With great enthusiasm, the monastery welcomed the two-day visit of Swami Aksharananda of Guyana. Swami has mixed with us at the annual HMEC meetings in the US and recently at the World Hindu Congress in New Delhi.
Swami came with a mission, to help the  500 students in his school. He is eager to engage them more in Hindu studies and finds the Himalayan Academy books and resources the best out there for this work. Swami also has formally invited Bodhinatha to come to Guyana, meet his teachers and students, give talks and uplift the 300,000 Hindus in the nation.
Swami told the monks during lunch that they probably do not know how deeply their work and life here affects the wider world. He said Gurudeva’s ashram is unique in all the world, both for keeping the H-word in its vocabulary and for genuinely embracing and supporting all of the sampradayas in a truly universal spirit. We could add that Swami’s own heart is of that same spirit.
Swami Aksharananda is a key figure in the Hindu community of Guyana. As a Hindu scholar and Prinicipal of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) High School, he was honored by Vishwa Adhyayan Kendra and Keshav-Srishti on Friday January 4, 2008 during a ceremony at the Alkesh Mody Auditorium, Kalina Campus, Mumbai. Swami was honored for his work in the areas of education and social service in Guyana. He has an MA in Sanskrit from Banaras Hindu University and PhD in Hindu Studies from the University of Madison, Wisconsin.

Acharya Arumuganathaswami and Sadhaka Jayanatha leave home today for the open road of California’s educational highway. The primary goal of their trip is to meet the Sacramento Instructional Quality Commission to discuss the standards for presenting Hinduism in California schools. Stay tuned for more updates…

We have caught up with processing Bodhinatha’s recent upadeshas. You will enjoy his fascinating commentaries on Patanjali and various issues relating to spiritual unfoldment.

• How Is All Karma Finally Resolved If We Make Karma in Each Life? (Nov. 16, 2014)
• Patanjali – Overcoming Obstacles with Concentration and Friendliness (Nov. 8, 2014)
• Four Places In Which to See God (Nov. 1, 2014)
• Eight Features of Natha Sampradaya (Version 2) (Oct. 25, 2014)
• God Ishvara, In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (Oct 3, 2014)

Hawaii is far away, and Satguru Bodhinatha has been wanting to embrace online satsangs (webinars) and video conferencing for quite some time as a way to be in touch with our Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas more frequently. He finally conducted his first webinar on Sept 27.v Here are some screenshots of this first trial run.

On Thursday, Acharya Arumuganathaswami and Sadhaka Jayanatha began their journey to Denver, Colorado to attend the Uberoi Conference. The annual conference is a time for experts from the four Dharmic faiths, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, to come together and share ideas. The Foundation also gives grants for worthy projects, such as the one which sponsored our recent History of Hindu India film.

Our monks first flew to LA for a night, taking another, shorter flight the next day straight to the Rocky Mountain State. Upon arrival in Denver they made their way to Naropa University in Boulder. The first evening's event was a talk given at Naropa by Boston University's Professor of Buddhism. It was attended by students, community members and Uberoi's panel of experts. The next day was the main event, also held at the University. It too was attended by some local community members, who had come to hear the lectures given by the Uberoi Experts. It began with a blessing from our two monks, followed by a talk by Rajiv Malhotra of the Infinity Foundation. Throughout the day over 20 speakers gave their thoughts on this year's theme of "compassion."

The next day included presentations on the progress of various, foundation-funded projects, which included a showing of the History movie. The movie was very well received.

It has been observed that Gurudeva's teaching style in his early years when he was working a lot with the general public, was, as one might expect, very much like Bodhinatha's today: very practical, straight forward language that brings the spiritual work we have to do into sharp focus for implementation in daily life.

