Pilgrimage to Kauai in Hawaii – 2

Let me give you a quick background to this temple.

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), affectionately known as Gurudeva, founded the Kauai Hindu Monastery in 1970 to foster solidarity of Hindus around the globe. He created this sacred place for meditation, worship and training of monks. His successor is Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

There are two traditional Saivite Hindu temples located on the monastery's 363 acres, Kadavul Temple and the San Marga Iraivan Temple, a rare, all-granite Chola-style temple, under construction.

Pujas are performed everyday in the 'Kadavul' temple. It was built in the year 1973. Visitors are welcome from 9 am to noon every day.

What's special about this temple? The most amazing thing about this temple is the way it is so nicely managed by a group of talented monks. To mention a few of the impressive features in this temple:

• Many temples perform Nithya pujas 4 times a day - Morning, Noon, Evening and Night - and close the temple in the night. In the Kadavul temple, the monks perform three-hour vigils 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in its sacred precincts since inception. This practice is going on for decades at this temple and it is very rare to find such a temple! It reflects the high dedication the monks have on worshipping Lord Shiva.

• The monks, numbering over 20, perform a variety of tasks. Well-versed in some of the ancient Hindu scriptures, they follow a highly spiritual life, perform the nithya pujas by taking turns, and work on growing rare plants, photography, web design, IT services, write/edit articles, gather flowers, prepare for the puja, decorate the deities, cook, manage the kitchen, and tend the cows and animals!  Isn't that great for a Hindu monastery in the Western World?

On the very first day of our visit, Paramacharya asked Saravananathaswamy to show us around. With a cheerful smile, young Saravananathaswamy escorted us on a conducted tour of this sprawling sanctuary.

The Wonder of Nature

With Saravananathaswamy, we walked for some distance enjoying the splendid view of Mount Waialeale and the water falls of the Wailua River flowing into a large pond down below in a valley.

Iraivan temple in the making

Swamy then took us in a go-cart to the Iraivan temple under construction about a km away. On either side of the narrow pathway, we saw exotic trees and plants (including 'Paan' - Vettilai) with plenty of bright colorful flowers.

With Saravananathaswami and a visitor

Iraivan temple entrance

The Iraivan temple was inspired by a vision of Sathguru Shivaya Subramanyswami.  It is a 3.2 million pound Shiva temple sculpted in Bangaluru by master craftsman in 3000 plus blocks of granite. The crafted components are then shipped to Kauai where the assembly is taking place. It is a rare temple in the Western World with many "green" features including the use of fly ash concrete. Work is expected to be completed by 2017. 

At the temple, there are no arrangements for food for visitors. However, since it was getting late for us, Saravananathaswamy graciously brought for us two packets of lunch that was cooked for the monks. It included some rice and two subjis. It was like "Amrutam" to us!

Ardhra Abhishekam to Lord Nataraja

On Sunday, October 4th, we witnessed the Ardhra Abhishekam to Lord Nataraja's idol. With Sri Rudram chanting, tall Yoginathaswamy stood on a ladder and performed a full scale abhishekam with milk, honey, coconut water, sandal paste, vibhuti etc. After the abhishekam, people (including us) sang some bhajans while alankaram was being done. Flower archana and arati followed. We had the most satisfying darshan of the beautifully decorated Nataraja and the illuminated Spatikalingam in front. It was like getting immersed in complete Sivaness!

Ganesha

The Shivalingam is flanked by the Sannidhis of Lord Ganesha and Lord Karthikeya.

The photos of Ganesha and Murugan that you see here are those of the idols installed on either side of the entrance to the sanctum.

Murugan

Rudra Homam

Every Tuesday at 6 AM, the monks gather together at the temple to perform Rudra Homam and listen to a short speech by Sathguru Bodinatha Veylanswamy. We were specially invited for this event. We felt really blessed and seized the opportunity. The homa kuntam was right in the center of the sanctum. We could see all the assembled monks under one roof, some of them reciting Rudram with perfect intonation - a rare sight indeed! After a short interval, one of the monks performed abhishekam to Lord Karthikeya.

Rudraksha Trees

There is a forest of Rudraksha trees about 2 kms away from the temple. Besides hundreds of Rudraksha beads, we saw Rudraksha flowers on the trees.

