A New Roof for Our Woodshop
June 15, 2021Jai Ganesha! Gone are the days of placing buckets under leaks in our wood shop roof. Recently, a hired team completed the installation of new roofing material for the wood shop. The previous roof was made of clear, corrugated, plastic roofing, which over time had succumb to our strong UV...
Tirukural - Chapter 40
June 14, 2021Chapter 40: Learning Verse 394A holy man is seated in a mandapam during a festival. Around him, people are singing joyously. Their happiness is intensified by being with a man of such high learning. TAKA Presents the Tirukural You can access the entire text, in Tamil and English here: Weaver's...
Giant Fishtail Palm
June 13, 2021This palm is in full glory, growing just 150 feet East of Iraivan Temple in Rishi Valley. It is astonishingly productive, creating thousands of flowers and seeds in all stages of maturity. It is officially called Caryota obtusa, and is a native of Laos and Cambodia. Enjoy seeing it up...
The Fungus Amongus
June 12, 2021Next to the Aadheenam's primary vegetable garden, you'll find heaping hills of wood chips. These chip are regularly gifted to us by several local tree trimmers who are happy to have a place to offload them. We put these mulch piles to good use as we top vegetable beds and...
The Inner Navigator - Part 2
June 11, 2021Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives a second upadesha about the development and use of our intuition. He elucidates this point through the telling of several stories from the lives of our Kailasa gurus.
Final Steps of Iraivan Temple's Kodimaram
June 8, 2021Aum Namah Sivaya This week the monks of the Siddhidatta Kulam and the siplis worked on the final installation of the kavacham (metal cladding) on Iraivan Temple's kodimaram—the temple's flagpole. Each piece of the kavacham must go over the tall piece of teak wood in the correct order. They then...
Tirukural - Chapter 39
June 7, 2021Part II: On Wealth Section V: Royalty Chapter 39: The Merits of the King Verse 383The king is sitting in a battlefield chariot, listening to his ministers. He watches vigilantly as his courageous soldiers practice their combat skills in the field. Later that day he falls prostrate before his guru,...
The Story of Our Bronze Hanuman Retold for Pilgrims
June 6, 2021Aum Anjaneyaya Namah Whether you're a visiting pilgrim or one of our island neighbors, the sight of a giant Hanuman near the monastery's rudraksha forest is sure to raise some questions. Our plan for the near future is to install a nearby sign which will link our guests to an...