The Dharma of Discipline: How One Guru Challenged the Cycle of Violence in Hindu Homes

In the late 1990s, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the founding publisher of Hinduism Today, received a troubling revelation from young members of his global Hindu congregation. Many reported that their spiritually-minded parents routinely used corporal punishment—slapping, spanking, or hitting with objects—as a primary disciplinary tool. For a tradition rooted in ahimsa, or nonviolence, this contradiction struck the guru as a profound spiritual crisis.

The July 1998 issue of Hinduism Today became his platform for change, exposing what he saw as a hidden epidemic within devout families. Julie Rajan, the feature’s lead author, captured the quiet anguish of a generation: “Young Hindu adults today feel deep resentment and anger at having been beaten as children. We struggle with feelings of low self-esteem and failure.” She noted that many would perpetuate the cycle—not from malice, but because they had never learned another way.

Gurudeva’s response was not condemnation but compassion. He recognized that parents acted from love, yet were trapped in inherited patterns. His quest for a cruelty-free system of raising children became a call to reclaim Hinduism’s deepest teaching: that discipline without dignity is not discipline at all, but a betrayal of the soul’s inherent divinity.