Today at Kauai Aadheenam

Vishvanathaswami sanding the wood

the planks before applying the finish

Shankaranatha preparing all the woods to bring back to Hale Hana

Jai Ganesha!

The monks of Siddhidata Kulam are currently undergoing the final stages of the construction of their new shop and office building. Recently Sannyasin Vishvanathaswami and Sadhaka Shankaranatha have been working on making the blue gum window sills and trim for the second floor office. Over the past few weeks they milled the lumber, cut it roughly to size, and assigned each sill to a window. There are 13 windows in total for the second floor office, and they are now working to sand them and prepare the wood for the final installation. Once they have completed on this, the second floor will undergo the second stage which is finish the walls of the office space. Aum!

Quotes of the Day

Meditation is a long journey, a pilgrimage into the mind itself.

Bhairava on the way to help other monks in the monastery

Drama King

The “good boy” look

A naughty dog

The playful form of Bhairava

Yes he also attends the morning meeting along with other monks

Having good time in the beach when he was a pup

Bhairava when he was 8 weeks old

Jai Ganesha!

We are not sure how many of you are aware that for a while now we have had another monk (and protector) in a non-human form. Yes! A year ago our Siddhidata Kulam talaivar, Yoginathaswami, bought a male German Shepherd dog and named him Bhairava. He is one of use now. Before we deep dive into Bhairava’s story, we want to share this ai response describing this particular breed of dog:

“German Shepherds are highly intelligent, loyal, and confident dogs, known for their protective and courageous nature. They form strong bonds with their families and are affectionate, especially with children, but can be reserved around strangers. Energetic and eager to please, they excel in tasks requiring focus and are highly trainable, making them ideal working dogs as well as loving companions. Their playful yet disciplined demeanor thrives in active households where they receive consistent training, mental stimulation, and exercise to keep them happy and well-behaved.”

So from that you can guess that he is loyal to us, with many of the practical qualities of a guard dog. This means he will go to great lengths to protect his family. Swami has been training him along with an instructor who has been teaching Swami how to train Bhairava and teach him commands. Bhairava is a wonderful addition to the monastery and always cheers us up. Other monks also get a chance to take care of him by feeding him and taking him for walks. One time, Swami and Bhairava were going for an evening walk, and suddenly a crazed, wild boar appeared. It took a charge at Swami, but Bhairava scared it off, saving the day! He reminds us of Kala Bhairava the destroyer of darkness. Of course, like all dogs, he has a bit of an
overly-playful side to him as well. He will excitedly run up to anyone new. He will bark at you until you give your attention and pet him, and with certain people who try to give him a command he will simply ignore you. He reminds us that even dogs are individuals and must be treated with respect. We all are very happy to have him with us. Aum!

The amazing blue fruits of the Rudraksha tree.

Closeup of a basket of partially cleaned Rudraksha seeds from the Elaeocarpus Ganitrus tree

These are the saplings (in the foreground) as they arrived from Kathmandu, before they sprouted.

After a year, they grew to two feet tall and healthy. They like Kauai’s climate.

A field was cleared and mowed, and fences installed to keep the cows away. Then last week we planted 15 Nepalese trees which will be a future miniature forest we are calling a grove.

To make their transition to full sun easier, we placed red ti plants to provide shade at the hottest time of the day.

In the future we will have the original Indian Rudraksha Forest here, and just 80 feet away pilgrims can walk among the Nepalese trees

We published a major story about the growing and marketing of the rudrakshas of Nepal which you can read by following this QR code. Regale your friends with these fascinating details.

Consider the cosmic rhythm of creation, preservation and dissolution. Much of what we do in life is by way of maintaining what was created in the past. Housekeeping, equipment maintenance, mowing the lawn, washing the clothes. Now and again we get to create something special (which will need maintenance far into the future!)

This week we created a new little forest of Rudraksha trees from Nepal. Just 15 trees, so we call it our Nepalese Rudraksha Grove. The seed for this was sown some 2-3 years ago when we did a major article on the Rudrakshas of Nepal. We flew Nikki Thapa from Kathmandu to the deep Khandari Valley that lies just 33 miles from Mount Everest. The story was fascinating, full of facts like Rudraksha sales represent 6% of Nepal’s GNP, and the rather stunning fact that the most expensive single bead every purchased on auction went for $84,000 (it had 33 faces, so one in a billion). Nikki sent us a handful of beads from that valley, and we were amazed how distinctive they were, bigger, lighter in color and even more ornately “carved” than the Indian beads.

So we flew Nikki back to the valley with the mission to acquire 18 small trees which—after nurturing them in her home for the winter—she packed and shipped to Kauai. They grew slowly at first, but when they realized where they were they took off and became lush and healthy. They were ready to get out of their pots, so we cleared a portion of our cow pasture, put up fencing to keep the cows from making them bovine salad, dug 15 holes (three did not make the journey) and planted them in our finest plant mix. They are settling in, happy to be out near their comrades, the Indian Rudrakshas. In the future pilgrims can visit two rudraksha forests from two nations, and the Mini Mela will have a new offering for pilgrims, grown on the Aadheenam grounds. So, having created a sacred space for future pilgrims, we settle in to mowing the field, fertilizing the saplings, mending the fences and so it goes. Create, maintain, dismantle. Take a breath and repeat.

This photo shows the color difference between the darker ruddy brown of the Indian bead and the lighter khaki brown of the Nepalese beads. Only usually the Nepali beads are larger than their Indian brethern.

This morning during Chitra nakshatra we observed the monthly pada puja for Gurudeva.

We just recently completed generating the “Cognizantability” resource section of Merging with Siva in Gurudeva’s clone voice. This will appear on the audiobook page for Merging with Siva that is being created. Here are the first few sections:

Section 1 introduction–

Section 1, Canto 1–

Section 1, Canto 2–

Section 1, Canto 3–

The five days of Pancha Ganapati home festival have begun around the world. We have hundreds of extra visitors coming to our monastery temples during this holiday time until after January 1st, so we’ve put copies of the Pancha Ganapati article at the Kadavul Temple entrance threshold for people to learn from.

December 21, yellow: The family sadhana for the first day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony among immediate family members. The day begins early, and the entire family works together to design and decorate the shrine with traditional symbols, rangoli, lamps and more. Then a grand puja is performed invoking the spirit of Pancha Ganapati in the home. The sadhana of the day now begins. The family sits together for the purpose of easing any strained relationships that have arisen during the year. They make amends one with another for misdeeds performed, insults given, mental pain and injuries caused and suffered. When forgiveness is offered to all by one and all, they speak of each other’s good qualities and resolve that in the days ahead they will remember the futility of trying to change others and the practicality of changing one’s self to be the silent example for all to witness. Gifts are then exchanged and placed unopened before Pancha Ganapati. As family harmony is important to all Hindus, this sadhana must be taken very, very seriously.