Living with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Culture

In Christian publishing, daily devotionals are a bread-and-butter staple of the market; in the tiny world of North American Hindu publishing, they're virtually nonexistent. It is therefore all the more welcome when a press comes out with something as useful and practical as Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's Living with Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Culture, a 1,000-page tome featuring 365 meditations on Hindu spirituality. Subramuniyaswami addresses issues such as worship, marriage, money, sex, child-rearing, nonviolence, caste, forgiveness, karma, nature and hospitality. Readers may not agree with all of his forthright and opinionated reflections (he opposes spanking, supports arranged marriages and has very strong words against the disintegration of the family, for example), but they will appreciate his unswerving emphasis on infusing daily life with Hindu spirituality. (Dec.)