stone is moved
A focal point for many in Wahiawa will be repatriated to a Hawaiian birthing site
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 21, 2010
Papia Sengupta said she and her fellow members of the Lord of the Universe Society (LOTUS) are not going to dwell on matters beyond their control, but the tears on her cheeks yesterday seemed clear-enough indication that the loss of the group's central object of worship was still fresh.
Members of the Hindu group had spent 22 years as adopted caretakers of the so-called Healing Stone of Wahiawa, in which they discerned the presence of the god Shiva. In recent years, the group had worked in loose partnership with a group of Hawaiian nationalists who valued the stone's historical significance as a kapu marker for the sacred area of Kaukonahua. Last week, the Hawaiian group removed the stone from the marble temple on California Avenue that LOTUS had built for its protection.
Tom Lenchenko, kahu of Kukaniloko, said the stone would eventually be repatriated to Kukaniloko, the venerated birthing site of Hawaiian alii where it had spent the early part of the last century.
Yesterday, LOTUS observed its regularly scheduled monthly service at the California Avenue site, its first since the stone was removed.
"We are very sad, very depressed," Sengupta said afterward. "Our religion tells us to be tolerant and reasonable. We are nonviolent people and we do not want to create conflict, so we must now decide what we do from here and not look to the past. It is very important for us to keep this community together."
The ceremony proceeded as it always does with the bathing of sacred icons in milk, honey and yogurt, the honoring of gods Ganesh and Shiva, and the recitation of 108 variations of Shiva's name. The audience sat tightly packed together on the small marble platform, many dressed in brightly colored traditional garb, their eyes occasionally drawn to the empty concrete cradle on which the largest portion of the three-piece stone had rested.
Robert Cain, who attended to the day-to-day cleaning of the temple and its surrounding areas, was there the morning that the stone was removed.
"I arrived here around 5 a.m. to do my normal cleanup and I was surprised to see (kahu Elithe Kahn) with a group of people," Cain said. "They had watered down the stone and were preparing a ceremony. I asked her what the occasion was and she said, 'It's time to move the stone.'"
Kahn, who holds the lease on the small plot on which the temple stands, worked with Lenchenko to get authorization from the property owner to move the stone, although LOTUS was never informed of the plan.
Cain said he left but returned a couple of hours later to watch a group of people use jackhammers to loosen the stone from its anchoring. Cain said he was invited to stay for a ceremonial blessing. There was a moment of tension when a couple of LOTUS members arrived at the scene, but Cain said the entire process of moving the stone was handled efficiently and was "very respectful."
Sengupta said LOTUS erected the temple around the stone to protect it (it had previously been housed in a dilapidated shack) and to give people in the community an opportunity to worship it as they saw fit.
"We never said it was our stone," she said. "It was always available to anybody who has faith. We worshipped it in our way and for us it was a peaceful and disciplined way for our children to see how we get together. But it has always been about the entire community. Now we need the support of the community if we are going to go on."
LOTUS board members have begun discussions of what to do with the temple now that the stone is gone. They are considering taking over the soon-to-expire lease so they can continue to make the temple available to visitors.
"I was amazed that (the stone's removal) happened so suddenly," said longtime LOTUS member Mira Savara, 56, of Aina Haina. "We're definitely going to miss its presence and its blessings, but this place has become such a powerful place for prayer. We believe in praying together and I will still come."
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Papia Sengupta said she and her fellow members of the Lord of the Universe Society (LOTUS) are not going to dwell on matters beyond their control, but the tears on her cheeks yesterday seemed clear-enough indication that the loss of the group's central object of worship was still fresh.
Members of the Hindu group had spent 22 years as adopted caretakers of the so-called Healing Stone of Wahiawa, in which they discerned the presence of the god Shiva. In recent years, the group had worked in loose partnership with a group of Hawaiian nationalists who valued the stone's historical significance as a kapu marker for the sacred area of Kaukonahua. Last week, the Hawaiian group removed the stone from the marble temple on California Avenue that LOTUS had built for its protection.
