Path to Siva

A Catechism for Youth

Path to 
 Siva Cover

This richly illustrated catechism for youth has been created as a series of 68 slideshows which you can download. Great for studying Saiva Siddhanta basics, or for teaching to young ones, presenting to groups, etc. Each lesson has 8-14 graphically rich slides. Download from the links below.

       —Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Path to 
 Siva One Lesson

Multi-Slide PDF, Graphically-Rich Lessons

Click a lesson to download its PDF:

Lesson 01, Who Am I and Where Did I Come From?
Lesson 02, Where Am I Going? What Is My Path?
Lesson 03, What Is the Ultimate Goal of Life?
Lesson 04, What Is a Religion?
Lesson 05, What Is Hinduism?
Lesson 06, Is Hinduism a Religion or a Way of Life?
Lesson 07, What Are the Main Hindu Denominations?
Lesson 08, What Is Saivite Hinduism?
Lesson 09, What Is Saiva Siddhanta?
Lesson 10, What Is Monistic Theism?
Lesson 11, Who Is Siva?
Lesson 12, What Are Siva’s Three Perfections?
Lesson 13, How Can We See God?
Lesson 14, What Are Siva’s Traditional Forms?
Lesson 15, What Is the Meaning of Siva’s Dance?
Lesson 16, What Is the Namaḥ Śivāya Mantra?
Lesson 17, What Are the Beliefs of Saivism?
Lesson 18, What Is Our Affirmation of Faith?
Lesson 19, What Is the Nature of Life for Saivites?
Lesson 20, What Are Our Holy Scriptures?
Lesson 21, What Are the Three Worlds?
Lesson 22, What Is the Nature of Our Soul?
Lesson 23, Why Are We Not All-Knowing Like Siva?
Lesson 24, Are Souls & World Essentially Good?
Lesson 25, What About Evil, Hell and Sin?
Lesson 26, Who Is Lord Ganesha?
Lesson 27, Who Is Lord Murugan?
Lesson 28, What Is Bhakti?
Lesson 29, Who Are the Devas?
Lesson 30, What Are the Path’s Four Stages?
Lesson 31, What Is Karma?
Lesson 32, What Is Dharma?
Lesson 33, What Is Reincarnation?
Lesson 34, How Do We Prepare For Death?
Lesson 35, Why Is the Satguru So Important?
Lesson 36, What Is Our Heritage of Gurus?
Lesson 37, What Are the Two Paths?
Lesson 38, Who Are Our Holy Men & Women?
Lesson 39, Who Are the Four Great Tamil Saints?
Lesson 40, What Is Our Code of Conduct?
Lesson 41, What Are Our Five Core Practices?
Lesson 42, How Do We Use Affirmations?
Lesson 43, What Is Sadhana?
Lesson 44, What Is Yoga?
Lesson 45, What Is Japa?
Lesson 46, What Is Meditation?
Lesson 47, How Do We Meditate?
Lesson 48, Why Do We Practice Ahimsa?
Lesson 49, Why Are We Vegetarians?
Lesson 50, How Do We Treat the Environment?
Lesson 51, What Is the Ideal Home?
Lesson 52, How Do We Receive Guests?
Lesson 53, How Do We Use Our Home Shrine?
Lesson 54, What Are Our Saiva Forehead Marks?
Lesson 55, What Is Good Conduct?
Lesson 56, What Is the Hindu Way of Greeting?
Lesson 57, How Do We Get Along with Others?
Lesson 58, What Is the Value of Spiritual Friends?
Lesson 59, How Do We Practice Karma Yoga?
Lesson 60, What Is the Purpose of the Temple?
Lesson 61, How Do We Visit the Temple?
Lesson 62, How Can We Strengthen Our Temple?
Lesson 63, What Is Our Form of Prayer?
Lesson 64, How Do We Celebrate Festivals?
Lesson 65, How Do We Observe Pilgrimage?
Lesson 66, Why Should We Learn a Cultural Art?
Lesson 67, How Can We Be Strong Saivite Hindus?
Lesson 68, How Do We View Other Faiths?


Each PDF:

Each lesson consists of 9-14 slides, complete with pertinent graphics, making them useful ways to present the catechism’s ideas to classrooms, study groups or community gatherings. The gallery below shows the contents of one lesson.

A five-part test is provided at the end which optionally reviews the student’s understanding.

Path to 
 Siva Lessons