The last section of this talk from 1962, is perhaps the earliest recording of Gurudeva teaching the principle of maintaining harmony in our relationships and in our group. He speaks of this in terms of residing in a true state of spiritual perception. The audio quality is as best we can get it for this old recording but the teaching is a perennial "Golden Gurudeva." Click here to go to the page which includes a transcript. Thanks to a new sevak Iain Morland in Wales who did the restoration work on the original, very difficult sounding audio file. (see: http://www.iainmorland.net

Now that our media studio is functional (though lots of refinements lie ahead), we are back to work on our digital productions. New Ganapati Kulam member, Sadhaka Rajanatha is being trained in web IT for Himalayan Academy Publications. One of his first projects is to bring to the web, as individual titles/books, the educational insight sections from Hinduism Today. Valuable resources for parents and teachers that are buried inside the book What Is Hinduism? or in the page of Hinduism Today, can now be downloaded one-by-one as needed. This is a work in progress, but you can check out what has been placed on line to date. We have to thank our Digital Dharma Drive donors whose contributions allow us to get all these ebooks created for the next generation. Click here to see the current offerings.

The Sri Venkatesvara temple of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania holds an annual summer camp. Kulapati Easan Katir has been teaching there each year for many years. This year all students got a copy of What is Hinduism and Easan used this as a basis for all his daily classes for three different age groups, in addition to teaching Hatha Yoga.

This is a bit of a long post but these camper book reviews are worth reading!

The book What is Hinduism? is an extremely interesting and educational book. A thorough and complete analysis of Hinduism is presented in an understandable form The authors of this book are the monks at the Kauai Hindu Monastery. The book is truly great and is easily comprehensible by Hind young adults. As a suggestion, the number of pictures could be reduced and diagrams and charts could be added for understanding. This book's use of words and concepts is simply amazing. I would recommend it to any Hindu young adult living around the world. ~~~ Suraj Srinivasan, Cleveland OH

What is Hinduism? helped me understand the classes. Sometimes I got confused with the different views of the teachers, but this book cleared it up. I I liked that the book quoted the Vedas, Agamas, and many other ancient scriptures. The illustrations were also very informative. It would make me enjoyable if there was more information about the different sects.

There are many books that catch my attention, but this book was different. This book really opened my eyes to understanding the actual definition of Hinduism. I now understand that my religion isn't just a random one with strange gods, but a divine respectable one. There is a saying "a man who cannot read books has no advantage over the man who does not read books". But irrespective to that I think that everyone will developa taste for reading this, literate or not. One of my favorite quotes is from the "Yajur Veda" is "That is fullness, this is fullness, from fullness comes fullness. When fullness is taken from fullness, fullness remains.~~~Nini Yaclavalli

What is Hinduism is a very interesting book and tells about the history, religion and special celebrations of India. I learned about karma and reincarnation,. Reincarnationis a process wherein souls take on a new physical body through the birth process and karma means a consequence. This book lets kids know more about their culture, like learning maya and etc. What is Hinduism is a great book. ~~~ Sriya Kandala

I learned all about Hinduism from the book, What is Hinduism? I learned about the chakras and if malice and murder are at the feet would we pray to God's feet? But God has a whole different set of chakras and Sahasara is at his feet. I also learned different ways to manage anger. I also learned about human auras like if your aura is light blue that means you're in high devotion and white is pure spirituality. I also larened how to do hatha yoga and the different steps and I learned how to do a head stand. I learned about ahimsa and how to be nonviolent. Also, why we are vegetarians. I learned that vegetarianism comes from ahimsa. thank you, Monks. Sincerely, Ambika.

What is Hinduism? is an excellent book. It is very detailed and had the answers to a lot of questions that I have been wondering about. It tells me about the stories and creations of my religion, Hinduism. What is Hinduism? has a very descriptive story called the Vedas. I really liked it! What is Hinduism? also has a pair of pages that show how to do your own personal puja at your own home! This book has 4 or 5 pages on how to manage your anger, anger management, and what people will do or say when thye are mad at you. If people are asking you about stories, you can impress that person with all of the many pages of information that you got from this book. ~~~ Pooja Vallampati

This book is an extremely good book. It had a very good structure. Also, the book was clear and informative. that an average American can become an expert in Hinduism by just reading this book. The ajthors did a very good job and this book deserves a 5-star rating. ~~~Ashvath Sekhar

Hinduism is a great religion filled with many great things. It fills up about one seventh, of the worlds population. I myself am a Hindu, but my knowledge on Hinduism is only what my guru wants me to know and what they taught me. There was never a thing where I could freely learn Hinduism in my main language. Thanks to the monks of Kauai, the book "What is Hinduism?" was a fantastic way for me to extend my knowledge from ahimsa to why we are vegetarian. I really want to say, thankyou. -Agashem age 11

