monastery has 70 acres on this side of the Wailua River. Added to our 312 acres across the river leased from the State, makes a new total of 382 acres.

There is a small house on the property, beautifully appointed. Since it is now part of the monastery, it will be used only by monastics and pre-monastics. Most of the land is in pasture, which is a boon for our dairy cows who are already enjoying the lush grass. Plus we have our wood milling, palms and some banana trees on the land that we planted to help Greg years back. There are some simple machine sheds and about 700 palms that Greg planted. 

The monastery plans to use the land primarily for agricultural projects, hence it is called Siva Pannai.

We are ever grateful to Greg Smith for his kindnesses as our neighbor and his appreciation of the monastery's need for protection. Thank you, Greg, and best of luck with your Arkansas cultural amphitheater!

These are some of the families described in the previous post, plus a new arrival

Multiple families attended our morning 6am Siva homa and than toured the grounds afterwards. From right to left-- Padma and Prabhakar Neppalli on far right are from California; Rajeev and Manju Bhargava are from Alaska and have been involved with the temple project there since they met Gurudeva when he came on the cruise and then gave the Ganesha murti to get a temple started; Srinivas Bhamidipaty with parents-in-law and close friend are visiting from Dallas and just met Bodhinatha there about a week ago. The parents-in-law live at Tirupati town in India and dreamed to visit our place.

Over the retreat several of the monks and Adi went over to Himalayan Acres to plant palms. These Areca Palms are just a few hundred of the eight hundred that we intend to plant.

This morning the monastery enjoyed its first Homa since Satguru Bodhinatha's Return. There were many devotees in attendance including several guests who helped with the chanting of Sri Rudram, giving it extra strength. Bodhinatha burned prayers to the devas that were written by monks and devotees.

From Living with Siva about prayers to the inner worlds:

The three worlds are connected when puja is performed and worship is begun. There are certain rites that can be performed to enable individuals to communicate directly with beings in the inner worlds. Prayers are given and received in many ways. Among the most intimate, personal forms of communication is the written prayer to the devas or to God. Burned in Agni's sacred fire, it disintegrates in the physical world and quickly re-forms in the astral world. When a prayer is burned in a temple wherein this practice is consecrated, its astral image is received and read by the devas, and properly dispatched and answered, within the confines of our karmic pattern. Prayers may also be conveyed by slowly, mentally enunciating the words, visualizing them rising up the spine, through the top of the head, reaching beyond to the feet of God. The devas will not intervene unless asked. This is the inner law. The Vedas avow, "He shines forth at dawn like the sunlight, deploying the sacrifice in the manner of priests unfolding their prayerful thoughts. Agni, the God who knows well all the generations, visits the Gods as a messenger, most efficacious." Aum Namah Sivaya.

After the homa, Bodhinatha gave a perceptive talk about controlling one's thoughts. He explained the five categories of thought, and that each has a certain way in which it can be dealt with, whether through performing the vasana daha tantra, through using affirmations or by practicing breath control.

The last stop on Bodhinatha's recent trip was West Texas, in the Permian Basin popular for its abundant fossil fuel resources.

First on the agenda was the third in a series of interfaith panels that Dr. Padmaja Patel has arranged so that members of the local community in the twin cities of Midland and Odessa can learn more about how various faiths look at modern issues. This year the event (video here) was hosted by St. Nicholas' Episcopal Church in Midland, with their retired Bishop Rev. Sam Hulsey speaking on the panel with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami (Hindu), Dr. Randel Everett (Baptist), Rabbi Holly Cohn (Jewish), Mr. Jerry Zant (Mormon) and Imam Wazir Ali (Muslim).

Just prior to the weekend, the Patel family was joined by Chellappa and Banu Devi Deva from Phoenix in taking Bodhinatha and Senthilnathaswami on an overnight outing to Big Bend National Park on the Mexican border. Oh, what a beautiful piece of the Old West! Hikes and much needed relaxation after a couple weeks on the road were in order. On the way back, a stop at the famous art town of Marfa for a look at the galleries, followed by the Monahans Sand Dunes, then we were back in Midland-Odessa for a full weekend program of satsangs and talks before heading home to Kauai. Enjoy the photos and captions for details.

Jai Gurudeva!

He taught me humility, infused in me the light of devotion, granted me the grace of His feet. After holy interrogation, testing me entirely, He revealed to me the Real, the unreal and real-unreal. Undoubtedly, the Siva-Guru is Iraivan, the worshipful Lord Himself.
Tirumantiram 1573

Gathering the strands of my fetters, he knotted them together and then wrenched them off. Thus freeing me from my fond body, straight to mukti he led me. Behold, of such holy potency is the presence of my guru divine!

Tirumantiram 1574