Our Story
Founded in 2018 in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Hindu Spiritual Care Institute (HSCI) is a pioneering service-learning institution dedicated to meeting the spiritual care needs of the global Hindu diaspora. HSCI is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization managed by a team of volunteer faculty and professional administrators. The institute serves as a robust spiritual care platform for training chaplains and counselors, and for providing tele-chaplaincy and spiritual care services worldwide.
To date, HSCI has trained over 250 chaplains and counselors across the United States, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, and the Philippines. HSCI has also established a clear pathway to Hindu Chaplaincy through its collaborative partnership with the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), a premier institution in the field.
Looking ahead, HSCI aims to build a global spiritual care knowledge system, develop innovative care delivery technologies, and create a network comprising 108 chaplains and 1,008 counselors.
Our Vision
Based on Hindu tradition values, HSCI aspires to establish:
- A system for spiritual care as a shared community asset
- A Learn-Serve model for global family
- An institution operated with excellence
Our Mission
To build and grow a volunteer-run service-learning institution providing education and training in Hindu and interreligious spiritual care, improving quality of life, developing leadership, bringing technological innovation to spiritual care, and fostering strategic partnerships.
Core Values and Beliefs
- Hindu Tradition: Nurturing and making Hindu tradition available to future generations globally
- Society & Spiritual Care: Providing compassionate support as an essential societal function
- Institutions: Lasting institutions maintaining sustained impact beyond individual interests
- Service: Essential human act with latent capacity in most people
- Collaboration: Sharing best practices and knowledge among traditions