I think that the book "What is Hinduism?" is a very explanatory book on all the concepts of Hinduism. it included descriptive words, detailed diagrams, long passages that left me with barely any questions. It also included the 24 asanas of Hatha Yoga, which help us practice mastering the art of the sushumna, the spine. We learned about Ida & Pingala, the masculine and feminine currents that run throughout the body. "What is Hinduism?" includes a few of the Vedas, translated into American English so that everyone can read it. We learned about the Chakras, which are the stages, phases and personalities of life. it explained ,many concepts like: Karma, Dharma and Ahimsa. "what is hinduism explained the 4 denominations of Hinduism. it explained the casualities and traditions of Hinduism through words and through photographs. It really helped me understand the concepts and really dove deep into the qualities, rules, results, and much more in Hinduism. i really enjoyed this book and will consult it throughout my life. ~Anagha Chandury

This summer at the Sri Venkateswara Temple Camp, we read a book called "What is Hinduism?" This book taught me a lot more than I knew already about Hinduism. We learned about the Chakras. We also learned about karma which means what goes around comes around. A very astonishing point is the Milk Miracle of 1995, I also learned that Hinduism is Monotheistic and learned a bunch of different types of yoga patterns. We also learned the different types of human Auras. We have also learned about life after death. we are also learning Ahimsa and not using violence. This week learning this book has been very fund and I would love to come back and learn more about Hinduism next year! ~ Anaya

"What is Hinduism?" is a very interactive text, including many pictures and diagrams. The text incorporates various Hindu practices, traditions, and theory in a very simple and comprehensive manner. No matter the age group, reading the text, you will find the text pleasing and satisfiable to your questions. - Anisha Reddy

"What is Hinduism?" inspired me to take charge of my own life and delve deeper into the ancient, but still relevant, philosophies of Hinduism,. During time spent learning from this text, I have learned a plethora of potent information on Hindu beliefs, such as karma, dharma, god, reincarnation, and Yoga. "What is Hinduism?" has given me the opportunity to reflect on my personal, prior understanding of Hinduism, as well as the way I've chosen to lead my life for the past 16 years. This book has reinstilled my faith in this eternal religion, and I will no doubt continue to study and expand my knowledge from "What is Hinduism?".- Apoorva V.

The book provides students and followers of Hinduism with a foundational knowledge of what I now know to be the world's greatest religion. Through the amazing pictures and detailed text, we are capable of understanding concepts and aspects of Hinduism that we had never considered before. The entire book is also structured in a way that engages students and their personal interests
Ashna

Though I have covered only a few pages of this book, that alone has taken up many hours. Coupled with a great teacher, this book is the most comprehensive, understandable, and aesthetically pleasing Hindu textbook I have come across. Thank you, I will keep this for a very long time. - Harishwer Balasubramani

The illustrated book "What is Hinduism?" gives students a simple explanation of complicated concepts. The high quality illustrations help even more in understanding the concepts written in the book . Several grammatical errors exist. On many pages names are written incorrectly, and missing letters. Punctuation errors including capitalization also exist. If the grammatical errors are corrected in the next published version, then the bopk would be complete. -Harsha Jayaraman

This week at Sri Venkateswara Temple Camp. we have studies Hinduism through the fabulous book, "What is Hinduism?". Our class was educated on the chakras, and the parts of one's body where memory and reason, where fear and lust, are located. Not only did we read the stories and articles throughout the book, but we had the privilege of absorbing the knowledge that the wonderful pictures and photographs provided us. The book exponentially increased my awareness of the goings-on of my religion. I was able to understand why Hinduism is the greatest religion on Earth, because Hinduism provides answers to all of our unanswered questions. I learned that God is in all of us, and because of this, nothing in the universe can be purely evil. "What is Hinduism?" taught me that temples are a place where many things can happen, and it taught me of the ida, the pingala, and the sushumna. We learned of the 24 asanas, and even put them into practice during yoga each morning. Though the teachings of the book, we learned about Hindu ideals, especially ahimsa, the concept of nonviolence, from which our belief in vegetarianism sprouts, and karma, the principle that what goes around comes around. Another Hindu concept we learned was reincarnation, and the belief that every living things has an eternal soul, and eventually a soul will achieve moksha, or salvation. The book taught me so much about Hinduism that I did not know before, and for that I thank you at the Kauai Hindu Monastery for creating this masterpiece. - Keerthi medicherla

