The Master Course trilogy is a life-transforming study organized in 365 daily lessons. To learn more about the books' contents, click here.

1: Self-Evaluation Study
The Master Course Self-Evaluation Study is a one to three year course (depending on your goals) of daily readings and monthly work sheets to be filled in daily or weekly. This program provides a focused approach to learning Saivism and assessing your spiritual progress. This is a service offered by Himalayan Academy since 1957.

Click here to read the inspiring testimonies of formal students following this program.

The Level One PDF worksheets give you the opportunity to: 1) chart your consistency in reading the Master Course daily lesson; 2) answer intriguing multiple choice questions on the basics of Hindu philosophy, and 3) examine your character through reflecting on the yamas and niyamas (the basic life guidelines of Hinduism: do's and do-not) and becoming familiar with the Nandinatha Sutras, which detail the lifestyle of a Saivite Hindu in 365 short verses. At the end of each month, you email the completed worksheet to Himalayan Academy in Hawaii.

Level One is for those of any religion or spiritual background. Students are not required to make any committments other than to themselves to do the daily readings and fill in the worksheets. It is our public service to help anyone who wants to learn about Saivite Hinduism and strengthen their spiritual life. Upon completion many Level One students simply "graduate" from the Academy and choose not to continue. This is perfectly acceptable.

Those who wish to become a shishya (devotee-disciple) of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami in his Saiva Siddhanta Church, would continue into Level Two and Level Three. During these levels, students formally convert to Saivite Hinduism and change their names to Saivite Hindu names. They continue daily readings of the Trilogy, learn about Saiva Siddhanta Church and make serious committments. Click here for an complete overview of the path.

It is required that you read the daily lesson from physical copies of the three Master Course books when following this Self-Evaluation Study. Therefore, you must have purchased the books (full size, not the pocketbook version) before ordering this study program, or at the same time. If you have any questions before enrolling in the Master Course Self-Evaluation Study, please email mastercourse@hindu.org.

To order your PDF worksheets, click here.

2: Independent Study: Reading the Physical Books
You can also read the three books without following the self-evaluation worksheets. Begin your daily reading with Dancing with Siva, shloka one and its bhashya. Then open Living with Siva and read Lesson One. Next, turn to the Nandinatha Sutras in Part Four of Living with Siva and read the first sutra. Finally, open Merging with Siva and read the first lesson. Reading each day's lesson from the three books of the trilogy takes about twenty minutes. Because there are only 155 lessons (shlokas and bhashyas) in Dancing with Siva, when you complete lesson 155 of this book, begin again at the beginning. Then, when you complete the second reading, totalling 310 days, begin again with lesson one, and continue reading until lesson 55, to coincide with lesson 365 of Living with Siva and Merging with Siva. If you study these lessons each day for a year, you will have completed a profound sadhana, a personal odyssey into the interior of you and on into the depths of Hinduism, a practice sufficient to transform your life by transforming the way you look at life itself. The Master Course trilogy of Dancing, Living and Merging with Siva can be enjoyed by the entire family year after year after year, studied personally and read aloud at breakfast, dinner or in the shrine room after the morning puja. Proceed with confidence and without delay. Order the books!

3: Independent Digital Study - Online, By Email
The Digital Study can be begun immediately at any time. You can just go in your browser to the lesson daily on line. Check out the current lesson . If you prefer you can just get each daily lesson automatically via email through our FeedBlitz email service provider. Go here to sign up for the daily email lesson.

The Internet course begins anew on the first day of the astrological calendar year, April 13th, but can be commenced on any day during the year. You need not wait for day one of the calendar year to roll around. Start with the current lesson, which might be number 132--and consider your year complete when you reach lesson 131. You will find the lessons filled with philosophical, practical and soul-stirring information potent enough to inspire even a skeptic to change his ways of thinking about life and the ultimate goal of existence on this planet. Begin now. Today is the most auspicious time.