This morning one of our team members had the opportunity to take an early morning flight over O'ahu with Lt. Col. Mari Metzler.
We met Mari earlier this year in Red Lodge, Montana when the Mayor of Red Lodge, Dave Westwood, very generously took several of us flying in his Zlin N242MP.
Mari happened to run by and stopped to chat with the womens team, She is originally from Red Lodge and is presently based at the US Air Force Base in Hawaii. She very generously offered to take one of us for a ride with her when we come to Hawaii.
You can find the report from 5 July 2026 here.
The photos don’t adequately capture the thrill of being in the air in a small Cessna airplane and seeing this beautiful island from a different perspective. A memorable experience thanks to Mari’s incredible skill and generosity.
A heart of peace can fly far beyond all horizons.
-Sri Chinmoy
Thank you so much Mari for this wonderful opportunity!!
After the flight Mari spontaneously invited the whole Oahu Peace Run team to join her with some friends on a stunning hike to Manoha Falls.
Several members of our team took an early morning flight to Kauai to enable them to connect with flights back home. Our whole team had been scheduled to visit Kauai's Hindu Monastery, but unfortunately due to Hurricane Lowell damaging thousands of trees and plants at the Monastery the meeting was cancelled. When we arrived in Kauai we found that part of the Monastery was still open for visitors, so we decided to still go.
Peace Run founder, Sri Chinmoy, had great love and respect for the Monks of Kauai's Hindu Monastery. He personally visited the Monastery and met with the monks on several occasions. Here Sri Chinmoy is pictured with the founder of the Monastery, His Holiness Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.
A small team of us had the great privilege to visit the Monastery back in 2017 and present our Oneness-Home Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award to His Holiness Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. We were also given an extensive tour of the vast and exquisite grounds.
You can see the report from that visit here.
There are many beautiful statues in the garden.
We were captivated by this exquisite statue of Sadasiva, the ever Auspicious God. He even holds in his lower right hand what could be seen as the original Peace Torch, depicting the potency of fire "to purify and illumine the mind". It took the artist 5 years to complete this beautiful piece.
This small bronze statue of Sadasiva is an exact replica of the one in the garden.
Here we are pictured with our dear friend, Sadasivanathaswami, in the Media offices, or "Ganapati Kulam" office, where the worldwide publication Hinduism Today is produced.
We were deeply grateful that we were still able to make this visit, and that Swami took the time to sit and share his deep spirituality, wisdom, enthusiasm and good humor with us. We pray that next time we come to Kauai the grounds will be fully restored and we can bring our whole team to meet the monks and experience this incredible place in all its glory.
Sadasivanathaswami gave us each one of these printed sheets. The Monastery is proud of their close relationship with the local community. They recently had 1000 of these printed to distribute to children in schools around Kauai as a reminder of the power each one of us has to contribute to World Peace when we embody the qualities of Aloha.
This lovely woman has been part of the community here for many years and fondly remembered meeting Sri Chinmoy when he came.
In the background is a the valley of the Wailua River and its Nani Kaua Pond. To the right you can perhaps just see the gold-leafed domes of Indian design. These are the towers of the recently completed Iraivan Temple, a pure and powerful white granite wonderment carved in India by hand and erected ten thousand miles away on this Garden Island by India’s master stonemasons. Due to the recent Hurricane we were not able to visit this Temple, but we all left feeling deeply grateful for the opportunity to end our time in Hawaii visiting this sacred place of peace.
"What I am seeing now is that each and every human being has a new hope for peace, and this peace-flower is blossoming...Today every human being not only feels the necessity of peace, but also feels that peace is something attainable. Before it seemed impossible — it was something to be found only in Heaven. But today, no matter how many serious mistakes we are making, no matter how much we are quarreling and fighting, we still feel that there is something called peace and that we can achieve it. We feel something divine and fulfilling is there and that we are being prepared for it. This is the greatest progress that humanity is making, and it is giving me the greatest satisfaction..." Sri Chinmoy
"My America, you are at once God's supreme Promise to mankind and mankind's hope to establish a oneness-world-home. It is not the strength of your arms but the infinite strength of your boundless heart that will inspire mankind to become a world-oneness-song. You are your hope and God is His Promise in you." -Sri Chinmoy
