On the island of Kauai, there is a Himalayan Monastery in Kapaa, that teaches true human origins, and Lemuria. It is home of two dozen monks who live, and learn, and teach, and worship. They believe the Lumeria Scrolls truly exist. In it, Kauai is described as a magical vortex as close as possible to the garden of Eden. As Gerald parked the car, a sign with an arrow indicated “Temple Path”. An old Hindu woman placed fresh fruit and a flower offering at the entrance to the monastery. She then sat on the stone wall chanting aloud as though I did not exist. Her body rocked back and forth wrapped in a colorful sarong. I turned to the gathering area where a basket of tie-dyed sarongs were rolled and available for visitors. Reaching in, I chose a blue-fringed sarong imprinted with the Hawaiian sea turtle. In thirty seconds, I had it securely wrapped around my waist to cover the skort I was wearing. Now I was ready to walk down the path toward sacred grounds for this extraordinary experience. Founded in 1970, by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, he created the sacred place for meditation, worship, training of monks, and religious resource for the Hindu world. The first stop, at the grove of giant banyan trees, six flat rocks for meditation led to an 8-armed statue; Lord Shanmuga, a granite sculpture of the six-faced Deity who guides the transformation of the instinctive into divine wisdom through the practice of yoga. Silence is appreciated. As I left the world behind, I encountered a massive 16-ton statue of Nandi the bull, carved from black granite. It stands watch over the Siva temple. A bell announces the arrival of visitors. A swami, dressed in orange under lifetime vows, waves incense and rice offerings while chanting around the bull as sustenance for protection of the temple. Birds fly in and scoop up the morsels of rice. Turning away, visitors are invited to dip their toes into the temple tank before stepping into the sanctuary. This sacred pool has a statue of the child Saint Sambandar dancing joyously on a lotus. The sacred “Om” in the Tamil language is painted on the bottom of the pool. I removed my sandals and entered the sanctuary. The aroma of incense was overpowering. People stood and knelt in silence, hands folded in prayer. One wall depicted 108 golden statues of Lord Siva, each depicting one pose of His cosmic dance of creation, preservation, absorption, and paired graces which conceal and reveal. Within minutes, the swami entered the Kadavul Temple and continued his methodical spiritual exercises. After awhile he turned to the crowd offering incense smoke plumes to those who wished to inhale them. At this point, I discreetly turned and exited the sanctuary. From there, Gerald and I approached the lookout for Mount Waialeale and Iraivan Temple in the distance. It was picture postcard perfect. We were not allowed past this point. As we made our way back to the car, we took a moment to enter the Mini Mela Gift Shop where I chose an aqua and turquoise beaded bracelet with the “Om” symbol. 
“The weak can never forgive. 

Forgiveness is the attribute 

of the strong.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi