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.

Some 70 years ago Uncle Manuel, who used to be the caretaker of the Aadheenam lands back in the 40s and 50s, brought a special orange tree he was give by the native islanders on the West Side of our island. He planted it on the land, not far from the current Rudraksha Forest, in a pasture.

The tree was famed both for its sweet taste and the fact it gives oranges all year long. It spent its years happily in the sun, munched on occasionally by our cows. But it is getting old, covered with lichen, and suffering from cow abuse. So we set out to graft it and save the genetics.

Yesterday Sean Kelly and Eilene came to help, both experts in grafting. They brought a robust root stock well established in pots, and they cut from the famed tree and grafter three copies.

Hopefully one or more will make it and we will start fresh with a new long life of oranges.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Today we bring you a new collection of artwork accessible on HAMSA - Himalayan Academy's Museum of Spiritual Art. The work was done by Maniam Selvan, an Artist from Chennai who has done work for Hinduism Today magazine in the past.

The the recent April/May/June, 2023 edition of Hinduism Today, Mase (as Maniam is known) created 8 canvases to help explore the genius of India’s Guru-Shishya system of spiritual training and transmission, through the magazine's Educational Insight Section which will be available online March 1st. To see the full collection, click the image below.

"Passing on the Power" In Ardhanarishvara’s presence, we see the important transmission of spiritual knowledge and realization down through history, a power shown as a white light that radiates the same purity from one satguru to another. The gurus differ in many ways, but the light they have is the same in all ages

Last year two pilgrims were taken through the gardens in our road-weary gas-guzzling, past-its-prime People Mover. They were moved to upgrade future pilgrims' experience, and made a gift to inspire an electric one. It arrived and was blessed two days back. We have named it Mayil, Lord Murugan's vahana, the peacock. It is a giant step up for hosting guests in the sacred gardens. Of course, it's quiet, and you can talk while it is running and people can hear and understand you. Our old one forced us to turn off the engine if we wanted to share something. Those days are history. Jai Murugan!

Aum Namah Shivaya

Please enjoy this video made by Indivar Sivanathan from Oregon.

Description: “Final day of the reinstallation of the energies into Kadavul Temple's Kodimaram, Bali Pittam (Peedam), and Nandi facing the temple entrance. Three priests performed consecration ceremonies for three days invoking the powers of the earth and inner realms. Concluding, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives an easy-to-understand explanation of the complex and intricate ceremonies.“

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.

For a long time we've had a muddy situation at the end of the First World section where the path is low and there is a gate just before Muruga Hill. When we have heavy rainfall, a stream of water forms over the path, which is untenable in the long run. Our employee Dennis Wong is now terraforming with a bulldozer to lift the path in that section and redirect water to the side. He also just installed a culvert for channeling the stream of water under the path instead of over it. The first photo below shows the small shrine where we'll soon install a Ganesha murti to watch over the First World section.

It has been a journey of some 10 years, designing the frames that would hold the 35 bronze panels, carving these into the perimeter wall in Bengaluru, shipping to Kauai and installing the wall. Then designing the 14" by 47" panels, sculpting the bas-relief art on 20 of them, casting the art, writing the text for each one (not easy to write something you hope will be relevant in 1,000 years), casting the text in Pennsylvania, shipping to Colorado, casting the sculpted images, adding the patina, welding the art and text together and shipping to Kauai. Whew!

Two days back the final step happened for 9 of them, drilling six holes for each one in the hard granite and then another team affixing them with anchored bolts to the granite wall. Enjoy this final stage which took our teams five days in all.

A rare, aadheenam-grown sunflower blooms for the first time today.

Please enjoy today's Sun One Upadasha from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. Unfortunately there was an error with our video file, but you can still enjoy the audio! Click Play below. Aum.

Jai Ganehsa!

Today we did a quick temple flyby with our drone to bring you this short aerial video. It shows the progress on the outer, red-granite tile that surrounds Iraivan Temple. Thus far, the tile has been completed along the north, west and eastern sides of the structure. All that is left is the southern tile which surrounds the Nandi Mandapam. In this video you can see the white sealant which the final tile will be placed over. Aum Namah Sivaya.