Uncategorized

Yummy!

The pizza master Siddhanathaswami

Bagel Pizza!!

Vel is very busy cleaning all the dishes

Roshan giving some input on how to make the pizza more delicious

Mayilnathaswami comes to help too

Chandipati making the topping for the bagel pizza

Sadhaka Shankaranatha is guiding us on how to make the best pizzas

Jai Ganesha!

Once a month, here at monastery we break from our usual rice and dal, and we have a pizza night. The monks gather around and make fresh pizza using our wood-fire oven. This time it was very special because we had a lot of taskforcers to help the monks make pizza and have more fun for all. This, of course, made the event more memorable too. Here are some pictures of the process. Aum!

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami recounts his several visits to the BAPS temples and centers and his meetings with Pramukhswami Maharaj.

Swami Gnaneshwardas is given a shawl at the entry as our monks chant “Nakarmana.”

An aloha welcome at the entrance.

Walking along the garden path.

Visiting Kadavul Temple.

Off to the Media Studio. Seeing the view for the first time.

Informal sharing in the Cedar Room. Notice the small framed photo on the table. It is of Swaminarayan (1781-1830) who founded BAPS. They carry it everywhere they go to honor and remember him.

Swami Gnaneshwardas places a shawl on Satguru and offers gifts they have brought to hawaii.

Listening intently in the Guru Pitham.

A photo following darshan with the Satguru.

All aboard our solar-powered chariot for a tour of Siva’s Sacred Gardens.

Sadasivanathaswami answers their many questions about the monastery, our daily schedule and more.

Entering the temple

While a few swamis had to return to their quarters to prepare dinner, the senior monks visited Iraivan Temple just in time for darshan of Mahalingesvara.

With great joy, Kauai Aadheenam greeted the twelve BAPS Swamis on November 21. The most senior was Swami Gnaneshwardas who for years has been the mentor for young monks who go through a two-year “boot camp” in the city of Sarangpur in Gujarat. With him were monks from Chino Hills. After a formal greeting at the Aadheenam entrance, they paraded to Kadavul Temple and the Media Studio for some “talk story” time with the Ganapati Kulam. Discussions ranged from youth outreach (a real issue for all groups these days), ChatGPT and more. We shared the three reasons our organizations feel such closeness: Both are guru-centric; both build temples and place great significance on temple worship and attendance (including a home shrine); both have the monks as the leaders/administrators of the mission; both practice traditional sadhanas (e.g. monks travel in pairs always). It is always a joy when there is a confluence of these two orders. The slideshow follows their afternoon adventures.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“We must be aware that it is only reawakening consciousness into a natural state, and that there is nothing mystical, difficult or inward that has to occur to hold an awareness of the inner and outer simultaneously from one central point in the mind. It is only because one is not accustomed to thinking in this way that it may seem difficult. But little children are in this state much of the time, and it is natural to them. ¶The beginning stages of watching the mind think I shall describe as similar to sitting quietly with your eyes open and, while not thinking about anything in particular, simply looking at what is around you—all of the time feeling somewhat empty on the inside, but seeing what is in front of you, to the left side of you, to the right side of you, above you, below you, and knowing what each object is, but not thinking about any object or collection of objects. Your eyes are watching; who lives behind them is the watcher. The objects that the mind perceives are similar to thoughts.”

Mayuran’s research, focused here on the letter “tha”

Chandipati introduced to gold-leafing rudrakshas

Mayuran Muttulingam and son Chandipati just arrived from California for a couple weeks of sadhana and seva with the monks. Mayuran will focus on a project he started on a couple years ago to research the training of object-detecting software to recognize grantha script letters inscribed on ancient palm leaves.

Chandipati will help with various tasks. Today he is learning from Deva Seyon how to apply gold leaf to rudraksha beads as a specialized product.

Flowers in the Garden

Our Taskforcers Roshan and Vel Mahalingam

Jai Ganesha!

As we were strolling around the Aadheenam we caught up with the monks of the Siddhidatta Kulam who were doing their seva in the Garden. It’s a routine they do each week to maintain our vegetable plants. From here we get several of our vegetable verities such as zucchini, pumpkin, kangkung, okra and green beans. The Siddhidatta Kulam usually spends their morning on the first day or our lunar week here, harvesting, planting and mulching. Our two taskforcers, Roshan and Vel are also here, enjoying the Garden Day with Mayilnathaswami and Vishvanathaswami. Here are some of the pictures we took, to give you a glimpse of our beautiful Annapurna Garden. Aum!