A Short Biography of Gurudeva

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), addressed as “Gurudeva” by his followers, was born in Oakland, California, on January 5, 1927, and adopted Saivism as a young man. He traveled to India and Sri Lanka where he received initiation from Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna in 1949. He began teaching in 1957 in San Francisco, California, founding one of America’s early Hindu temples. In the 1970s he established a Hindu monastery in Kauai, Hawaii, and founded the magazine Hinduism Today. The author of many books on Hinduism and metaphysics, Subramuniyaswami was one of the most prominent faces of Hinduism during the last two decades of the 20th century.

Subramuniyaswami taught Hinduism to Hindus and seekers from all faiths. He was the 162nd Jagadacharya of the Nandinatha Sampradaya’s Kailasa Parampara and Guru Mahasannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam, also known as Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, the 358-acre temple-monastery complex he established on Hawaii’s Garden Island. Striking in appearance, the tall, white-haired master was the hereditary guru of 2.5 million Sri Lankan Hindus. Observers judge him the most dynamic, influential and important Hindu spiritual teacher to be born in the West, recognized throughout the Hindu world as a leading proponent and articulator of Sanatana Dharma.

In 1975 a spiritual vision of Lord Siva led him to build Iraivan Temple, a hand-carved, white granite, Chola-style Siva temple at his monastery on Kauai. This jewel was the first traditional Agamic temple to be carved in India and erected in the West and though as yet unfinished is already a highly regarded Hindu spiritual pilgrimage site in America.

Subramuniyaswami was a mystical guru who emphasized the challenging spiritual path of Self Realization, sadhana, diksha and devotion. His life-long inner awakenings and superconscious visions guided his mission and his monks, while his pragmatic prowess both strengthened his Saiva lineage and reached out in a spirit of cooperation with all sampradayas or teaching lineages.

His Saiva Siddhanta Church, the first Hindu church in America, has members and local missions on five continents. Its congregation is a global fellowship of family initiates, monastics and students who follow the sadhana marga, the path of inner effort, yogic striving and personal trans­for­ma­tion. His classic illustrated trilogy of Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva, each 1,000 pages long, are the definitive summary of his teachings. Hinduism Today is the award-winning, in­ter­na­tion­al monthly magazine he founded in 1979. It is a public service of his monastic order, created to strengthen all Hindu traditions by uplifting and informing followers of the Sanatana Dharma every­where. Hindu Heritage Endowment is a public service trust founded by Gurudeva in 1994. It seeks to establish and maintain permanent sources of income for Hindu in­sti­tu­tions worldwide.

Gurudeva promulgated the ancient monistic school of Saiva Siddhanta in the line of Tirumular, which differs from the pluralistic Saiva Siddhanta of Meykandar. Tirumular’s theology is called monistic theism, possessing a synthesis of devotional theism and uncompromising nondualism. It equally promotes temple worship and yogic revelation. It teaches that God is both within and outside of man, being the Creator and the creation, immanent and transcendent. In Gurudeva’s words: “God Siva is everywhere. There is no place where Siva is not. He is in you. He is in the temple. He is in the trees. He is in the sky, in the clouds, in the planets. He is the galaxies swirling in space and the space between galaxies, too. He is the universe. His cosmic dance of creation, preservation and dissolution is happening this very moment in every atom of the universe.”

At the core of his philosophy is his absolute perspective that the Reality of God comprises three perfections—Parasiva (Absolute, Transcendent Reality), Satchidananda (Immanent Love) and Paramesvara (Primal Soul)—and that man’s soul is already perfect in its undifferentiated identity with Parasiva and Satchidananda, although this identity is concealed from us, he explained, by our fascination with the world of form. Parasiva and Satchidananda are not aspects of the evolving soul, but its very nucleus—which does not change or evolve.

The evolution of the soul, according to Gurudeva, lies in the maturing of its intrinsic Godliness over the course of many lifetimes and beyond, so that it finally becomes in­dis­tinguishable from God Siva’s third perfection, the Primal Soul. The primary goal of Gurudeva monistic Saivism is attaining the life-transforming realization of one’s identity—in perfect nondifferentiation—with Parasiva. “We are That. We don’t become That.” This is termed Self-Realization (enlightenment), and may grant moksha, permanent li­ber­a­tion from the cycles of birth and death. A secondary goal is the realization of Satchidananda, a unitive experience within superconsciousness in which perfect Truth, knowledge and bliss are known. Therefore, the path of monistic Saivism leads the seeker to the realization of all three perfections of the Reality of God: Satchidananda first, then Parasiva, with the final goal of Parameshvara obtained long after moksha.

Gurudeva traveled extensively, visiting Hindu com­mu­ni­ties in virtually every major nation and befriending Hindu leaders wherever they had established Dharma. In August of 2001 Gurudeva took his final journey, leading 72 devotees on an incredible trek through Northern Europe, founding new Hindu temples along the way and visiting Tamil communities in a dozen nations. It was a fitting end to his remarkable life. Only weeks after returning from that dynamic odyssey, he was diagnosed with cancer, and unflinchingly undertook prayopavesha. After 32 days of fasting, he attained mahasamadhi, surrounded by his swamis, yogis and sadhakas. All of his work and mission, his amazing vision and all-encompassing projects now go forward under the able guidance of his successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.