This book is a 400 page book all about Hinduism and all the religious aspects of hinduism. It explained about the different Chakras and how to pray and do poojas. How to celebrate different Hindu holidays and has snip-its of the Vedas. All about god and the different groups like Saivism, where people believe strongly on Lord Shiva. Some improvements that could be made in this book is adding more vedas so we can get a better picture of the Vedas.There is also a couple spelling and grammer errors throughout the book. This book thoroughly explains what Ahimsa is and the Hindu code of conduct. I learned how we are a monotheistic religion and God is made out of energy. This book helped me learn a lot about Hinduism and what my religion is all about. - Maanasa Humchad

This book is a very detailed, well-written book that describes the small details of hinduism. It past the misconceptions of Hinduism and explains the true beliefs of our religion. It helped us to see aspects of Hinduism that we hadn't thought too much about and we all learned new things about the great religion.
It explained beliefs well also, giving evidence and full explanations. It informed the readers of miraculous events, personal experiences and takes on the subjects, and wonderful, helpful. easy to understand analogies. The pictures helped to clearly convey the messages or story being told. There were also many stories of how others have experienced God.
This book helped to clarify some of Hinduism's most basic beliefs, like karma and reincarnation, and the planes of reality between life forms with a soul, and god. It also explained, much better than schools textbooks, about our beliefs in our single God taking the many male and female forms that we've believed in for so long.
The book "What is Hinduism?" has been very helpful, very enlightening, and very interesting to read, and i look forward to delving further into ti as to further comprehend and learn about this great, ancient religion. -Nithya K.

"What is Hinduism?" teaches people of all ages about all aspects of the Hindu religion. With the colorful, clear, important pictures printed in the book, it is easy to see the various subjects the book describes. People of all religions, including Hinduism, can benefit greatly from reading, "What is Hinduism?". I have learned so many new things about Hinduism. I encourage everyone to read this book. By even simply looking through the pictures, you can gain new and important knowledge about one of the oldest religions in the world. "What is Hinduism?" thoroughly explains all parts of Hinduism. - Priya Rathinavelu

This book was very helpful. I learned about the traditions, values, and philosophies of Hinduism. The pictures and drawings allowed me to understand all that i was learning even better. I will definitely continue to read this book fully once i am home from camp. Thank you for teaching from this book, because I think it is a great book for all Hindus to study and read from - Sahana Rao

"What is Hinduism?" is a beautifully crafted book that depicts Hinduism in a unique and interesting way. First of all, the writing pulls the reader in without being obtrusive in any way. The pictures and color schemes used throughout the book made it even easier to read and understand the topics discussed. secondly, the first hand testimonials were a great way to convey to the reader how real people felt about the topic. And lastly, the content, footnotes, excerpts, etc. show a certain light to the religion that makes it an excellent informational read, inside class or out. -Shreya Sharma

To the Monks of Kauai's Hindu Monastery
What is Hinduism? Now I know!

Thank you so much for creating this book! I feel like it is a little, colorful. compact summary of Hinduism. Before this book, Hinduism, to me, seemed like a confusing muddle of philosophies and beliefs, but, now i know how everything connects! Hinduism now makes clear sense to me. The world. universe, and God make sense to me. Having this book is like having an all-knowing monk or guru with me. I can reference it whenever I want to practice hatha yoga. explain and understand the Vedas in english, make sense of colors of the auras and chakras, or the 4 sects of Hinduism. I will forever cherish this book, keep it as my constant companion which an answer my questions about the world. and pass on his teachings, messages, and philosophies. this book opened up my religion to me. Thank you for creating such an irreplaceable, beautiful blessing.
A proud Hindu,
Shruthi Shivkumar (13 years old)

This 394 page book takes the reader through the finest corners and the center ethics of Hinduism. It captures the attention of any soul who has many questions about the existence of mankind, as well as the universe. I was entranced by the beauty that the book pulls out from the religion and pulled in from the poetic and dramatic structure of a tale that easily simplifies the complicated religion known as Hinduism ~ Sneha Hoysala

