Monastery

Arinien’s Daily Activity

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  • Sivanadiyar and Bhairava pose for a photo
  • Singing bhajans in Kadavul temple
  • Final arati of the Muruga puja
  • Off loading the compost bucket
  • The blessed temple flowers from Nataraja become our food!
  • lush Japanese pumpkin vine
  • This pumpkin will be ready to pick in the weeks to come

Vel Muruga!

Today, we shadow Śivanadiyar Arinien around the monastery. His day is filled with a dynamic balance of temple worship and selfless seva. He enjoys singing devotional hymns while the Muruga pujari adorns the Deity with fresh flowers and richly embroidered clothing. During the height of the puja—the final arati—Arinien receives Muruga’s blessing, encouraging his mind to become calm as a still lake. After the puja, he heads to the garden with compost buckets. He empties their contents into a large composting bin, layering the food waste with woodchips to help it break down into beautiful soil. Besides composting, he attends to many other garden duties, including growing food. He shows us a sprawling pumpkin vine that is harvested weekly. Walking the monastery’s German shepherd, Bhairava, is another duty he performs with a smile and enthusiasm.

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Welcoming Our New Taskforcer

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  • Shreyas attends the Siddidata Kulam morning meeting.
    Shreyas (far right) attends the Siddhidata Kulam morning meeting in high spirits.

Jai Ganesha!

Recently, Shreyas has come from the mainland for a 6-month taskforce stay at the monastery. He has been serving in the Siddidata Kulam daily, learning machine repairs and gardening skills. Shreyas tells us that he is enjoying learning more about Saiva Siddhanta and serving alongside the monks.

“The devotee’s path is to merge—in the totality of his awareness, willpower and life force—into the Self, God, Śiva.”
– Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

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Trees Fell, Recovery Spirit Rises

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  • Bhairava inspects the excavator
  • Fallen trees are consolidated to later be removed
  • While Pradeep operates the excavator, his helpers chainsaw and use the backhoe
  • Pradeep operates the large excavator

Vel Muruga!

Pradeep and his two helpers continue to clear fallen trees on the Aadhenam property. Today, they are working on trees located in the cow pasture area. They skillfully chainsaw fallen banyans and palms. They freed up the pasture area so the tractor can mow and cows can roam again. Cleaning these areas brings back access for the monks to care for the animals. After the pasture was cleared, two major trees were handled that fell over the ditch. The area was very narrow for the excavator to access so his helpers started by clearing the way through.

After many hours of chainsawing, Pradeep needed to get across the ditch to access the fallen branches on both sides in order to move them. Pradeep used cut sections of the fallen banyan as a bridge to maneuver across. It was amazing to see his ingenious idea accomplished safely and effectively.

Our German shepherd, Bhairava, inspects the excavator that Pradeep operates during the day. He is very happy with the progress. After a productive phase for all the kulams, the monks head into a full moon retreat to replenish their pranas and prepare for another phase of dancing, living, and merging with Siva!

Aum Namah Sivaya!

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Blooming Nature

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  • Roses
    “Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will, creating his own destiny. The Vedas tell us, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil.“
  • “Flow with the river of life and merge in Siva’s ocean of oneness.“
  • “Of course if you love Siva, obviously you have to love everyone else. Love brings forgiveness. Love brings understanding. Love brings feeling.“
  • “Self Realization is finding That which is beyond even superconsciousness itself, beyond the mind—timeless, causeless, spaceless.“
  • “Yogaswami, said, ‘It was all finished long ago.‘” – Gurudeva
  • “Hope for a future life makes this life worthwhile, joyous, contented and happy, because the Hindu can live and deal with current problems, knowing that they are transitory problems, that they will not last forever; nor will they affect us forever.“

Jai Ganesha!

Today is a bright, sunny day at the aadheenam. The flowers are blooming and the lizards our out enjoying the warming light. We thought you’d all enjoy some photos of seevral of the amazing new flowers that we’re growing for the temple.

