Some days back we officially began the construction of a new and improved Pilgrims' Path along San Marga. It will be a major upgrade to the visitor experience. The yellow line in the image above is the path of the path.

Following his 1975 visions of God Siva, Gurudeva created San Marga, naming it "the straight path to God." From then to now it has served well, but has never been civilized enough to make the walk to Iraivan Temple easy or pleasant. It is rough, full of harsh gravel, potholes and mud when it rains.

Under Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami's direction, the San Marga Pilgrims' Path is being properly repaired and upgraded. It will be raised with rock and gravel to assure that the almost-daily rains wash off and don't create puddles of water to wade through. After compacting, sand will be added, and a special eight-foot-wide polycarbonate landscaping grid, called EZ Roll Grass Pavers, will be laid for stability. The hexagonal cells of the pavers will be filled with rich compost into which grass seed will be sown. When mature, the grass will provide a soft green carpet on which pilgrims can walk, even bare-footed, along the entire 3,400-foot path--from the Rudraksha Forest, down San Marga to the Svayambhu Sivalingam, then continuing to the Wailua River and along the river road and up to the temple entry staircase.

It will take some months to complete. Yesterday a laser light was employed to survey the straight path, so it will be as straight as a photon's travels. In the slideshow you can see the beginnings of the project.

Before we begin the pool report, a sharing. When Shanmukha Sivacharyar was here in March left a bit of wisdom for all to ponder. He told all gathered for the Big Event:

When turbulence is experienced in our life (health, loss, career changes, karmic challenges, relationships), buckle up. Just pretend you are on a plane that has hit a some rough weather. What do you do? Reach for the seatbelt and buckle up. Then sit back, stay calm and let the pilot, who is Siva, do his duty.

A new project has begun, the renovation of the Kadavul Temple Tank. It is long overdue, and will bring new beauty and color for pilgrims to enjoy. The tank has been drained and now the old surface paint is being removed. Plumbing is being rerouted and improved to make maintenance work easier for the monks.

The pool with then be covered with deep blue, one-inch square tiles. The Tamil Aum, which has faded over the years, will now be remade in tile, never to fade again! The project will take 6-8 weeks.

When asked to explain the purpose of the Hindu temple tank, ChatGPT said: "The temple tank in a Hindu temple serves as a sacred water reservoir, symbolizing purity and spiritual cleansing. Here devotees perform ritualistic ablutions before entering, offering prayers and seeking blessings. It also facilitates religious ceremonies and plays a vital role in fostering a serene and divine atmosphere within the temple complex."

Progress is steady with the new Siddhidata Kulam office and machine maintenance shop. The contractors have covered part of the roof and outside walls with metal sheets, installed windows and doors. The walled section in the photo is where the new office will be. There will be two flloors--office on the upper floor and dehumidified storage on the lower floor. Today our longtime devotee Easvan Param and his team are installing wall boxes for receiving the new electrical power.

Every once in a while during a major storm on Kauai or for other reasons, we lose power to the Aadheenam buildings. For decades we've had a gas generator that automatically turns on 17 seconds after the regular power goes out and it provides electricity to our central building including Kadavul Temple and the kitchen. Then it automatically turns off when the regular power grid returns back to normal. The generator was getting old and not working as well, so a close sishya donated a new one and installed it over the past couple days. We appreciate this stability-enhancing equipment.

Through pouring abundance of rain, we see that the outside walls and roof of the Pillaiyar Kulam additional storage building are nearly finished. Now the contractors are framing inside and installing electrical connections

With the prana pratishtha ceremonies finished, the tents are going back up over the front section of Iraivan Temple around the Nandi Mandapam, and the tiling team is about to start laying down the red granite tiles. They expect to take six to eight weeks. They will take a break during the final big Mandala Pujas from May 8--11 so all the extra priests can move about and perform the rites undisturbed. Also, our employess Doug and Jim today are installing the roof of the Iraivan Temple shoe pavilion next to the entrance steps coming up from the river.

As most of you already know, the large crystal Sivalinga has been “temporarily” residing in Kadavul Temple since August 1987, awaiting its move to the Iraivan Temple sanctum. Our architect, Selvanathan Sthapati, has indicated that now that the Iraivan Temple structure is complete and the 11,000-pound panchaloha Avudaiyar base has been moved into the inner sanctum, we need to move forward with installing the Sivalinga. Actually, Sthapati was more colorful in his urgings, reminding us that the temple is a living being, with a conception (Gurudeva’s three visions), a birth and a lifespan. And, he offered, we have waited long enough, to the point that the temple is like a pregnant woman who is two weeks overdue, and we can no longer delay the event. Based on that instruction from our Master Builder and guidance from India’s Sivacharyas, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami has set the Sivalinga installation rituals for March 21-26, 2023. These historic rites will be professionally filmed and livestreamed on our youtube channel for everyone to have a front row seat wherever you live around the world.

A just-uploaded trailer video for the ceremonies can be viewed here. If you would like to plan ahead for watching the livestreams, here is the schedule of morning and afternoon streams: March 21 Morning Ceremonies 8:00 AM Start 12:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam Afternoon Ceremonies 3:00 PM Start 7:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam March 22 Morning Ceremonies 8:00 AM Start 12:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam Afternoon Ceremonies 3:00 PM Start 7:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam March 23 Morning Ceremonies 7:30 AM Start 12:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam Afternoon Ceremonies 3:00 PM Start 7:30 PM Distribution of Prasadam March 24 Morning Ceremonies 8:00 AM Start 12:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam Afternoon Ceremonies 3:00 PM Start 7:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam March 25 Morning Ceremonies 8:00 AM Start 12:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam Afternoon Ceremonies 3:00 PM Start 7:00 PM Distribution of Prasadam March 26 Morning Ceremonies 6:00 AM Start 10:19 AM Auspicious Moment 12:00 PM Anna Dhaanam

Access to Iraivan Temple for these installation ceremonies will be through the monastery, with cars utilizing our existing parking lot of 37 spaces. Our maximum capacity of confirmed attendees for the event has already been reached, based on the existing facilities of the Aadheenam and Iraivan Temple. Permitting greater attendance would create substantial issues for us with our neighbors and the county over traffic and parking.

The good news is that starting on March 28th and thereafter, all Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas and those on a prearranged pilgrimage to Kauai Aadheenam will be able to attend a daily puja at Iraivan Temple, something we have been waiting for all these years.

After March 28 visitors to the Aadheenam who are not formal pilgrims, Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas or students of Himalayan Academy can still access the rudraksha grove and the monastery entrance areas, including Kadavul Temple, the Meditation Banyan and the MiniMela gift shop. But they will not have the opportunity to attend the Iraivan Temple daily puja until we fully establish additional facilities at the rudraksha grove entrance, thus meeting county regulations to have more parking and bathrooms to accommodate greater numbers of visitors before we can host large crowds. This development is still a couple of years away. 

With good weather, the contractor is moving quickly with framing the final back storage room which will hold the rest of our publication print runs, now that we have discontinued a storage warehouse on the mainland.

The Siddhidata Kulam's new office and and machine maintenance building frame is quickly taking shape. The contractor team of two put this much together in just five days. It is a metal building, so the work consists of bolting all the pre-fabricated pieces together.

Two flatbed trailers arrived with girders and other parts for the prefabricated metal building. The assembly contractor just finished unloading everything so the trailers can be returned. Dennis Wong is adding gravel around the sides of the foundation, and the Siddhidata Kulam (with new taskforce arrival Thuraisingam Rajasankara) is taking inventory of the many parts to see if everything arrived safe and sound.