August 1, 2014

The book "What is Hinduism?" is a clear description of what Hinduism really is. As a Hindu myself, I often experience false perceptions of Hinduism. However, this book gives an accurate image of what the religion really is. Through vibrant, interesting illustrations, easy to read writing, and great photographs, "What is Hinduism?" captures the true essence of Hinduism. Whether for a confused or curious Hindu, or a non-Hindu who seeks to learn about this beautiful religion, this book answers all questions in a simple, yet informative way. The only thing that I would change about this book is the way the authors constantly write about how Hinduism is the greatest religion in the world. I personally agree, but for those who simply want to learn about Hinduism, the incessant praise of Hinduism may come across as unappealing. To really change the way the world view Hinduism, we need to present the facts before our personal opinions. Right now, this book may only be appealing to Hindus. Aside from that, the book was very well-written and informative and thus far, I believe it remains the greatest book on Hinduism in plain English
- Sri Medicherla

Overall, the book "What is Hinduism?" can really further one's knowledge in both a religious sense and an intellectual sense. this book is so , extremely, comprehensive. It covers all aspects religiously, socially, and culturally regarding the details of Hinduism. i also appreciated the wording of this novel. The information was presented in an accessible manner and it was rarely dull. this book has also been extremely applicable to my life. I am able to remember specific topics and integrate them into my daily religious practices. I really enjoy this book, and it is one that i can read for many years to come. ~Anonymous


1. Camp was awesome, because of what we learned in class and because of the very fun teachers.
2. I would change the curfew to earlier time because of sleep. I also think that you should tell campers what they shouldn't eat because of health.
3. Yes ~Anonymous

I enjoyed learning from this book! I found this book very informational and interesting. This was a very good book and i am looking forward to more books like this! ~Anonymous

This book was extremely helpful in illustrating the core concepts of Hinduism while demonstrating hinduism's large room for individual growth. I really enjoyed the metaphysics section as it made me really think about my body as a purely physical entity. I also liked the Hinduism Code of Conduct.It helped solidify my abstract thoughts into a way to live my life. ~Anonymous

This book is very informative and is great for first-time Hinduism students. It provides special info that people cannot easily access. ~Anonymous

This book is truly fantastic. All my life, I have searched for answers to my questions about Hinduism. This book has taught me so much more than I thought that I could know. It helps me understand so much about my religion I have even given it to my teacher so he could learn from it and share its knowledge to my classmates. I am truly grateful to this book which helped me connect to my religion far beyond what i expected. ~Anonymous

Acharya Arumuganathaswami and the Ganapati Kulam have been working with our long-time friend Dr. Shiva Bajai for over a decade on books for Hindu education. This collective initiative to produce the book, the "History of Hindu India," has been Himalayan Academy's/Hinduism Today's response to the problem of negative portrayal of Hinduism and India in school text books. While school boards and courts and publishers wrangle over making changes, we went ahead and produced the content that really should be in those books. After the printed lessons and book by that title were so well received, the initiative took on a new development when a video was proposed and the Uberoi Foundation agree to fund this effort. We are proud to announce today the official release of The History of Hindu India (Part One) on YouTube. Versions with sub-titles in other languages will be coming on line in the weeks ahead. Special mentioned goes first, of course, to Shivaji, who is Professor Emeritus of History, California State University Northridge as he was instrumental in guiding the content development. We also thank video producer Sushma Khadepaun for her infinite patience and long hours she put in both here and in India to get this done on a shoestring budget. Kudos also to narrator Raj Narayan for his collaboration and drive to produce the best audio track we could. This video is intended to provide an authentic presentation of the history of India and Hinduism for use in American 6th grade social study classes, as well as Hindu temple study groups and general presentations on the Hindu religion and history. The documentary is based on the first chapter of the textbook, The History of Hindu India, published in 2011. For more information and for class lesson plans based on the book visit http://www.hinduismtoday.com/education/. Funded by the Uberoi Foundation, Institute for Curriculum Advancement. May be freely distributed for educational purposes. Directed and Produced by Sushma Khadepaun; Produced and Narrated by Roger (Raj) Narayan