VERY RELIGION HAS A CREED OF ONE FORM OR ANOTHER, AN AUTHORITATIVE FORMULATION OF ITS BELIEFS. HISTORICALLY, CREEDS HAVE DEVELOPED WHENEVER RELIGIONS MIGRATE FROM THEIR HOMELANDS. UNTIL THEN, THE BELIEFS ARE FULLY contained in the culture and taught to children as a natural part of growing up. But when followers settle in other countries where alien faiths predominate, the necessity of a simple statement of faith arises. A creed is the distillation of volumes of knowledge into a series of easy-to-remember beliefs, or śraddhā. A creed is meant to summarize the explicit teachings or articles of faith, to imbed and thus protect and transmit the beliefs. Creeds give strength to individuals seeking to understand life and religion. Creeds also allow members of one faith to express, in elementary and consistent terms, their traditions to members of another. Though the vast array of doctrines within the Sanātana Dharma has not always been articulated in summary form, from ancient times unto today we have the well-known creedal mahāvākya, “great sayings,” of the Vedic Upanishads. Now, in this technological age in which village integrity is being replaced by worldwide mobility, the importance of a creed becomes apparent if religious identity is to be preserved. We need two kinds of strength—that which is found in diversity and individual freedom to inquire and that which derives from a union of minds in upholding the universal principles of our faith. The twelve beliefs on the following pages embody the centuries-old central convictions of Śaivism, especially as postulated in the Advaita Iśvaravāda philosophy of Śaiva Siddhānta. Yea, this Śaiva Dharma Śraddhā Dhāraṇā is a total summation of Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism. Aum Namaḥ Śivaya.§