Echoing the ultimate teachings of Hindu scripture, Gurudeva, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, spoke boldly of the Divinity within us. This book is a collection of those teachings, nine inspired talks in which he urges us to mold our thoughts, emotions and way of life around this knowledge. He explains that the Self is the core of you, the part of you that is identical to God in His Parasiva perfection. One of his trenchant teachings was “God is the Life of your life, your very Self.”§
The Self God was the Life of his life. From the age of 12, he studied and tirelessly practiced the arts of awareness. At age 22, in the caves of Jailani in Sri Lanka, he emerged from Self Realization—the deepest of samadhis, absolute union with Absolute Reality—holding Truth in the palm of his hand. Having reached what seems unreachable, for the next fifty years, he explained the unexplainable. Using the subtle Shum language, which he discovered deep within himself, Gurudeva named and described every stepping stone, every state of mind, all the way to the dissolution of awareness into the Self. His words were confident and unequivocal: you can attain it, too. You must. It is the destiny of every single human being, if not in this lifetime, then in another. §
He shared this wisdom with all who came to listen, including those who were too bound in the intellect to ever attain it in this life, too noisy on the inside to actually seek the Self. He laid out the path to thousands whose real and immediate goals were simpler: overcome fear, anger and jealousy, purify the mind, strengthen the will and develop a contemplative lifestyle. He spoke of the Self to his householder followers and especially to his order of sannyasins.§
A monk once shared a crucial insight: “Gurudeva, it seems to me each time the Self is known, the mind, in the aftermath, has had a hole punched in it.” “Yes, that’s right,” he offered, “the Self must eventually be known throughout the mind for the realization to be complete. Each time you enter the Self, it is from a different part of the mind, and its retrospective impact on that part is to obliterate it a bit. If you do it enough times, the mind becomes like Swiss cheese and seems less solid than before.” §
Gurudeva spoke of the Self even on his deathbed. Just days before his grand departure, he responded to a monk’s query about realizing the Self, “You have to realize that you already have it. It’s not something you are going to get or that is out there in time. You already have it. So you have to think on that. First admit to yourself that the Self is in you. The end of the light is imkaif. Admit that the Self is not apart from you. It pervades everything, creates everything and destroys everything. You are the Self right now.…It’s very simple. You have all the tools.”§
Gurudeva spoke freely of realization, the clear white light, the high “eee,” the divine mind, kundalini and the chakras to one and all, knowing that each would benefit according to their place in life and stage of evolution. To Gurudeva, the Self was the obvious secret, the truth that he knew, that rishis know, but which was hidden to the masses, spoken of by a mere handful of teachers. One of his greatest gifts to humanity was to make this knowledge available, to delineate the way to Self Realization with unprecedented clarity and panache. §
Scriptures state that even to hear of the Self is rare. Gurudeva set about to change that, sharing the news that it is “closer than our breathing, nearer to us than our hands or feet.” It is the core of you. In thousands of talks, he spoke of our true nature and eternal being, encouraging us to adopt that game-changing paradigm as the new vision of who we are. What could be more wonderful? Accepting the reality of the Self, even intellectually, is a step toward discovering it.§
We present this book in hopes that these ancient truths and Gurudeva’s articulation of them will inspire you to strengthen your commitment to sadhana, to live in harmony with Siva’s perfect universe, to know that you are a glorious, immortal soul, at one with Siva this very moment, and to strive as karmas permit to realize the timeless, formless, spaceless Self. §
163rd Jagadacharya of the Nandinatha Sampradaya’s Kailasa Parampara
Guru Mahasannidhanam, Kauai Aadheenam, Hawaii
Gurudeva’s Eleventh Mahasamadhi Observances, November 11, 2012§