Francophones Rejoice in Saivite Website
A beautifully designed french-language website, hindouisme.org, has been developed by a group of Montreal devotees of Hinduism Today’s founder, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. “We wanted to make those sublime Hindu teachings available to Francophones in Canada and all over the French-speaking world,” says Nandi Sivam, who has been managing the site.
It is a work in progress that already provides a broad range of resources on Hinduism. These include books, such as the complete Path to Siva (a basic introduction to Saivite philosophy), along with excerpts from esoteric writings. There are translations of “14 Questions People Ask About Hinduism” and selected editorials by Hinduism Today publisher, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. Of special note is an entire translation of Lemurian Scrolls, a channeled writing on ancient Lemuria recounting the story and destiny of humanity.
The spirit of the site is captured in the “Who we are” section at the bottom of each page: “We are devotees of Siva much taken with the magnificence of Hinduism, its thought, its spirituality, its wisdom, its savoir-vivre, its effective practices and deep knowledge. We seek to capture this marvel in its purest essence and all its beauty and offer it thus to French speakers around the world.”
Gananatha Subrahmanyam, one of the main translators, adds, “We strive to transfer all the clarity, relevance, and especially the spirit, the vision and the intent of the guru into the French language. It seems to be working. We have more and more visitors.”
Reunion-based Rajeshwari Parasivam is managing a companion Facebook page (hindouisme-groupe d’études) which has grown to 2,200 members in just a few months. “I am amazed how eager so many are to understand and begin practicing. ‘Your site gives me the urge to become spiritual,’ said one member. While they survey our pages, readers seem free of pressures, free to be themselves and to answer only to their own inner voice.”
Other Hindu-oriented French websites of interest are centre-vedantique.fr (Ramakrishna Mission), federationvediquedefrance.fr (Ram Chandra Mission) and etw-france.org (Ammaji).