Tom Lenchenko, kahu of Kukaniloko, said the stone would eventually be repatriated to Kukaniloko, the venerated birthing site of Hawaiian alii where it had spent the early part of the last century.
Yesterday, LOTUS observed its regularly scheduled monthly service at the California Avenue site, its first since the stone was removed.
"We are very sad, very depressed," Sengupta said afterward. "Our religion tells us to be tolerant and reasonable. We are nonviolent people and we do not want to create conflict, so we must now decide what we do from here and not look to the past. It is very important for us to keep this community together."
The ceremony proceeded as it always does with the bathing of sacred icons in milk, honey and yogurt, the honoring of gods Ganesh and Shiva, and the recitation of 108 variations of Shiva's name. The audience sat tightly packed together on the small marble platform, many dressed in brightly colored traditional garb, their eyes occasionally drawn to the empty concrete cradle on which the largest portion of the three-piece stone had rested.
Robert Cain, who attended to the day-to-day cleaning of the temple and its surrounding areas, was there the morning that the stone was removed.
"I arrived here around 5 a.m. to do my normal cleanup and I was surprised to see (kahu Elithe Kahn) with a group of people," Cain said. "They had watered down the stone and were preparing a ceremony. I asked her what the occasion was and she said, 'It's time to move the stone.'"
Kahn, who holds the lease on the small plot on which the temple stands, worked with Lenchenko to get authorization from the property owner to move the stone, although LOTUS was never informed of the plan.
Cain said he left but returned a couple of hours later to watch a group of people use jackhammers to loosen the stone from its anchoring. Cain said he was invited to stay for a ceremonial blessing. There was a moment of tension when a couple of LOTUS members arrived at the scene, but Cain said the entire process of moving the stone was handled efficiently and was "very respectful."
Sengupta said LOTUS erected the temple around the stone to protect it (it had previously been housed in a dilapidated shack) and to give people in the community an opportunity to worship it as they saw fit.
"We never said it was our stone," she said. "It was always available to anybody who has faith. We worshipped it in our way and for us it was a peaceful and disciplined way for our children to see how we get together. But it has always been about the entire community. Now we need the support of the community if we are going to go on."
LOTUS board members have begun discussions of what to do with the temple now that the stone is gone. They are considering taking over the soon-to-expire lease so they can continue to make the temple available to visitors.
"I was amazed that (the stone's removal) happened so suddenly," said longtime LOTUS member Mira Savara, 56, of Aina Haina. "We're definitely going to miss its presence and its blessings, but this place has become such a powerful place for prayer. We believe in praying together and I will still come."
1. First of all, there is NO SHIVA IN HAWAII.
2. The Gods here are 400,000. ABout a thousand times more then they have in India.
3. If you want to worship Shiva in YOUR pohaku, then BRING IT FROM INDIA AND HOUSE IT IN THE TEMPLE.
4. This is not a "stone", but a KII POHAKU. A standing stone. THese stones, are Laa Kii Pohaku, sacred standing stones were EXCLUSIVELY MALE IN GENDER. (THEY WERE NOT FEMALE OR FEMININE IN ANY WAY AT ALL. (SHIVA IS A FEMALE GODESS IN THE HINDU BELEIF).
6. IF you want people to be respectful of YOUR religion, then respect the HAWAIIAN religion!! If YOUR religion beleives in the embodiment of living gods or godesses living within stones, and the Hawaiians beleive the same thing, why would you move the stone in the first place? It was housed in a ":shack". What may be a shack to you, is a blessed place, just old with certain materials. I am AMAZED at the AUDACITY of Hindu religious practitioners flooding into Hawaii, and trying to OVERTAKE THE HAWAIIAN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND BELEIFS!!
7. That this stone was removed is a good thing. I applaud it one hundred percent!! STOP STEALING THE SACRED POHAKU!! ITS NOT YOURS ITS THE LAST THING THE PEOPLE HAVE NOW U TAKE EVEN THAT AND SAY IT IS YOURS! HEWA HEWA HEWA!!
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