Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Parampara of the Nandinatha Sampradaya
Personal
Born(1942-10-15)15 October 1942
Berkeley, California, United States
ReligionHinduism
SectShaivism
Shaiva Siddhanta
Nath (Nandinatha Sampradaya)
Religious career
PredecessorSivaya Subramuniyaswami
InitiatedSannyasa
InitiationMarch 1972
Alaveddy, Sri Lanka

Bodhinatha Veylanswami (born October 15, 1942 in Berkeley, California) is a

Adi Saiva Sivachariyar priestly community honors him as "The Supreme Acharya who has uplifted and preserved the Agamas and the Agama tradition."[3] Bodhinatha presides over three organizations: Saiva Siddhanta Church
, Himalayan Academy publications and Hindu Heritage Endowment.

Biography

Bodinatha was born in

sannyas diksha from Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in Alaveddy, Sri Lanka. He received the name Veylanswami a few weeks later at the Murugan Temple in Palani Hills.[4]

In 1988, in preparation for initiation as an acharya in the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order, Bodhinatha spent six months on pilgrimage in India. Upon returning to Kauai, he was ordained as the first acharya of the religious order.[4]

From 1993 Bodhinatha managed the formation and development of Hindu Heritage Endowment, a tax-exempt endowment that provides income to several Hindu initiatives and institutions across the world. There are over 80 individual funds within Hindu Heritage Endowment, which together exceed $10 million.[5]

On October 21, 2001, Bodhinath was appointed as the successor of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and officially became known as Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.[4]

Spiritual lineage

Bodhinatha is the appointed successor of Satguru

Saivite guru. Klaus Klostermaier, one of the world's leading specialists on Hindu studies, said in his A Survey of Hinduism: "Sivaya Subramuniyaswami ... did much to propagate a kind of reformed Saivism through his books. For example, Bodhinatha's reform Saivist Kauai Hindu Monastery stands firm on its reform that the animal sacrifices mentioned in the agamas must be purged from traditional Saivism,[6] stopping short of veganism
which necessitates abstinence from dairy, honey and other animal products used in Shaivism.

As founder-editor of Hinduism Today, an illustrated monthly, he became the single-most advocate of Hinduism outside India."

Saivism.[8]

He follows the Shaivism sect (Shaiva Siddhanta) of Hinduism. He belongs to Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara.[9][10]

Spiritual lineage : Maharishi Nandinath → Sundaranandar, Siddhar who later becomes Tirumular → → → Kadaitswami → Chellapaswami → Siva Yogaswami → Sivaya Subramuniyaswami → Bodhinatha Veylanswami[11]

Religious titles
Preceded by 163rd Satguru (Spiritual Preceptor)
November 12, 2001 to present 		Succeeded by
(current preceptor)
Guru Mahasannidhanam, Kauai Aadheenam
November 12, 2001 to present

Worldwide activities

Agamas
"

Bodhinatha Veylanswami was a keynote speaker at Hindu Convocation of the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne, Australia, an "assembly of a number of the most outstanding Hindu spiritual leaders of India."[12] He mediated the seminal "Is Yoga Hindu?" session at the Parliament in December 2009,[13] which sparked the Hindu American Foundation's "Take Back Yoga " campaign in 2010.

Bodhinatha is a popular speaker with Hindus, specially those of the Hindu diaspora living in the United States, Malaysia, Mauritius and Singapore. The "Indo-American News" wrote, "Bodhinatha is a formidable force in championing the cause of Hinduism. Soft-spoken yet imbued with immense knowledge and a keen wit, the satguru is a sought-after speaker the world over."[14]

sadhakas have been erecting Iraivan Temple, America's first all-granite, hand-carved Hindu Temple. He is an active partner in RSS's Hindutva unity initiatives.[15]

Images

References

  1. ^ "Kauai's Hindu Monastery - Our Guru Lineage".
  2. ^ "Today at Kauai's Hindu Monastery". 18 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Today at Kauai's Hindu Monastery". 24 July 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d "Kauai's Hindu Monastery - Our Guru Lineage".
  5. ^ Endowment Stories Archived February 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Kamika Agama - Purva Pada (Shaivite Hindu Text).
  7. ^ A Survey of Hinduism, 3rd. edition, page 251
  8. ^ "Hinduism does not have an organised hierarchy but to followers of the Saiva tradition of Hinduism Sri Bodhinatha is a pope-like figure." SMH News, Australia
  9. ISBN 9780945497974
    .
  10. ISBN 9780945497974
    .
  11. ^ "Our Spiritual Lineage, the Kailasa Parampara".
  12. ^ PROGRAM / Convocation of Spiritual Leaders of India | Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions Archived July 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ ABC Religion Blog Is yoga Hindu? Archived December 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). www.indoamerican-news.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ PTI (2023-11-24). "'Reach out to fellow Hindus. Together we will connect everybody in world,' says RSS chief Bhagwat". ThePrint. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bodhinatha_Veylanswami&oldid=1218727810"