About this site

Guru Sri Subramanium founded Skanda Vale in 1973 and taught until shortly before his death in 2007 — discourses at the ashram in Wales, seminars in Switzerland, conversations over afternoon tea. Most of it was recorded. This site publishes passages from those recordings.

How passages are prepared

The original recordings and their word-for-word transcripts are preserved untouched. A published passage may trim repetition and digressions, but never alters meaning; where material from separate moments is joined, the join is shown (…). Nothing is smoothed or modernised — what you read is what Guru said.

Every passage ends with its source line: the series, the date, and the recording it comes from. Anything on this site can be traced back to Guru's own voice.

Two languages

Guru taught in English. German translations, begun by Swiss devotees during his lifetime, are published alongside the English — the Deutsch link on any page switches over where a translation exists.

Reading offline

This site keeps the passages you have read available offline — open one on the train, and it is still there when the signal is not. On a phone, choose "Add to Home Screen" in your browser and the archive opens full-screen like an app, with everything you have read at hand. There is no app to install and nothing to sign up for.

By email

New passages can arrive by email as they are published — at the archive's pace, one or two a month, each carrying the full teaching.

In print

Guru's autobiography and collected teachings are available as printed books. Proceeds support Skanda Vale Hospice, which cares for families facing life-limiting illness, free of charge.

Who keeps this archive

The archive is kept by the monastic community Guru founded — the Community of the Many Names of God, Skanda Vale, in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Questions, corrections and memories of the recordings are welcome at enquiries@skandavale.org.

The Community of the Many Names of God, Skanda Vale · Registered charity 511166