Saiva Siddhanta Church is an organization that identifies itself with the

Saivite Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

religion. It supports the work of the late

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (born Robert Hansen; January 5, 1927 – November 12, 2001) was an American Hindu religious leader known as Gurudeva by his followers. Subramuniyaswami was born in Oakland, California and adopted Hinduism as a young ma ...

, a spiritual teacher initiated by Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna with the honorary title ''

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

deva''. The mission of the temple is to preserve and promote the

Hindu religion. Membership in the temple extends to many countries in the world, including the United States, Canada, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and several European nations. Members are organized into regional missions with the goal of supporting

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

in their families, communities, and in the global community under the leadership of

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Bodhinatha Veylanswami (born October 15, 1942 in Berkeley, California) is a Hindu sannyasin monk and a religious leader, who is the head of Kauai's Hindu Monastery and publisher of ''Hinduism Today'' magazine. He is the 163rd head of the self-cla ...

History

The Church was founded in 1949 by

, a

Saiva ''Saiva'' is a genus of Asian planthoppers, family Fulgoridae. They are colourful insects, marked boldly in red, blue, white and black, with a prominent slender stalk like structure arising on the head that points upwards or forward. The know ...

initiated by his guru, Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna. The name of the Church is from the

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

and could be roughly rendered in English as "The Church of God Śiva's Revealed Truth." The Saiva Siddhanta Church was incorporated under the laws of the United States of America in the State of California on December 30, 1957, and received recognition of its US Internal Revenue tax exempt status as a temple on February 12, 1962. Among America's oldest Hindu institutions, it established its international headquarters at Kauai Aadheenam, also known as Kauai's Hindu Monastery, in

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, on February 5, 1970. Kauai's Hindu Monastery has two temples,

Iraivan Temple The San Marga Iraivan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, Shiva located on Kauai, an island in the state of Hawaii, USA. "Iraivan" means "One Above All," and is one of the oldest words for God in the Tamil language. It is the first ...

and Kadavul Temple.

Purpose

Saiva Siddhanta Church supports all major projects supervised by

Satguru ''Satguru'' (), or ''sadguru'' (), means a "true guru" in Sanskrit. The term is distinguished from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on. A ''satguru'' has some special characteristics that ...

Bodhinatha Veylanswami Bodhinatha Veylanswami (born October 15, 1942 in Berkeley, California) is a Hindu sannyasin monk and a religious leader, who is the head of Kauai's Hindu Monastery and publisher of ''Hinduism Today'' magazine. He is the 163rd head of the self-clai ...

, including: * Construction of the

on Kauai, a white granite stone Siva temple sculpted in India. * Publication of the magazine

Hinduism Today ''Hinduism Today'' is a quarterly magazine published by the Himalayan Academy, a nonprofit educational institution, in Kapaʻa, Hawaiʻi, USA. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally, currently in 60 nations. Founded b ...

. The magazine is widely read among Hindus in India and in the worldwide diaspora. Thus, it provides an important means for worldwide networking, which is widely acknowledged. * Publication and distribution of books, booklets, and online material aimed at educating Hindus and non-Hindus about the Saivite Hindu religion. * Teaching through lessons, literature, study courses, travel-study programs and youth retreats those actively pursuing the spiritual path under his guidance. * Establishment and administration of charity organizations for Hindus worldwide, under the umbrella of Hindu Heritage Endowment.

Theology

Saiva Siddhanta Church belongs to a

monistic Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...

branch of the school of

Saiva Siddhanta Shaiva Siddhanta () is a form of Shaivism popular in a pristine form in Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka and in a Tantrayana syncretised form in Vietnam and Indonesia (as Siwa Siddhanta). It propounds a devotional philosophy with the ultimate goal of e ...

. Its theology is grounded in the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

, Saiva

Agamas Religion *Āgama (Buddhism), a collection of Early Buddhist texts *Āgama (Hinduism), scriptures of several Hindu sects *Jain literature (Jain Āgamas), various canonical scriptures in Jainism Other uses * ''Agama'' (lizard), a genus of lizards ...

and the ancient

Tirumantiram The ''Tirumantiram'' () or ''Thirumantiram'' is a Tamil poetic work, written either in the 2nd century BCE and 4th century CE by Tirumular. It is the tenth of the twelve volumes of the ''Tirumurai'', the key texts of Shaiva Siddhanta and the fi ...

, a Tamil scripture composed by

Tirumular Tirumular, also known as Suntaranāthar, was a Tamil people, Tamil Shaivite mystic and writer, considered one of the sixty-three poet-saints called the Nayanars, and is listed among a group of 18 sages called the Siddhars. His magnum opus, the ...

. The church's theology is based on a synthesis of devotional theism and uncompromising nondualism. It is referred to as "monistic theism", which recognizes that monism and

dualism Dualism most commonly refers to: * Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another * P ...

pluralism Pluralism in general denotes a diversity of views or stands, rather than a single approach or method. Pluralism or pluralist may refer more specifically to: Politics and law * Pluralism (political philosophy), the acknowledgement of a diversi ...

are equally valid perspectives. God is both within us and outside of us, the Creator and the creation,

immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheist ...

and transcendent.

Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (born Robert Hansen; January 5, 1927 – November 12, 2001) was an American Hindu religious leader known as Gurudeva by his followers. Subramuniyaswami was born in Oakland, California and adopted Hinduism as a young ma ...

explains:

Church

The decision to create the organization as a ''church'' in U.S. law was explained thoroughly by the monks in the July 2006 edition of Hinduism Today Magazine: In Saiva Siddhanta Church's own website, the organization is explicitly described as a church, and never as a temple.

Kauai Hindu Monastery

Kauai Hindu Monastery is situated in

, Hawaii and is home to two temples: Kadavul Temple and

. The Kadavul Temple was established in 1973 by

. The construction of Iraivan Temple began in 1990. It is the first all-stone, white granite temple to be built in the western hemisphere.

In the press

Referring to the Iraivan Temple,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

reporter Michelle Kayal wrote:

Gallery

File:Iraivan Temple.jpg, Iraivan Temple File:Iraivan dsc8361.jpg, Iraivan Temple File:Iraivan1.jpg, Iraivan Temple view from afar with flag File:Iraivan DSC 3275.jpg, Interior of Iraivan Temple File:Iraivan Pillared Mandapam.jpg, Inside Iraivan Temple File:Iraivan2.jpg, Vimana over the garbhagriha or inner sanctum of Iraivan Temple File:Iraivan5.JPG, Iraivan Temple under construction File:Kadavul tandavas.jpg, Inside wall of Kadavul temple

Notes

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External links

Śaiva Siddhanta Temple's homepage
Shaivism Hinduism in the United States Hinduism in Hawaii