Today at Kauai Aadheenam

Jai Gurudeva!

We have this screen above Gurudeva’s samadhi shrine in Kadavul Temple which changes the image every hour or so. Gradually gathering the best vertical close-up photos of Gurudeva through the years, we recently added another batch and now rotate through 45 images. Here they are in this gallery.

Jai Ganesha!

We’re pleased to announce access to our Devotional Songs Library, now available on our website at himalayanacademy.com/audio-songs. After many years we’ve accumulated a collection of music of varying recorded quality, much of it sung by devotees, including Natchintanai, Tirumurai and many more. This has been a continued request since our website update. Migrating data correctly form our old website is a slight challenge with the many different ways the data was formatted, so we’re happy to finally be able to release this initial access. Aum!

Enjoy!

Dancers on a garden tour with Sadasivanathaswami

Jai Ganesha!

On the last Amavasya, dancers from the talented Shri Krupa dance school (based out of San Jose, CA) visited Iraivan Temple to perform a special offering. The group of six dancers came together to express their devotion to Lord Mahalingeshvara through the classical art form of Bharatanatyam. Each dancer performed with expressiveness and great dedication to their art, showing their love and respect for the divine.

As many know, Bharatanatyam is a dance form that combines rhythm, expression and emotion, enabling dancers to tell stories and connect with their audience. On the same day, a large tour group visited the temple. Each pilgrim entered the temple, not only to receive Mahalingeshvara’s blessings but also to witness the unexpected and marvelous performance. The dancers’ devotion to their art captivated everyone present, making it a memorable and spiritual experience for all.

Quote of the day

Today we reached the $80,000 goal of our annual Digital Dharma Drive! It was not at all certain we would meet the goal, but in the last few hours before tonight’s transition to 2025, a few generous donors recognized our plight and gave abundantly. We are grateful for this amazing support. It means we can proceed with our highest ambitions in the year ahead, producing a third edition of Lemurian Scrolls, a new edition of Patanjali’s famed Yoga Sutras (fully illustrated by our Kerala artist), a new edition of Saint Tayumanavar’s 1,454 devotional poems to Siva, website enhancements and more. Mahalo nui loa, as the Hawaiian say.

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.

“The two paths—householder and renunciate—every young man has to choose between them. In Hindu tradition the choice is made before the marriage ceremony, and, if not, during the ceremony itself. The choice must be his and his alone. Though guided by the advice of parents, elder family members and religious leaders, the choice is his and his alone as to how his soul is to live through the birth karmas of this incarnation. Both paths take courage, great courage, to step forward and embrace the responsibilities of adult life.“

For many years we used a certain dirt road (in addition to other roads) for vehicles to go past Iraivan Temple towards the Swayambhulingam Mandapam and west borders of our property, but it was steep and consistently gouged from heavy rain runoff. It also negatively affected water drainage on the northwest side of Iraivan Temple, so we finally decided to close it off in preparation for creating a concrete utility road around Iraivan in the hopefully not-too-distant future. Dennis Wong recently brought in dirt and boulders to lift the area and close it. The photos show a few angles, plus a larger visitor group experiencing Iraivan due to the end-of-year holidays.