“Your journey on this Earth has only one goal, Self Realization. You are here to attain the highest possible states of consciousness. You are not here to react to the petty incidents that occur in the valley of the subconscious.” – Gurudeva

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More Results of Rudra’s Winds

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  • This tree that fell over from the neighbor's property missed the Media Studio roof by inches. It was blocking one of our storage containers and got cleared over the past couple days.
    This tree that fell over from the neighbor’s property missed the Media Studio roof by inches. It was blocking one of our storage containers and got cleared over the past couple days.
  • A broken branch over our back road is suspended high up, barely held by the tall tree
    A broken branch over our back road is suspended high up, barely held by the tall tree
  • Our monks were able to cut through the talipot palms to open a single narrow lane on the concrete road leading to Iraivan Temple, thereby saving us time to reach that side of the property
    Our monks were able to cut through the talipot palms to open a single narrow lane on the concrete road leading to Iraivan Temple, thereby saving us time to reach that side of the property
  • The monks cut through fallen bamboo to open another driving lane near the svayambhulingam mandapam
    The monks cut through fallen bamboo to open another driving lane near the svayambhulingam mandapam
  • This and the next five photos show current scenes adjacent to and beyond the San Marga Path along our fenced property line that borders the University of Hawaii Agricultural Research Station. Our property line has many tall blue gum and swamp mahogany trees.
    This and the next five photos show current scenes adjacent to and beyond the San Marga Path along our fenced property line that borders the University of Hawaii Agricultural Research Station. Our property line has many tall blue gum and swamp mahogany trees.
  • Some of the numerous downed albesia trees on the university side
    Some of the numerous downed albesia trees on the university side
  • Uprooted sections of the cactus garden outside the Media Studio
    Uprooted sections of the cactus garden outside the Media Studio

Today we view some of the progress in opening up various access points and driving lanes on the grounds, along with images of what happened along the property border beyond Iraivan Temple and adjacent to San Marga Path, where we have many tall trees along the fenceline.

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Post Hurricane, Day Two

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  • Totes of water for cleaning dishes in the kitchen
  • Water to use sparingly for abhishekam and cleaning puja tray in Kadavul Temple. Another set of buckets are brought to Iraivan Temple.
  • Example of trees landing on our guhas (monks’ sleeping huts)
  • Two large-diameter uprooted talipot palm trees completely blocking the main road to Iraivan Temple
  • Uprooted large lychee tree nearby the flagpole (except there is no longer a flag; it was ripped off and disappeared)
  • Many downed branches from swamp mahogany trees
  • Greenhouse covers blown off in Annapurna vegetable garden
  • Another downed lychee tree next to Annapoorna Garden
  • Many hibiscus plants providing flowers for the temples were blown over but the roots are fortunately still in the ground.
  • Many uprooted avocado trees in our fruit orchard
  • Large downed tree across the San Marga path, just before Muruga Hill
  • View from San Marga path small Ganesha shrine towards the rudraksha grove, with massive uprooted bamboo clumps over the path in the distance
  • Branches strewn throughout the rudraksha grove
  • Electric company truck inspecting power lines near our property

We embarked an another very clear, sunny, hot day as is the typical weather for a while after a hurricane. Much coordination occurred with mobile washing and cooking water supply totes from our rain-catchment tank, including bring a trailer tank of water over to the house where our temple priest and cook stay. Our chainsaws revved up again to clear more small trees from pathways. Additional trees had fallen since the night of the hurricane, weakened by the winds. We hear that the airport has reopened, though running on generator power. The electric company and county department of water are working hard to assess damages and start to restore power and clean water supply to the island. Portable generators have to be staged in various locations to pump water from tanks while the power is still out. Extra tree trimming contractors were brought to Kauai before the hurricane struck, so enough teams could be ready to fan across the island in the aftermath. Around 15-20 souls braved their limited living conditions to come up and pray in Kadavul Temple, some with suitcases in hand. One local devotee said he was woken up at night in his house during the hurricane by a tree branch piercing through the roof and ceiling of his bedroom.

Photos above include a larger sample of downed trees around the property, giving a sense of the tremendous cleanup process ahead of us.

Below is a video showing some of the island damage, mostly on the south side coast from the storm surge.

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