Most People Have No Idea This Enchanting Monastery Is Hiding In Hawaii
By Megan Shute|Published February 14, 2016
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
Up in the hills, four miles above the coastal town of Kapaa and hidden amongst Kauai’s lush, tropical landscape is the Kauai Aadheenam Hindu Temple – a beautiful magnificent spiritual sanctuary that sits on 363 acres near the wettest spot on earth, Mt. Waialeale.
The traditional South Indian style monastery-temple complex was founded in 1970 by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. The monastery is also home to the Himalayan Academy, Hinduism Today Magazine, and the Hindu Heritage Endowment.
The monastery is now home to the head of the monastery – or the Guru Mahasannidhanam - Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, and his order of 21 swamis, yoigs and sadhakas from six nations.
The Kauai Hindu Monastery features two Saivite Hindu temples, Kadavul Temple, pictured below, and the San Marga Iravian Temple. Hindu pilgrims from around the world have been visiting the temple to worship for more than 40 years.
Sun glints off the golden domes of the Iravian Temple, the crown jewel of the monastery: a magnificent Southern Indian-style structure built of white granite, hand-carved in Bangalore, India, and assembled on Kauai.
Visitors are welcome to take a guided or self-guided tour through the Kadavul Temple, and stroll through the lush gardens full of ponds, flowering trees, and plants from India and Sri Lanka.
While the guided tours are free, any donations are encouraged and accepted – as it is donations that help to build the Iravian Temple, which began construction in 1990, and is currently slated to be complete in 2017.
The monks wear hand-spun robes, grow their own food, and live a joyous life committed to God Realization, selfless religious service, raja yoga sadhanas, and worship of Siva.
The monks grow 70 percent of what they eat on the monastery grounds, and produce ghee, yogurt and cheese from a dozen cows who call the monastery home.
According to the Himalayan Academy website, “This shared spiritual activity is the anchor for the coming day in which monks serve in one of five areas: temple and kitchen, members and teaching, administration and finance, grounds and maintenance, publications and media.”
Yes, you read that right – the monks who call this temple home are anything but old-fashioned when it comes to technology. Behind the temple walls, monks work on iPads and computers to write books, craft blog posts, publish the magazine, Hinduism Today, and teach others about Hinduism.
The Kauai Hindu Monastery is undoubtedly a place of immense beauty – and true religious devotion. For more information about Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, head to the website of the Himalayan Academy, where Hinduism meets the future.
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