
Realization in Hinduism
One cannot begin the spiritual path with God-Realization any more than he can start the study of mathematics with calcul…
144 articles

One cannot begin the spiritual path with God-Realization any more than he can start the study of mathematics with calcul…

As houses of worship close, yoga schools provide new spaces for spiritual community and contemplative practice By Satgur…

Hinduism offers methods to secure spiritual consciousness by purifying the mind and quieting the thralldom of thought By…

Hinduism offers methods to secure spiritual consciousness by purifying the mind and quieting the thraldom of thought By …

It takes practice to unlock the intuitive abilities of the mind, but the effort is worth it, bringing inner guidance [&h…

Practical ways to express dharmic gratitude to God & Gods, to ancestors, humanity, nature and our sacred texts and t…

An answer to the academic world’s notion that religion has been superceded by rational thought and the ascendance of sci…

Exploring how our meditative life strengthens the outer and our external life sharpens the tools to go within By Satguru…

Finding and following a routine is the secret to success. Let’s talk about worship, introspection, affirmation and scrip…

From loving God (as separate) to the unitive experience of one’s self with God, is well-mapped in Indian theology By [&h…

Puja in the home connects the family with the Divinities, bringing protection, right living and shared spirituality …

In the search for God, we discover that the entire universe is sacred, and ultimately realize that Divinity is within [&…

Yes, perform good deeds, but know there is more involved in the soul-maturing process leading to freedom from rebirth By…

Comparing the Evolving Digital World and Metaverse With Experience in the Traditional Hindu Innerverse By Satguru Bodhin…

Exploring real happiness—which does not fade with time, does not rely on novelty or material gain, does not tire of [&he…

Practical and Spiritual Responses to Hardships and Loss—from the Heart, the Hand, the Head and the Soul By Satguru Bodhi…

We can recoil from difficulties or brave them. Here are three insights that offer hope and strength when times turn [&he…

In a world mired in stubborn opinion, bigotry and callousness, it is important to reflect on ideals that can be [&hellip…

The Upanishads are clear, man is not man, man is God. But actually encountering that amazing reality takes work. B…

Hinduism has developed the most elaborate, detailed map of the evolution of awareness, which can guide us toward liberat…

The restrictions imposed by the pandemic can give us time to plan and manifest a positive future for ourselves and [&hel…

Pondering the mystical elements and knowledge behind Hinduism’s major form of temple worship By Satguru Bodhinatha Veyla…

Ancient texts teach us a way to comprehend the mysteries of mind, describing four fundamental states of consciousness By…

A new lifestyle has been thrust upon the world by a tiny virus. How we respond to it will redefine […]

In a globalized world, people are questioning the need to pass their faith on to the next generation. Let’s talk [&helli…

No need to wait for personal time for spiritual practices. You can do inner yogas, resolve karma and build your [&hellip…

Hinduism has never opposed the idea of disbelief, but its profound understandings of God make atheism more difficult By …

While mindfulness has been redefined for popular secular purposes, its original spiritual intention remains unchanged BY…

As an emanation of God, each soul has the eternal truths of Hinduism encoded within itself, available through meditation…

Over the years i have met a number of Hindus who have not been able to accept recent negative life […]

Self-knowledge includes comprehending the different natures of people and learning to get along with everyone Self-knowl…
Managing Chronic Stress by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Almost everyone these days is challenged by the growing intens…

In recent decades, the group of individuals who identify themselves as “Spiritual But Not Religious” (SBNR) has grown dr…

A guide to the complexities of Deity images in Hindu temples and the nature of our temple consecration rites Recently [&…

It is perhaps a great cosmic irony that to attain our immortal Self we must relinquish our personal self By [&hell…

Words can hurt others, so it’s always good to avoidharsh language, backbiting and even friendly teasing By Satguru Bodhi…

A simple practice which internalizes consciousness allows us to find life’s deeper joys and be content in all circumstan…

PUBLISHER’S DESK MAKING DHARMA YOUR OWN ______________________ Understanding and applying to your daily life five dimens…

What could success in the fine arts possibly have to do with progress in our religious life? By Satguru Bodhinatha [&hel…

PUBLISHER’S DESK GROWING UP WITHOUT PREJUDICE ______________________ Conflict and violence have their roots in hatred le…

Publisher’s desk DRAWING CLOSE TO GANESHA ______________________ How sincerely approaching Him as a real being can deepe…

PUBLISHER’S DESK THE JOURNEY TO LIBERATION ______________________ Though moksha may seem remote, there is wisdom in keep…

