Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Bodhinatha Veylanswami Hindu Saivite Guru Mahasannidhanam of the Kailasa Parampara of the Nandinatha Sampradaya
Born	(1942-10-15)15 October 1942 Berkeley, California, United States

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami (born in California, 1942), a Hindu sannyasin monk and a religious leader, is the head of Kauai's Hindu Monastery and publisher of Hinduism Today magazine. He is known for his initiative of digitizing the Saiva Agamas, mystical scriptures of the Hindu Saivite religion and the basis for Hindu temple liturgy, making them freely available in digital format and encouraging their study. The Adi Saiva Sivachariyar priestly community honors him as "The Supreme Acharya who has uplifted and preserved the Agamas and the Agama tradition." Bodhinatha presides over three organizations: Saiva Siddhanta Church, Himalayan Academy publications and Hindu Heritage Endowment.

Bodhinatha is the appointed successor of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, an influential Hindu 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. As founder-editor of Hinduism Today, an illustrated monthly, he became the single-most advocate of Hinduism outside India." He ordained Bodhinatha as leader of Saiva Siddhanta Church and 163rd Guru Mahasannidhanam of the Kailasa Parampara lineage, a position of authority in Saivism.

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." He mediated the seminal "Is Yoga Hindu?" session at the Parliament on December 2009, which sparked the Hindu American Foundation's "Take Back Yoga " campaign in 2010.