Today at Kauai Aadheenam

Esoterics of Worship, Part Four

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.

When you worship the God in the temple through pūjā and ceremony, you are bringing that Divinity out of the microcosm and into this macrocosm. You supply the energy through your worship and your devotion, through your thought forms, and even your physical aura. The pujārī purifies and magnetizes the stone image for this to take place. The Gods and the devas are also magnetizing the stone image with their energy, and finally the moment is ready and they can come out of the microcosm into this macrocosm and bless the people. You observe that they stayed only for an instant, but to them it was a longer time. The time sense in the inner worlds is different.

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Pongal Celebration

Jai Ganesha!

On January 13, we celebrated Pongal at our monastery with our Head Chef, Mani. He also prepared a delicious festive feast for the monks to enjoy throughout the day.

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Happy Thai Pongal, Everyone!

 Yes, today is Thai Pongal. Each year, during January/February, the Tamil month of Thai, millions gather to worship and honor Lord Murugan with fervor. In North America, He has temples in Arizona, Maryland, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and California.

HOW IS THAI PONGAL CELEBRATED?

Thai Pongal is a sacred observance of gratitude, discipline and alignment with cosmic order. It is very much a harvest festival The sadhana of this day is simplicity and reverence: rising before dawn, cleansing the home and body, restraining excess and turning the mind toward thankfulness. Cooking the Pongal becomes a meditative act, each movement an offering of humility and care. As the sun rises, devotees honor light, warmth and sustaining energy through prayer and silence. The focus is not celebration but consecration—acknowledging dependence on nature, time and divine law. By cultivating gratitude, restraint and mindful action, Thai Pongal renews harmony between human effort, natural cycles and spiritual awareness.

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Esoterics of Worship, Part Three

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.

This is one of the reasons that religious tradition is very, very important. Modern existential thought tells us that we can do anything we want to; we don’t have to follow tradition. Out of such a belief comes a great sense of loneliness, a schism between the individual and all his ancestors, all the generations that preceded him on this planet. Out of such a belief comes the breaking up of culture, society, religion and families. ¶Tradition allows you to go through life’s experiences in a controlled way, rather than just throwing yourself into life and upon life without forethought and preparation. When you respect tradition, you call upon the collective wisdom of tens of thousands of years of experience. When you follow tradition, you share the solutions of untold problems, solved once perhaps before recorded history began in order that future generations might avoid them. Tradition is wisdom of the past inherited by the men and women in the present.

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Building Support Posts

When we acquired an adjacent 17 acres of land many years ago, it came with a wooden house built on stilts. The thick wooden stilts at the outer four outer corners gradually began to disintegrate at the base due to rain damage. It was reaching a state of potential danger, so we hired a team to temporarily prop up each corner of the house so they cut off the bottom section of each wooden pillar and fill that space with concrete. The photos show the nearly-final results, with just some concrete staining left to match the color of the remaining wood pillar.

The third photo shows one of our large banana stalks heading into ripening stage.

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A Sunrise from the Sky

Aum Namah Shivaya

When our Kauai Sky is spotted with higher-altitude clouds just before sunrise or sunset, it’s time to grab your camera! Or in this case, our quad copter. While we adjusted exposure, clarity and saturation, there’s no ai touch-ups here. The world really is this beautiful.

“God can only be discovered by God” – Yogaswami

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