Rudraksha Flowers

Food

Most times, we cooked simple meals in the hotel room that had a microwave, a refrigerator and some utencils too. There is only one Indian restaurant in Kauai. It is named "Shivalik!" We had a vegetarian 'Thaali' lunch at this place - good food at reasonable prices!

What others to see in Kauai?

The beaches are lovely, there is the deep Waimea Canyon called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, Enchanting Napali Coast, stunning green valleys and Mother Nature at Her best! The whole island is about 32 miles in diameter!

Farewell

Before departing, we had the good fortune to personally meet Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Swami and Sannyasin Brahmanathaswami. We talked for a while on my favorite subject - water and environment. Brahmanathaswami talked to us a little about the beautiful bhajan songs in Tamil and English. We were enlightened!

We bid farewell with a heavy heart. But then, we had the fondest blessings from the Sathguru, Paramacharya and the other monks who represent Lord Shiva- Can we ask for more?

Paramacharya's parting words to us were, "We loved being with you both and know it will not be the last time..."   Indeed a great inspiration from a great Guru!

Om Namah Shivaya!!

Pilgrimage to Kauai in Hawaii –1

With over 750 miles of shoreline, over 400 beaches and an excellent tropical weather, Hawaii is a tourist’s paradise. Most people visit Hawaii to play water sports like surfing, snorkeling, swimming, or just relax and enjoy a restful vacation away from the crazy business world. But then, my Dharmapatni Vidya and I are not like most people. We seem to be cast in a different mould. We enjoy Mother Nature's every little creation including the young green blades of grass that grow on our lawn. We love anything that charges our spiritual batteries - like performing a simple Puja, reciting slokas, visiting temples or just singing Bhajans, no matter others like it or not. So, how did we land in far-off Hawaii, the exotic destination for merry makers? Well, it's what I call the divine hand at work. 

It all started in August 2015 with an e-mail from my son-in-law Suresh to someone at the Kauai Hindu monastery suggesting me as a good candidate for doing some Sanskrit translation work. This was a totally unexpected compliment to my untested skills. Pat came the response from Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Swami of the Kauai temple giving me a short Sanskrit-to-English translation work. I really enjoyed doing the work. The Paramacharya liked my work and graciously commented, "This is exactly what we had hoped for!”

Suddenly, my brain recalled the nice words of DGP Ravindran of Chennai who had visited this temple decades ago. He said that this temple demonstrated how well a band of dedicated white American monks could build and manage a Hindu temple perfectly adhering to the Agama Sastras. A deep desire sprang in me to visit this temple. When I wrote to the Paramacharya expressing my desire, he responded promptly suggesting October 4 as a good day for a visit because the Ardhra Abhishekam to Lord Shiva was to take place on that day. Thus, Vidya and I took off on October 2 and landed late night at Lihue airport in Kauai.

The next day, we drove to the Kauai temple about 6 miles from the hotel. The entire route was scenic with the road (Highway 580) winding up like a snake on a lush green mountain. It's a single lane road with varying speed limits of 25 and 35 mph. I could see the clouds hovering over the mountains and the blue sea on my left.

Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Palaniswami

When I entered the temple parking lot, it was a surprise to see Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Swamiji right there sitting on a go cart smilingly holding up his hands in Namasthe fashion. Vidya and I were visibly moved by his welcoming us right at the entrance. We offered him our humbale salutations. Paramacharya guided us to the temple and said Saravananathaswami will take us to Sathguru Bodhinatha Veylan Swamigal after the Puja.

We climbed up to the shrine about 100 yards passing up a huge Nandi. The sanctum hall is small, carpeted up to the steps leading to the inner sanctum where there is a beautiful lighted spatika lingam in the front and a large panchaloha Nataraja idol about 10-12 ft high behind on a pedestal. There was a small homakuntam and a shivalingam before the Nataraja.

The Puja started with Nadaswaram music, followed by abhishekam, alankaram, and archanai. We sang some Bhajans. After the Puja, the priest Sannyasin Yoginathaswamy gave us a spoonful of sweet abhishekam milk and puja teertham, flowers, vibhuti and finally a little kumkum. Saravananathaswami came around 10:40 and took us to have a private darshan with the Sathguru. After the darshan, we met Sadasivanatha Swamiji who showed us around the work place where all the publishing and website work gets done by a group of dedicated monks. This place is heavenly with a splendid open view of a deep valley with water falls and exotic green foliage. (... to be continued)