Shiva ashram/temple in Hawaii, the middle of Pacific Ocean
The temple was such a pleasant visit on my trip to Hawaii. I had to visit Kauai to see this temple as well as the beautiful scenery that provided the sets to many movies including Jurassic Park and King Kong. It is a short drive from Lihue airport, as is any other place in Kauai. The pujari, a tall Malaysian, was very welcoming and offered much information when I went there right from the airport. He told me to visit the next morning at 6 am to see the Ganesh homam and Shiva puja. The Ganapati homam and Shiva abhishekam on a giant crystal lingam were a sight to behold especially because they were conducted by white sannyasis and monks with almost-perfect diction and outstanding tantric gestures according to the Shiva Agama. The puja was well attended by devotees from many countries that were visiting as well as local families. Apart from the sphatika lingam, the other deities were Ganesha, Parvati and Subrahmanya (Murugan). There were also many figurines of Nataraja in various poses.
After the puja, the visitors were taken on a tour of the grounds. We walked through the landscaped garden which had plants native to Hawaii as well as others brought from elsewhere and a pond spotted with sculptures. We then arrived at this beautiful temple which is being constructed according to the scriptures in the South Indian (Tamil) style. They have brought a bunch of Tamil artisans and sculptors from villages near Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu to construct the temple. I spoke with the artisans who were all in praise of the sannyasis and monks there for their bhakti and kindness.
I then spoke with a couple of young monks at the ashram, one of them South American, the other from the USA. Both were attracted to the teachings of Subrahmanya Swami and had taken up two years of Brahmacharya to be part of the ashram and wanted to continue after that. They refused to divulge anything else about their past, including their past names, because according to tradition, they’ve started a new life which is what they should live in and look forward to. It was extremely refreshing and heartening to see the customs and traditions of Hinduism being preserved and carried on in a land so far from anywhere, and especially from India.
Of course there were a couple of things that I did not particularly like. My trip to Hawaii was also a beach vacation and naturally I had packed mostly shorts. But the temple does not like visitors entering in shorts and provides lungis (sarongs) for us. That is tradition in a few Hindu temples in India too, but one can visit most temples in India wearing shorts. Hinduism being extremely evolving and keeping with the times does not impose a dress code for visiting temples except for the prohibition of footwear, obviously. It never has in the past, and hopefully never will in the future. So it was disconcerting to know that shorts were not allowed in this American temple.
The other thing I did not like has nothing to do with the temple. I was chatting with a couple of its volunteers, who were white Americans. We talked about a lot of different things and the disturbing fact was that these Hindu Americans were as dogmatic as Christian Americans. They were not tolerant to certain views and ideas, some of which were so harmless, I thought, that most Indians would not care for them. It is perhaps true that their dogmatism was a remnant of their possible Christian upbringing, but being an Indian Hindu, it was striking to me because dogmatism has no place in Hinduism.
Overall, the visit to the temple and ashram was extremely heartening that on seeing the Abhishekam, I cried. If you’re planning to visit sometime, do check out their website for directions.
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Where you go, there the custom upheld. We must respect Hindu
traditions no matter where it is practised!This applies to Hindus too!