Today we flew to the enchanting "Garden Island" of Kauai. Our main reason for coming was to visit the Kauai Hindu Monastery and present our Oneness-Home Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award to His Holiness Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.
Peace Run founder, Sri Chinmoy, had great love and respect for the Monks of Kauai's Hindu Monastery. He personally visited the Monastery and met with the monks on several occasions.
Here Sri Chinmoy is pictured with the founder of the Monastery, His Holiness Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. At this time Sri Chinmoy presented him with the U.Thant Peace Award.
Sri Chinmoy also met with the present leader, Satguru Bodhinathaswami and presented him with the "Lifting Up The World with a Oneness-Heart" Award in 2001.
After attending the beautiful morning Shiva Puja, we were escourted to meet with Satguru Bodhinathaswami, who most kindly lit our Peace Torch for the occasion.
We told the monks about the Peace Run and our experiences in Hawaii. We sang some songs composed by Sri Chinmoy, including our Peace Run song and a song dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Many of the monks have met with Sri Chinmoy and visited us in New York.
We were grateful and deeply honored that Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami received our Torch-Bearer Award.
Bodhinathaswami is a tireless and totally consecrated server of God-Shiva and of the world family. He oversees a constant stream of publications, educational materials and on line media offering the teachings of Hinduism at all levels, from the most basic ideas and practical matters of everyday life to the most exalted and subtle Hindu philosophy. In a number of languages both Indian and Western, there are books, booklets, children’s books, musical recordings, videos, websites and the international magazine Hinduism Today.
Bodhinathaswami travels globally to offer lectures, seminars and workshops, and to give personal instruction to devotees. He conducts pilgrimages, blesses temple openings and also guides four non-profit organizations, including the Hindu Heritage Endowment.
We gave Satguru Bodhinathaswami an artwork by Sri Chinmoy entitled "Compassion".
We also presented Satguru Bodhinathaswami with a book of Sri Chinmoy's early poetry entitled "The Garden of Love-Light".
Monastery Founder, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, created his own language! This is an example. Unfortunately I do not recall what it says!
We passed the torch and each of the Monks present offered their prayers for peace.
Time for a group photograph. We were deeply moved by the profound feeling of peace, oneness and genuine spirituality we felt in the presence of the monks, and the powerful vibration of the Monastery .
We were blessed to be taken on a tour of the Monastery. The newly built media offices, or "Ganapati Kulam" office, where Hinduism Today and many other spiritual publications are produced, were our first stop. This is the entrance way.
We all agreed that this is the most beautiful office we have ever visited!
The view from the window over the gardens which were a wasteland when they began the Monastery about 50 years ago.
We were delighted to find a slide show playing of photographs of their interactions with Sri Chinmoy over the years.
Every aspect of the design of the offices is symbolic, purposeful, and tells a story.
Sadasivanatha Swami has maintained a close friendship with members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre. He was our guide and host for the tour and was unbelievably generous with his warm-hearted spirit and time. He has been at the Monastery since its inception 50 years ago!
We were served green tea and all given copies of Hinduism Today and a book he put together about the life of the Monastery founder, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, who they affectionately refer to as Gurudev.
Next we were taken on a "safari tour" of a small section of the vast, lush and breath-takingly beautiful gardens. Unbelievably, Sadasivanathaswami planted every tree and plant in the garden! There are thousands! And he said that about 3/4 of what he planted did not even live!
Lord Ganesha.
The main feature of the gardens is the Temple which is still under construction.
Sadasivanathaswami is a wealth of knowledge, and shared as much as was possible with us all!
The construction is taking time because every part of it is hand-carved in stone in India, and shipped to Hawaii. Most of the tradition of handcarving has been lost, so ofter carvers need to be taught how to do it without machinery before they can even begin!
He explained that when machinery is used the stone loses its life force, which they are seeking to maintain. The feeling inside the temple is incredible! He believes this will likely be the last Hindu Temle outside India to be built without machines.
At the Temple entrance way. As you can see, the carving is exquisite and every inch is deeply symbolic and meaningful. Sadasivanathaswami invited us inside to sing one of Sri Chinmoy's songs. The acoustics are unfathomable!
The Supreme Being in the form of seven animals guards the entrance way.
Nandi, the Sacred Bull of Lord Shiva is patiently waiting to be positioned facing the temple entrance after being shipped from India.
All hand carded from one stone!!
Inside this pillar is a ball of stone. Don't even try to imagine how that was carved!
Sadasivanathaswami has a wonderful spirit of enthusiasm and joy in his life of purest dedication to his Sadhana.
Dakshinamurti is the form of Siva as a Silent Guru. He taught only through silence. He imparted all of his knowledge to his first four disciples.
Sadasivanathaswami explained this his interpretation is that the role of the Guru is not to give the knowledge, but rather to awake and arouse the inherent divinity and knowledge of the self that lies within us all.
The belief in the inherent understanding and love of peace within each individual, and the hope that holding or seeing the torch may awaken and kindle the flame of peace within, is also the message and goal of the Peace Run!
This statue was here before the Temple construction began and Dakshinamurti's third eye points directly through the middle of the temple. He always sits under a banyan tree, in this case a real one!
There are beautiful statues around the garden of the Guru Lineage of Kauai's Hindu Monastery, which originated in South India, then travelled to Sri Lanka, and then to Hawaii!
A mosquito-free meditation space!
There are twenty Swamis who live at the Monastery and run every aspect of the operation. They all live in their own "Cave" which is very simple with no electricity or running water.
Much of the food the Monks eat is grown in the garden, and perhaps in the future it will all be. They are all vegetarians. Pictured here are papaya trees, all planted by Sadasivahathaswami.
An avocado tree with too many baby avocados for one branch! They have recently planted an avocado tree for every month of the year, so they can be enjoyed all year round, incredible!
At the completion of the tour we were all given a bottle of highest quality organic Noni Juice produced on the property!
Our final gift was a beautiful bowl made by one of the monks especially for us out of mango wood, which is incredibly light! Inside the bowl was a small white flower for each of us, and an orange one for Sri Chinmoy ;)
We were all deeply inspired and extremely grateful for the experience of visiting the Monastery.
The power of inner peace within each of the monks, which is then manifested out into the world in so many ways, is an unfathomable service to humanity, and great encouragement to all of us who have humbly dedicated our own lives to peace.
After visiting the Monastery we drove to Hanalei Bay in North Kauai to jump in the ocean before running. If we thought we had received enough illumination and inspiration for one day, we were wrong! As Harita was about to begin running, an incredible rainbow appeared in the sky and thrilled us all!
It was a double rainbow!
Titus Kinimara is a legendary big wave surfer in Hawaii who Sri Chinmoy met with and lifted. We were not able to meet with him personally, but Jayalata is a big fan of his, so she was happy to at least see his shop!
Along the way everyone wanted to hold the Peace Torch!
This lovely woman was deeply moved that she saw a rainbow, and then a Peace Runner! She stopped in the middle of the road to take photos, and then pulled over as soon as she could to offer a donation and some snacks!
Nearly everyone we met was from some other part of America, and it goes without saying they were so happy to be in Hawaii. This friendly family is from Georgia.
As the evening sun descended, the rainbow was still visable, a perfect end to a beautiful day!
