Foundational Vision & Structure
The Vision of Pohoiki Ashram
A Spiritual Community on the Big Island of Hawaii
Pohoiki Ashram is a living spiritual community on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi devoted to daily aarti, karma yoga, and the teachings of Babaji. Located near the sacred waters of Pohoiki, the ashram is a place where spiritual practice, service to the land, and simple living come together.
The Mission of Pohoiki Ashram
Pohoiki Ashram is established in the lineage of Shri Haidakhan Babaji and devoted to daily sunrise and sunset aarti, sacred fire observance, and karma yoga.
Rooted in the principles of Truth, Simplicity, and Love, the ashram maintains a structured daily rhythm of prayer, service, and communal life. Here, work is worship. Farming is devotion. Building is offering. Feeding others is seva.
The ashram exists to preserve and embody a sacred order of life where spiritual practice is expressed through daily action.
The land, the fire, the water, and the community form one field of practice. Steady, humble, and enduring.
Temple
The proposed temple will be located at the highest point of the land, facing the sunrise over the ocean.
It will serve as the dedicated space for sunrise and sunset aarti, congregational chanting, and holy day observances. Site placement and orientation will be refined in accordance with traditional Vastu Shastra principles to ensure harmony between structure, direction, land, and sacred function.
The temple is consecrated single-use space set apart for daily prayer.
Dhuni
The dhuni is the sacred fire maintained in continuity with the Haidakhan lineage. It serves as a place of prayer, offering, and quiet remembrance. The fire may be tended daily and used for sacred observances and holy days. While aarti is sung at the temple, the dhuni remains a steady presence, grounding the ashram in continuity and sacred watchfulness. It represents constancy, humility, and living connection to the lineage.
Sacred Construction
The structures of Pohoiki Ashram will be built as an expression of karma yoga. Whenever possible, materials provided by the land itself, including lava stone from the 2018 flow, will be thoughtfully incorporated into construction. Building methods will seek a careful balance between local resources, structural integrity, and long-term durability in the humid marine climate of Puna.
Before large-scale construction begins, a phased materials study will guide decisions to ensure strength, sustainability, and appropriateness to the terrain. The intention is steadiness and endurance.
Construction is integrated with spiritual life. It is part of monastic formation. Lifting stone, preparing foundations, and shaping walls are acts of offering. The goal is simplicity with strength, structures that arise from the land and remain in quiet harmony with it for generations.
Monastic Residency
Residency at Pohoiki Ashram is reserved for those committed to maintaining the daily spiritual rhythm of the ashram. Those living on the land participate in both sunrise and sunset aarti and contribute daily to karma yoga through farming, building, cooking, cleaning, and stewardship. The ashram is a place of structured spiritual life. Visitors may stay temporarily, but only those who actively sustain the daily worship cycle reside on the land.
Dining Hall & Kitchen
The ashram will maintain a communal kitchen and dining hall supporting monastic residents and visitors. One simple vegetarian meal will be shared daily. Feeding others is an expression of seva. When possible, meals will be offered freely to members of the broader community. Food preparation, serving, and cleaning are forms of karma yoga.
Agriculture & Water Stewardship
Agriculture at Pohoiki Ashram is an expression of karma yoga. Food is grown to support the daily meal and to care for the land entrusted to the ashram. Water systems, including catchment and natural bathing areas, will serve both agricultural needs and ritual purification before aarti. Traditional ashrams are often built near rivers. At Pohoiki, water stewardship becomes part of that sacred continuity utilizing the rainfall on the eastern side of the big island of Hawai'i.
Long-Term Continuity
Pohoiki Ashram is intended to endure beyond any one individual. It is governed by a Board of Directors and structured to maintain daily worship and sacred fire indefinitely. The ashram’s form, schedule, and physical layout are designed to preserve continuity, stability, and devotion across generations.