With the modern distraction of digital media, we must be more mindful than ever of person-to-person communications BY SA…

PUBLISHER’S DESK HOW WE DESCRIBE OUR DEITIES ______________________ Hindu views of God can seem complex and confounding …

PUBLISHER’S DESK THE AIM OF HINDU PRACTICES ______________________ Dharma, seva, puja and raja yoga lead to purification…

PUBLISHER’S DESK PATH TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS ______________________ Exploring how following Hindu principles develops t…

______________________ Belief in the law of karma and accepting the divinity of all beings are the twin pillars of ahims…

PUBLISHER’S DESK HINDUISM: THE ORIGINAL HUMANISM ______________________ A critical examination of secular humanism and H…

PUBLISHER’S DESK A 10-MINUTE SPIRITUAL WORKOUT ______________________ An abbreviated daily regimen designed for those wh…

PUBLISHER’S DESK TEMPLE AS THE SOURCE OF CULTURE ______________________ By consciously connecting the home shrine to the…

PUBLISHER’S DESK GOD OF FEAR/GOD OF LOVE ______________________ Love is the basis of worship in all Hindu denominations,…

P U B L I S H E R’S D E S K HINDUISM: RELIGION OR WAY OF LIFE? […]

PUBLISHER’S DESK Applying the wisdom of ashrama dharma lends dignity and increasing purpose to every decade of life, but…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami In today’s world of global communication, we encounter a multiplicity of views a…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami In modern Hindu texts, the most common summary of Hindu spiritual practice is the four…

The Hindu viewpoint is that the seed of Divinity is within everyone. My guru’s guru, Siva Yogaswami of Sri Lanka, …

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Spiritual life is not different from the rest of life, it is just the best of [&hellip…

A unique aspect of Hinduism is that everyone can be a priest and be in charge of one’s own temple. […]

From August 28 through 31 of the year 2000, two thousand of the world’s preeminent religious and spiritual leaders…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami All too often, hindu concepts and practices are explained to children and youth as rul…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylaswami “Practice makes perfect” is certainly a commonly used phrase. Normally it r…

We are all familiar with the phrase “we are what we eat.” The Hindu viewpoint on this is that the […]

Many individuals find that when they sit down to meditate their mind is constantly thinking about past and future events…

One of the events we were privileged to participate in at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne was…

Giving, known as dana in sanskrit, is built into all aspects of Hindu life–giving to the holy man, giving to [&hel…

Faith is central to all the world’s religions. Webster’s dictionary defines religious faith as unquestioning…

AUDIO ONLY: It would be hard to overestimate the power and importance of the temple in Hindu culture and spiritual [&hel…

Hindus in the West are sometimes invited to give a talk explaining their religion at a local college, schoolroom, interf…

AUDIO ONLY: The idea for hinduism today magazine came as an inspiration to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in the late 1…

Television is a little like god: it’s everywhere. Traveling by plane and staying in hotels, you encounter TV at da…

Have you ever heard a discussion between two or more Hindus as to who is greater, Vishnu or Siva? As […]

In his mystical language of meditation, called Shum (pronounced shoom), my Gurudeva, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, brought fo…

Three attitudes to help us cope with our planet’s conflict-ridden condition and one strategic, long-term way to change i…

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a gathering of the Council of Hindu Temples of North America in Flint, [&hellip…

A new trend in Hindu communities around the world is the widespread, one could even say faddish, application of the [&he…

Some months back in Australia, a group of Hindu teens asked me what relevance Hinduism and temples have to modern [&hell…

Our regular readers will already have noticed that this installment of Hinduism Today is not in our standard format. It …

Sometime around 1955 two devout Hindus visited my guru’s guru, an illumined master, Satguru Yogaswami of Sri Lanka…

In Hindu thought the concept of life and the soul are synonymous. For example, the Sanskrit word jiva refers to [&hellip…

In Hinduism we are fortunate to have many God-realized souls to guide us along the spiritual path. Their teachings are […

I had the opportunity recently to give a number of lectures, classes, seminars and presentations at our monastery in Haw…
A few years ago a non-hindu professor who teaches world religions at a Texas University visited our monastery to learn […

More and more Hindus in western countries are marrying non-Hindus. Many such couples meet while attending the same unive…

Over the last few weeks, I have been asked by numerous individuals to share some thoughts on the massive global [&hellip…

As the world rapidly becomes a global village, Hindu leaders are collectively discovering that Hindu unity is more impor…

In today’s material world, success in life is popularly measured by looking solely at people’s professional …

Over the last year, I have met with a surprising number of Hindus visiting our Hawaii temple and monastery who [……

