Today I made my first visit to the Saiva Siddhanta Mandir on the island of Kauai. It is located in a breathtakingly tranquil corner of the island along the river Wailua. As you enter the temple complex, the first deity that you encounter is that of Ganeshji inside the entrance. The winding pathway from the entrance leads you to the temple. Outside the temple is Nandi facing a bronze murti of Lord Shiva in the inner sanctum. As you enter the temple, on the left side behind you is a large protrait of the founder of the temple and on the right side behind you is his murti and a large replica of the
trishul with
damroo. On the two sides are 108 small murtis of Lord Shiva, 54 on each side. Straight up is a Lingam in the center and Lord Shiva's bronze murti on a raised alter behind the Lingam. On the left side of the main alter is a small alter of Lord Ganesh, with a bell hanging overhead for you to ring and say a prayer. On the right side, I believe is another small alter of Lord Shiva, with a bell hanging overhead. The priest conducted a puja at the alter, then came to the back to offer puja to Gurudev and finally stepped out to offer puja to Nandi. Following my inbuilt tradition, I requested the priest for some vibhuti, which he gladly provided but did not apply to my forehead as is normally done in Hindu temples that I am used to. I applied the vibhuti on my forehead and wore it with pride. I shared it with others in our group and with some more Indians who had come to visit the mandir. Since I was not on the mainland, I let the vibhuti dot on my forehead stay when I drove away, for all to see without feeling embarrassed or feeling that I might be asked to explain it to a nosy stranger.
The current mandir is a temporary one, with the larger, final version under construction. They are working on it as the funds become available.
The gift shop had murtis of Lord Shiva and also of Gurudev for sale. A bronze replica of the temple under construction is to be placed on the hand of a large murti of Lord Hanuman to be installed near that temple. This replica was sitting in the gift shop and needed a sponser. There were lot of books on Shivaism, packets of incense, bottles of honey, various stones, japa-malas and many other sundry things for sale in the store. The checkout counter was being handled by two older ladies, who had gone the extra mile to dress in traditional Indian clothes, one in a sari and the other in a
salwar-kameez.
When a weekly guided tour of the campus ended, I overheard a devote saying that they were always short handed on the tour conductors. I thought of volunteering EMji for the job
, but I don't even know his name, much less his contact info. So EMji, there is a job waiting for you in Kauai.
Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, knowing how Hinduism was flourishing in this remote corner of the world. To blend in with their environment though, they call it the Saiva Siddhanta
Church.
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