U.S.A.
Page 10 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
December 4, 2023
How a massive all-granite, hand-carved Hindu
temple ended up on Hawai‘i’s lush Kauai Island
Continued from page 9
built Pihanakalani some 1,000 years ago. Lum told her
the monks had the means to take care of the land in
perpetuity. “And so I laid down my concerns,” she said.
Kauka praised the monks’ landscaping, from plant
choices to controlling invasive species.
“The very fact that we have people on this island who
care for our historic places, realize the value of them, and
are taking care of them in an exquisite way is
remarkable,” Kauka said.
Subramuniyaswami prioritized fostering connections
across the island’s faith traditions. These relationships
have stretched beyond Kauai, and continue today.
Following the deadly Maui wildfires in August,
Palaniswami said, the temple helped connect Hindu
donors to local groups leading recovery efforts.
The monastery-temple complex, accessible via a public
gate, also helps connect visitors to something greater.
Devajyothi Kondapi from Portland, Oregon, has only
heard stories about great saints and sages in ancient
India who blessed and sanctified the land.
“Here, I feel their presence,” she said during a recent
visit, a trip she makes a couple times a year. “What makes
this a divine place is the monks’ discipline.”
The monks, who take vows of celibacy, nonviolence, and
vegetarianism, are guided and inspired by the philosophy
of Shaivism. They live in huts, and begin their day with
4:00am worship and meditation, followed by gardening,
woodworking, cooking, and other tasks. They do not speak
about their prior lives.
Beyond the temple itself, one of their most significant
projects took eight years to complete. In the 1990s, the
monks digitized agamas, or ancient Shaivite texts etched
on palm leaves, Palaniswami said.
They preserved these fragile texts, or as Palaniswami
calls them, a Shaivite “user manual of sorts,” and made
the digitized version public. Now anyone can read
Shaivite instructions on everything from running a
temple and celebrating festivals to preparing meals and
managing a family.
The Shaivite tradition is one that blends theism (belief
in gods) and monism, the belief in one, supreme being,
said Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, the order’s
current leader. The end goal is to attain oneness with the
supreme being.
“A beautiful, holy place has the catalytic power to help
you find that sacredness within.”
Sannyasin Tillainathaswami, a monk who has lived
HAND-CARVED GRANITE. Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Palaniswami, left in the left photo, talks with Acharya Kumarnathaswami, right, in the
monk’s woodworking shop at the Kauai Hindu Monastery in Kapaa, Hawai‘i, in this July 10, 2023 file photo. In the right photo, a statue of Lord Muruga,
the Hindu god of war, son of Shiva, and brother of Ganesha, sits in the middle of a meditation space under a banyan tree at the Kauai Hindu Monastery.
(AP Photos/Jessie Wardarski, File)
here for more than a decade, said the ancient practice Palaniswami, who plans to build a public meditation
drew him in because it delves deep into the meaning of room.
For Veylanswami, the order’s leader, his favorite
one’s existence.
“If you find the center of yourself, you’ve found that campus meditation spot is where a gentle waterfall meets
the gushing Wailua River, which is sacred to some Native
which is the center of everything,” he said.
Over the last 50 years, Palaniswami, who knows every Hawaiians.
There, he says, he feels a transformative power,
sector of the 382-acre grounds, has carved out tranquil
spaces conducive to meditation and reflection. The monk especially when he chants Shiva’s name.
Associated Press journalist Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed to
wears flowing saffron robes and a fluffy silver beard. His
this report. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through
hair is gathered in a bun atop his head, adorned with a red
The AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from
hibiscus bloom. Streaks of sacred ash mark his forehead,
Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for content.
accentuated with a vermilion dot in the middle.
On most days, Palaniswami, who also runs the order’s
website and publications department, drives a golf cart
along the winding pathways tending to the flora —
plumeria, orchids, hibiscus, passion fruit, redwood,
lotuses, and herbs.
Along with his guru, he planted 108 Rudraksha trees,
which are native to Nepal and rarely seen in the west. The
word “Rudraksha” in Sanskrit means “the tear of Shiva.”
The trees bear cerulean fruit, and its seeds are used for
prayer, meditation, and protection.
“Shiva was in heaven and looked down on the earth, and
when he saw the plight of humans, it so moved him that he
wept a tear that rolled off his cheek and fell to the earth,”
Palaniswami said. “From that tear grew the first
Rudraksha tree.”
The trees started as 3-inch seedlings about 45 years ago,
and now tower over 100 feet with thick roots. The monks
pressure-wash the seeds, stringing them into meditation
malas, worn as a reminder of Shiva’s compassion, said
SEVA & BHAKTI. A man sits at the BAPS Swaminarayan
Akshardham inside the garland-like path, or parikrama, which serves
as an ornate covered walkway to the largest Hindu temple outside India
in the modern era, in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The temple was built
by BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic organization within the
Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
Largest Hindu temple outside India in
the modern era opens in New Jersey
Continued from page 8
Ride More,
Pay Less
Ride all you want for
just $28/month with our
reduced-fare Hop card.
Apply now at
trimet.org/save
performed a ceremony in
front of the 49-foot-tall
statue of the Bhagwan
Nilkanth Varni, who later
became known as Bhag-
wan Swaminarayan, the
founder of the sect who
ushered in a moral and
spiritual renaissance in
western India.
Other worshippers pros-
trated on the floor pressing
their foreheads to the
ground in reverence. As
night fell, Nikita Patel med-
itated and lit an incense
stick before the deity.
“All
religions,
all
communities are welcome
here,” she said, “And here,
they will feel the peace.”
Avani Patel visited from
Atlanta with her husband
and their two children,
ages 11 and 15. She knelt
inside the temple and
marvelled at the ornate
ceiling, her hands folded in
prayer.
“It’s jaw dropping, mind
blowing,” she said. “You
can see divinity radiating
through it all.”
Patel said she and her
husband, Pritesh, were
among the volunteers who
gave their time to create
the complex, and she is
proud to be a part of an
organization that would
build such a resource to
pass on these values to
posterity.
Trivedi said he does not
view the temple “just as a
Hindu place of worship.”
“It’s not even just Indian
or Indian American,” he
said, adding that the
temple stands for universal
values that can be found in
every religious text and in
the hearts and minds of
great thinkers and leaders
of every era.
“What we’ve tried to do is
express these universal
values in a way that relate
to all visitors.”
Bharath reported from Los Ange-
les. Associated Press religion cov-
erage receives support through
The AP’s collaboration with The
Conversation US, with funding from
Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is
solely responsible for content.