Jai Ganesha!
A few days ago, we visited our greenhouse, which is being managed by the Siddhidata Kulam’s mathavasi. During our visit, we were happy to see a fresh new batch of tomatoes and bell peppers growing beautifully.
While we were there, we also observed how Sadhaka Shankaranatha is attentively caring for the greenhouse, ensuring everything is nurtured with dedication and care.
Aum.
The first Polynesians reached Hawaiʻi around 300–800 CE. It was a time in India of the regional kingdoms of the Pallavas and Pandyas, a time of great bhakti movements and temple building. These first seafaring adventurers probably came from the Marquesas (south of Hawaii and East of Australia), with later waves from Tahiti. They sailed in double-hulled voyaging canoes using stars, currents and birds to navigate. The journey of roughly 2,000–2,500 miles took 3–6 weeks. It was hazardous—storms, starvation and dehydration posed real risks, and some voyages likely failed. They brought “canoe plants” and animals choosing things they needed for survival in the new land: taro, breadfruit, coconut, banana, sugarcane, pigs, dogs and chickens. Kauaʻi was among the earliest islands settled.
They brought the noni tree as their primary medicine, a fruit which strengthens the human immune system helping it to fight off all kinds of ailments. Fast forward to today, when the monks tend 10 acres of noni trees and ferment the fruit into a healing juice. They also make noni powder. It is a new product for us, and seems promising. One Swiss company imports it to add “organic Hawaiian noni” to their superfood products.
The process is simple but time-consuming. It begins with harvesting ripe, firm fruit from the tree. The fruit should be mature and mostly white, but not overripe or soft enough to fall apart. Next comes sorting and washing with water to remove dust and debris.
After washing, the fruit is allowed to ripen further in 30-gallon food-grade containers for up to a week until it becomes uniformly soft. Once ready, it is processed through a pulping machine to remove seeds and create a smooth mash. This pulp is spread in thin layers on trays for drying.
Drying happens in two dehydrators until the mash becomes crisp. The dried product is then tested for moisture to ensure stability and shelf life.
The final step is breaking the large thin sheets into chips and pulverizing the hard, dried fruit into a fine powder. The finished powder is packed into sealed bags, labeled and stored in a cool, dry place awaiting shipping.
Noni Powder for Health Read More »
Jai Ganesha!
Last week, Sannyasin Tillainathaswami and Sadhaka Sabanatha made a quick trip to New York City and back. While there they enjoyed spending time with the Nataraj family, as well as exploring around Manhattan. Our monks were in the city for a conference that focused on AI tools in digital media creation and workflows. There were many high-level presenters and executives there, including creative leaders from LucasFilm, Paramount, Nvidia, Runway Ai, Adobe, and a variety of film companies, who are all finding the best way to implement ai into their creations, without sacrificing the heart of their work—human creativity. Many of the media producers there emphasized that they always start with human ideas, artwork, character design, story, etc. and only use ai to supplement the workflows that follow. Nvidia presented info about their new supercomputers and gave a glimpse into where video-creation ai tools are going, as far as their power and speed. Our monks are working to implement some of the ideas presented, particularly from companies that outlined their creative workflow for their short films and tv shows. Hopefully this will help reduce the friction and time in creating our educational content.
Jai Ganesha!
Recently, Sannyasin Yoginathaswami and Sannyasin Mayilnathaswami visited Portland, Oregon. Below are their words:
“Yesterday, we went to Kondapi’s place for breakfast, and then they took us to the Japanese Garden at Washington Park. Namrata and her husband, Jagadish, met us there. It was a beautiful place with many camellias, magnolias, and cherry blossoms in bloom, along with serene Zen gardens. There was also a rose garden right next to the Japanese Garden, but the roses had not started blooming yet.
After that, Jagadish took us to a holy arboretum trail with beautiful cedar, redwood, and spruce trees. It was about a one-hour trail with wonderful trees to see. Then we were taken to a Chinese garden in downtown Chinatown. It was a small place, but very beautiful and interesting, with much to see.
We then returned to Kondapi’s place for lunch. After that, we went back to the hotel to rest. In the evening, we had a short Ganesha puja, and Yoginathaswami gave a talk about Kauai Aadheenam, personal sadhanas, and karma. There were many wonderful questions. Afterward, we had dinner and returned to the hotel.”
Monk’s Visit to the Mainland Read More »
Recent visitors have asked the monks, “Iraivan is designed to last a thousand years. Will the bronze panels have to be replaced before that?”
A great question since ordinary metal is seen to rust and disintegrate in a couple of centuries. We dove into it to respond meaningfully. What we found was that bronze works from ancient India (Mohenjodaro) are alive and well 4,500 years after they were created. Bronze works go back farther, 6,500 years back in Serbia. Above you are looking at the famed Nebra Sky Disc (c. 1800–1600 BCE) fabricated in present-day Germany. A flat bronze disc with gold inlays, sometimes considered the earliest “designed surface” bronze object. It shows celestial symbols—arguably the closest early example to a true decorated bronze panel.
Our Iraivan panels will survive as long as the temple, carrying forward the history and mysticism of the temple.
You can explore the art and text of any (or all) of the panels here:
himalayanacademy.com/iraivan-temple/bronze-panels-of-iraivan-temple
Will Iraivan’s 35 Bronze Panels Last 1,000 Years? Read More »
We are celebrating the publishing of our latest book, The Songs of Tayumanavar. Most CyberCadets will have followed our long process (some four or five years in all) from Kerala art to Singapore audio recordings to design and typesetting and editing and more art by DALL*e, and now it is done. The proof arrived some days back. Finding no errors, we released it for sale. It is available here: nall.ai/tayu-book-amazon. It’s a full-color, 540-page tome, so it is a bit pricey, but it is full of some of the most amazing mystical/devotional poems ever composed. As with all of our books, it will be online in a couple of weeks in PDF format, free to the world. The PDF will make a great gift to all who love Siva. We think it will prove to be the most authentic English translation ever done. The remarkable work (all 1,452 songs) was personally gifted to Gurudeva in the 1980s by Dr. B. Natarajan, the translator.
Our Newest Book Is Online at Amazon Read More »
