Pillar Ten

Artwork by A. Manivelu

Top

  • NORTH FACE:
    Black Pepper

    This is the black pepper vine (Piper nigra), which grows plentifully here at the monastery. Black pepper is native to present-day Kerala in South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Ground, dried and cooked, peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavor and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world’s most traded spice.

  • EAST FACE:
    The Elephant

    The elephant, king of beasts, is representative of Lord Ganesa and sign of royalty and power. Many major Hindu temples keep one or more elephants.

  • SOUTH FACE:
    Vastu

    This is a special grid from the vastu building sciences of India. “Vastu is the science of time and space,” in the words of renowned Indian architect, Sri V. Ganapati Sthapati. The Vastu Shastras are categorized as part of the Sthapatyaveda, which expounds the science of architecture and is classed among the Upavedas, secondary Vedic texts discussing various areas including statecraft, health and music. Vastu unfolds the scientific principles and models of spiritual art and architecture to yield a harmonious flow of energy in the physical environment, giving rise to good health, wealth, intelligence and happiness.

  • WEST FACE:
    Breadfruit

    Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a species of flowering tree that gives a large edible fruit, an important food for the Polynesians of Hawaii and for the monks here as well. There are several trees here that feed the monks, and Kauai is home to the most important breadfruit institute in the world.

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Middle

  • NORTH FACE:
    Ida Nadi

    This is the ida nadi, meaning “soothing channel.” It is the feminine psychic current flowing along the spine.

  • EAST FACE:
    Pingala Nadi

    The inner-body pingala nadi current, blue in color, flows upward in the spine of man, ending on the right side of the body. This current is masculine in nature, radiating an intellectual, mental energy.

  • SOUTH FACE:
    Sushumna

    Sushumna is the major nerve current which passes through the spinal column from the muladhara chakra at the base to the sahasrara at the crown of the head. It is the channel of kunḍalini. Through yoga, the kunḍalini energy lying dormant in the muladhara is awakened and made to rise up this channel through each chakra to the sahasrara chakra.

  • WEST FACE:
    Kundalini

    This two intertwined snakes represent the kundalini, literally “she who is coiled; serpent power.” The primordial cosmic energy in every individual which, at first, lies coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine and eventually, through the practice of yoga, rises up the sushumna nadi. As it rises, the kundalini awakens each successive chakra. Nirvikalpa samadhi, enlightenment, comes as it pierces through the door of Brahman at the core of the sahasrara and enters it. Kundalini shakti then returns to rest in any one of the seven chakras. Sivasayujya, perpetual Siva consciousness, is complete when the kundalini arrives back in the sahasrara and remains coiled in this crown chakra.

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Bottom

  • NORTH FACE:
    Perfect Stillness

    This is Shum script for anif, nashumif, oo, nalif. It is a meditation in Gurudeva’s language of meditation and one of the 12 meditations he asked us to carve on the pillars. This is the May meditation. From top to bottom, anif means to find the place within you that is absolutely quiet and silent. Nashumif is the perspective we hold while looking at the energy fields in and through things, such as looking at the inside of a tree and seeing the energies that cause a leaf to form. Oo means and. Nalif is the experience of holding the inner vibration from one meditation to the next without losing continuity.

  • EAST FACE:
    Harmony With One’s Guru

    Guru relationship. This is Shum script for mingbasida, nabaluhtye, oo, ukanuhshum. It is a meditation in Gurudeva’s language of meditation and one of the 12 meditations he asked us to carve on the pillars. This is the June meditation. From top to bottom, mingbasida is harmony with one’s satguru, seeing your energy and his as one and the same. Nabaluhtye is constant striving on the spiritual path, working for a perfect balance of ida and pingala energies. Oo means and. Ukanuhshum is a spiritual order or direction, a yoga discipline or sadhana. It is also any assignment given by the guru to the disciple.

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