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All About Kauai's Hindu Monastery ART BY EVELYN DE BUHR All About Kauai’s Hindu Monastery Kauai’s All About Iraivan Temple . 8 Introduction Our Spiritual Lineage . 10 loha and namaste! This Bodhinatha Veylanswami . The Founder of the Monastery . 12 Abooklet explores the The monastery is blessed Our Guru and Monastic Order . 14 origins and mission of with extraordinary Coming on Pilgrimage . 16 this monastery/temple beauty, even for Hawaii . Sacred Temple Gardens . 18 complex—known in It is also the site of World-Class Publishing . 20 India as an aadheenam— intense activity and Wisdom to Live By . 22 describing its philosophy, global religious outreach, Personal Study . 24 temples and areas of where the resident monks Travel-Study Programs . 25 service . The monastery’s wield the latest high-tech Our Global Congregation . 26 guru lin eage is rooted in the computing power to produce A Bird’s-Eye View of Hinduism . 28 Tamil Saiva tradition of Sri Hinduism Today magazine, Philosophical Conclusions . 30 Lanka and South India . This books, websites, videos, Contents Frequently Asked Questions . 32 ancient spiritual path was teaching pro grams and Hindu Free Resources on Hinduism . 34 brought to America by Sat guru Heritage Endowment . Its two temples, Introduction . 3 The Hindu Heritage Endowment . 36 Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Guru- which you may visit, are dedicated to A South Indian Monastery . 4 Mini Mela Shopping . 38 deva, 1927–2001) and continues Lord Siva . Enjoy, now, a magical place Kadavul Hindu Temple . 6 Visitor Information . 39 today under his successor, Satguru blessed by God, Gods, guru and nature . Second edition. © 2008 by Himalayan Academy. Printed in USA. www.himalayanacademy.com 3 A South Indian Monastery He had traveled the world over with his Innersearch Travel-Study programs, seeking the perfect place for s you step into these sacred grounds, let your his spiritual headquarters . In 1968 the group stayed Aeveryday concerns drift away . Relax into the for three weeks at the Tropical Inn resort, as this peace; absorb the sanctity . Let it pass through you property was called then . He had found his ideal lo- like a purifying wave . This monastery at the foot cation . Over the years the monastery developed and of an extinct volcano spreads out over 376 acres flourished, based on the time-tested culture of the Far of gardens, groves, glens, paths, ponds and water- East . Today, even in India, it is regarded among the ways . It is a secluded, cloistered home and theo- world’s important Hindu holy sites . ¶A typical day logical seminary to two dozen dedicated monks for the monks begins in the Kadavul Temple with a from six nations, who live and serve here full 5:30am communal worship service, called puja . An time, striving to fulfill the dual goals of selfless hour-long yogic meditation follows, guided by Bodhi- service and self-transformation through ashtan- natha . Anchored by this daily contemplative routine, ga (eight-limbed) yoga, which begins with good the monks turn to their duties, which include running character and piety, and leads to deep meditation and ultimate enlightenment . the temples, caring for their home and property, publishing, construction, grow- As you walk the grounds, you may feel the rarefied spiritual vibration created ing their own food, hosting pilgrims and guiding the lives of seekers around by the presence of our beloved Gurudeva, who lived here for 31 years, and by the world . ¶We gather for a vegetarian rice-and-curry lunch at 1 pm . After a his monks’ decades of collective meditation, worship, one-minded harmony brief siesta, work recommences at 3pm . At 6:30 the monastics exercise or take and mystic experiences . ¶It was in 1970 that Guru deva founded this center . a walk, have a light dinner and enjoy informal time together; bedtime is 9:00 . 4 Each week an ancient fire ceremony, homa, is held near dawn in Kadavul Hindu Temple www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/hawaii/ 5 Kadavul Hindu Temple 108 golden statues of Lord Siva, each depict- ing one pose of His cosmic dance of creation, ing the bell and say a prayer to Lord Ganesha preservation, absorption, and the paired grac- Rat His outdoor shrine near the monastery es which conceal and reveal . In the temple’s entry and proceed up the 300-foot-long pathway right rear corner is a shrine featuring a golden lined with ferns, flowering trees and sprawling image of Guru deva where you can honor the banyans . Leave the world behind as you encoun- great soul who founded this extraordinary ter the massive 16-ton statue of Nandi the bull, complex . ¶Kadavul is an ancient Tamil word carved from a single block of black granite . On for God meaning, “He who is both immanent watch at every Siva temple in the world, he repre- and transcendent ”. A temple is a meeting place sents the perfect devotee, his eyes never veering of our physical plane and the invisible worlds from his Lord . Remove your shoes, dip your feet of the Gods and angelic beings, or devas . The in the temple tank and step inside the sanctuary . spiritual vibration is kept strong through the ¶Experience the darshan (sight) of the Gods, and feel the blessed energy . In the monks’ continual worship, and the Sanskrit puja ritual they have performed center shrine stands the Divine Dancer, Supreme God Siva . To the left is the every three hours around the clock since the temple’s inception in 1973 . Mystically, portly elephant-faced Deity, Ganesha, whom we greet first and pray to before Kadavul is a “fire temple,” with an intense, penetrating energy that breaks up old every important task . To the right is Lord Karttikeya, God of yoga and spiritual patterns and helps seekers begin new ones . The monastery allows access to this striving . Directly in front of Siva is a giant crystal Sivalingam that will one day private shrine for worship at the daily 9am Siva puja, as the monastic priest per- be the central icon in Iraivan Temple . The inner walls of the temple display forms a centuries-old rite to invoke God Siva’s grace and blessings for one and all . 6 Kadavul Temple, with the Nandi Pavilion. Right, painting of the 6-foot bronze Nataraja in the sanctum. www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/hawaii/kadavul/ 7 Iraivan Temple to connect the Divine and the mate- rial, the spirit and the body, Heaven azing across the valley of the Wailua River and its and Earth . ¶Stand in awe before this GNani Kaua Pond, you see the gold-leafed domes of monument of sacred art and ancient Indian design shimmering in the sunlight, with majestic architecture, designed to stand for Mount Waialeale in the background . You are beholding ten centuries and more . Walk ’round the towers of Iraivan Temple, a pure and powerful white the sanctum . Send blessings to your granite wonderment carved in India entirely by hand and loved ones . Touch the pillars . Here, erected ten thousand miles away on this Garden Island every detail, every sacred, crystal- by Indian master stone masons . Tens of thousands of rich particle of granite conspires to pilgrims have stood in this same spot, marvelling at the bring you closer to God within . Hin- miracle before them . This is the crown jewel of Kauai’s dus revere a sanctified edifice like Iraivan not only as a temple, but as the Hindu Monastery, being constructed, first and foremost, very body of God . ¶Iraivan is an ancient Tamil word for God meaning, “He as a destination for devotees on annual pilgrimage . Now who is worshiped ”. This temple was inspired by a series of mystical visions is a highly auspicious time to be here, for the temple is of Siva that came to Gurudeva early in the morning on February 15, 1975, actually being created in your presence . As you tread the garden paths leading in which he saw Lord Siva seated on a large boulder that was later discovered on to the temple, you may hear the steady “chip, chip, chip” of hammers and chis- the then overgrown property . These visions inspired him to begin this exquisite els in the hands of resident artisans from India, fitting one of the 3,000 blocks temple, unlike any in the world . Since that day, pujas have been held daily at of stone, erecting an edifice according to ancient Agamic mystical injunctions the spot, which will one day be sheltered within an elegant, open-air pavilion . 8 Iraivan’s sanctum and east tower; right, the pavilion that will honor the site of Gurudeva’s 1975 vision www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/hawaii/iraivan/ 9 Our Spiritual Lineage generation . It was through the spiritual authority of his master, Satguru Yogaswami of Sri Lanka, that Guru- t is said in scripture that more precious than gold, deva established this monastery and set in motion Iand far more rare, is finding a satguru who can lead its many dynamic forms of service . Yogaswami was one to God Siva within . The holy gurus, the scriptures an enlightened sage and preceptor of the line of mas- and the sacred temples are revered as Hinduism’s three ters known as the Kailasa Parampara . In 1949, at age pillars of faith . Of these, the guru is paramount . The 77, he ordained Gurudeva as his successor in the lin- word guru simply means “teacher,” but in religious life, eage, which extends back 2,200 years, and beyond, to a satguru is a spiritual guide, an illumined mentor for Maha rishi Nandinatha and his eight disciples—Sanat- devotees, the remover of darkness, a great being who kumara, Sanakar, Sanadanar, Sananthanar, Sivayoga- lives in close communion with God, who has attained muni, Patanjali, Vyaghrapada and Tirumular .
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