Monastery

New Monastery Residents

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Several days ago we welcomed two young men who arrived here just in time to help prepare for and attend the Iraivan Temple annual Samvatsara Puja.

Nithya Shankaran Mogan arrived first from Singapore, on his very first visit to Kauai for a month. He is a longtime sishya in Saiva Siddhanta Church along with his late father, his mother, sister and brother. While he currently works in Singapore, his family is from Malaysia. He turned 31 yesterday; Happy Birthday!

About a day later, Arinien Mootoocurpen arrived from Mauritius to pursue the monastic path. It was the culmination of months of preparation, including a special visa application and entering the first stage of pre-monastic life which we call Aspirancy. He first flew to Kauai some years back to experience the monastic path for several months in order to be familiar with his life path options. Arinien comes from a family who are also longtime sishyas in Saiva Siddhanta Church. With plenty of joyful tears, family members and other sishyas in Mauritius wished him well for his chosen path.

  • Nithya Shankaran Mogan
  • Arinien Mootoocurpen
  • Putting infrastructure away after Iraivan Samvatsara Puja
  • Recent beginning of a rainbow after lots of rain

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Cleaning Kartikeya at Muruga Hill

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A Kartikeya Deity adorns the side of Muruga Hill on San Marga path, tall bamboo swaying above. The Deity was previously at the entrance to the Svayambhulingam square. Just before completing his taskforce stay a couple weeks ago, Maruthu Darmalingam and one of the monks cleaned the murti and surrounding platform, lightly oiled and dressed Him in clean garments, with new pottus.

A couple days ago we had very strong wind gusts, so formidable that, just before Muruga Hill, a tall rudraksha tree clump fell across the San Marga path. It had been growing in a swampy area, so the roots were unstable. It’s now leaning at a 45 degree angle over the path because more rudraksha trees on the other side halted the fall! It’s going to be quite a job to safely remove this clump, probably involving a excavator. For now, no one is allowed to pass through this area.

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Efficient Use of Space for More Storage

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For decades we’ve been using “Big Max” small storage sheds to hold many construction, maintenance and repair supplies such as plumbing parts, electrical parts, etc. The sheds served a good purpose, but are inherently flimsy and more susceptible to corrosive elements than a actual building. Now that we have the new Hale Hana metal building, the Siddhidata kulam is gradually moving supplies into secure, better-protected storage space created above the welding station. They are fashioning shelves with unusually-thick plywood that was gifted to us by a local contractor.

Across the room they also recently installed safety poles and ropes along the storage space up there.

After capturing these few photos, we saw taskforcer Aran Malhotra weeding next to the “Tiki” sculpture outside Hale Hana entrance.

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Sadhaka Sabānatha Receives Samaya Diksha

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Aum Namah Śivaya

During this month’s celebration of Ardra nakshatra, and following our special abhishekam to Lord Nataraja, Sadhaka Sabānatha received his Samaya Diksha. This diksha is the receiving of the sacred Panchakshara Mantra along with special instructions for daily japa from one’s Satguru. In the Saiva Siddhanta tradition, this moment of diksha marks a pivotal step in the soul’s long journey. It is when Lord Śiva’s Power of Revealing Grace flows through the Satguru, opening the inner door and granting the devotee both the opportunity and the means for liberation.

  • Sadhaka receives instructions for chanting the Namah Śivaya Mantra
  • Blessed with vibhuti, sacred ash
  • and flower petals!
  • Aum Namah Śivaya

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Art for the Year-End Mailing

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Each year at this time we create a special flyer which serves as an appeal for support for our most urgent needs. This year Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami chose The Garden Path as our focus. It is a special 8-foot-wide path surrounding Iraivan Temple that serves as a mud-free walking entry for pilgrims and also as a maintenance road for our electric vehicles, allowing the team to bring supplies to the pujari, maintain the landscape, and such. It’s a big project, and costly, more than $500,000 due to the special engineering required for water control (so important on our high rainfall island) and the quality installation which will give the impression of a cobblestone path.
We commissioned Baani Sekhon, our artist in Chandigarh, North India. She just submitted the finished art, and we thought it would be interesting to take you behind the scenes to see the process, which takes weeks to complete. Follow the steps in the slideshow.

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