The idea behind affirmations is that through the repetition of positive statements, we can improve our self-concept, mak…

The focus of many religions is on helping those who do not believe in God to believe in God. For […]
The nonmystical approach to happiness is that if you attain what you desire, you are happy; and if you don't, [&hel…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Conditions in the world today are certainly troubling—wars between countries, wars wit…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami A few months ago we were honored to participate in a symposium on Hinduism at the [&he…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Since September 11, there have been increased statements by Western leaders condemning…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami With much interest in the Hindu world these days about building a temple at Ayodhya, t…

Every father and mother is indeed a guru in fact, an individual’s first guru, teaching by example, explanation, gi…

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami As most readers are aware, our beloved Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, founder and pu…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Daddy, why don’t we have Christmas? What do we do? Don’t we get presents,…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI When we are children, we run freely, because we have no great subconscious burdens to…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI It’s one thing to hurt yourself through swearing, but it’s a double hurt …

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI When we study and practice our religion, we are not necessarily performing deep sadha…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI My Satguru, Siva Yogaswami, was a great siddha, a master and a knower of God. He [&he…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Many people, even those who consider themselves religious, go through life using prof…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Visualize within yourself a lotus. Have you ever seen a lotus flower? I am sure you […

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Every two months here on our little island of Kauai we have the honor of sitting [&he…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Being on the path is a marvelous thing, but it is a path. There are jungles [……

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI In apparent conflict, the scriptures written thousands of years ago explain how we sh…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Silence is very important. It is food for the soul. If we can make our mind [……

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI People speak of the “light of understanding.” Before the bright light of …

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI All my life, since the time I was seven years old, I have made a great […]

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Many years ago when I was first in Sri Lanka–that was in 1949–I made a vo…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI At one time or another in life, each of us has had similar experiences of temptation.…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami There are three kinds of adultery: physical (the worst); emotional (very distressing)…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Most people do not understand that they have a mind, that they have a body and [&hell…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Never have there been so many people living on the planet wondering, “What is t…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Dreams and the state of sleep have been a mystery and a puzzle to people of [……

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Last year, in our January issue we honored our “women of vision in a man’…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami The need is now for positive attitudes. It is election time in the US, accusations ar…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI It was in 1959 that my path led me to the Hawaiian Islands for the first […]

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI You only have a minute, only sixty seconds in it. Didn’t want it, didn’t …

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Devotion to God and the Gods of Hinduism is alive in Bali, as our fascinating feature…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI K–A BIG K–IS FOR KUMBHA MELA, the largest gathering of humans on Earth…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI In the Orient, whenever the cloud of despair covers the soul of a devotee, the darsha…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami The whole world is reevaluating how we treat women, children, the aged and infirm. Wa…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Live and learn, live and learn. We learn something every day, and it is not always [&…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Many years ago, in the late fifties, while listening to seekers unfold from their sub…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI A young man is riding his motor scooter in busy Kuala Lumpur. His tail light is [&hel…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Sri Sri Sri Vishvaguru Maha-Maharajji is seen in the picture to the right with me in …

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Everyone has willpower. It is inherent to the makeup of the physical-astral-mental-em…
By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami We might say the third of the a-b-c’s of good journalism is choosing insightful…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Ho, ho, ho! the tree is bright with tinsel and flashing lights, a little wooden angel…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Most people today are working harder to correct the faults of others than they are th…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI How to strengthen family ties is a very important question these days. It is said tha…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami In the midst of busy life, it is sometimes difficult to ponder such lofty ideals as […

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami The twin beliefs of karma and reincarnation are among Hinduism’s many jewels of…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Meditation is a long journey, a pilgrimage into the mind itself. Generally, we become…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Much of life today is based on depreciation and denigration of public leaders, groups…

BY SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI My satguru, the venerable Sage Yogaswami, discriminated between good money and bad mo…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami The late, most revered Sri La Sri Sankaracharya of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, once sa…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Desperate states of mind are disturbing many people these days. They are caught in em…

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami There is no greater good than a child. Children are entrusted to their parents to be …

By Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Just days before we went to press, the ancient rajput painting to the right was compl…

BY. SATGURU SIVAYA SUBRAMUNIYASWAMI Teenagers are suffering the pangs of sex, desire and distrust, independence and all …
Hindus are passive and apathetic, they say. I say different. In India, to await right timing is judged wiser and [&helli…
Subramuniyaswami, Sivaya A few years ago we traveled through Trinidad and Tobago and had the opportunity to visit a secu…