ONCE IN A WHILE ON THIS EARTH THERE ARISES A SOUL WHO, BY LIVING HIS TRADITION RIGHTLY AND WHOLLY, PERFECTS HIS PATH AND BECOMES A light to the world. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami is such a being, a living example of awakening and wisdom, a leader recognized worldwide as one of Hinduism’s foremost ministers. In 1947, as a young man of 20, he journeyed to India and Sri Lanka and two years later was initiated into sannyasa by the renowned siddha yogi and worshiper of Siva, Jnanaguru Yogaswami of Sri Lanka, regarded as one of the 20th century’s most remarkable mystics. For over five decades Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, has taught Hinduism to Hindus and seekers from all faiths. In the line of successorship, he is the 162nd Jagadacharya of the Nandinatha Sampradaya’s Kailasa Parampara and Guru Mahasannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam, a 51-acre temple-monastery complex on Hawaii’s Garden Island. ¶From this verdant Polynesian ashram on a river bank near the foot of an extinct volcano, he and his monastics live their cherished vision, following a contemplative and joyous existence, building a jewel-like white granite Siva temple, meditating together in the hours before dawn, then working, while rainbows fill the sky, to promote the Sanatana Dharma together through four areas of service: Saiva Siddhanta Church (and its Theological Seminary), Himalayan Academy, Hindu Heritage Endowment and HINDUISM TODAY international monthly magazine. Gurudeva is lauded as one of the strictest and most traditional gurus in the world. His Hindu Church nurtures its membership and local missions on five continents. The Academy serves, personally and through its magazine, books, courses and travel/study programs, serious seekers and Hindus of all denominations. Gurudeva’s mission, received from his satguru, is to protect, preserve and promote the Saivite Hindu religion as expressed through its three pillars: temples, satgurus and scripture. The congregation of Saiva Siddhanta Church is a disciplined, global fellowship of family initiates, monastics and students who follow the sadhana marga, the path of inner effort, yogic striving and personal transformation. ¶Gurudeva is the hereditary guru of 2.5 million Sri Lankan Hindus. His is a Jaffna-Tamil-based organization which has branched out from his Sri Subramuniya Ashram in Alaveddy to meet the needs of the growing Hindu diaspora of this century. He has established a seven-acre monastery in Mauritius, which includes a public Spiritual Park. Gurudeva gently oversees more than 50 temples worldwide. Missionaries and teachers within the family membership provide counseling and classes in Saivism for children, youth and adults. ¶HINDUISM TODAY is the influential, award-winning, international monthly magazine founded by Gurudeva in 1979. It is a public service of his monastic order, created to strengthen all Hindu traditions. Gurudeva is author of more than 30 books unfolding unique and practical insights on Hindu metaphysics, mysticism and yoga. His Master Course lessons on Saivism, taught in many schools, are preserving the teachings among thousands of youths. Hindu Heritage Endowment is a public service trust founded by Gurudeva in 1995. It seeks to establish and maintain permanent sources of income for Hindu institutions worldwide. In 1986, New Delhi’s World Religious Parliament named Gurudeva one of five modern-day Jagadacharyas, world teachers, for his international efforts in promoting and chronicling a Hindu renaissance. Then in 1995 it bestowed on him the title of Dharmachakra for his remarkable publications. ¶The Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival chose Subramuniyaswami as a Hindu representative at its unique conferences. Thus, at Oxford, England, in 1988, Moscow in 1990 and Rio de Janeiro in 1992, he joined hundreds of religious, political and scientific leaders from all countries to discuss privately, for the first time, the future of human life on this planet. At Chicago’s historic centenary Parliament of the World’s Religions in September, 1993, Gurudeva was elected one of three presidents, along with Swami Chidananda Saraswati of the Rishikesh-based Divine Life Society and Kerala’s Ammachi, Mata Amritanandamayi Ma, to represent Hinduism at the prestigious Presidents’ Assembly, a core group of 25 men and women voicing the needs of world faiths. In 1996 Gurudeva upgraded the newspaper HINDUISM TODAY to a magazine, a quantum leap that placed it on newsstands everywhere, alongside Newsweek, Time and India Today. In 1997 he responded to the US President’s call for religious opinions on the ethics of cloning from the Hindu point of view. Later that year, he spearheaded the 125th anniversary of Satguru Yogaswami and his golden icon’s diaspora pilgrimage through many of the over 75 Sri Lanka temples and societies around the globe. In 1998, the Vishva Hindu Parishad of Kerala sent an envoy to Kauai Aadheenam to honor Gurudeva as the “Hindu Voice of the Century.” ¶Recently, Gurudeva has been a key member of Vision Kauai 2020, a small group of community leaders that includes the Mayor, former Mayor and County Council members. They meet monthly to fashion the island’s future for twenty years ahead, based on moral and spiritual values. If you ask people who know Gurudeva what is so special about him, they may point to his great peace, presence and centeredness, to his incredible power to inspire others toward their highest Self, to change their lives in ways that are otherwise impossible, to be an unfailing light on their path, to be a voice of Indian spiritual life, to bring the best of the East and the best of the West together, to be a father and mother to all who draw near, a living example of the pure path taught by his guru and followed by his devoted shishyas.§
You can visit Gurudeva’s home page on the Web: www.himalayanacademy.com/satgurus/gurudeva and hear his daily voice message at www.himalayanacademy.com/taka§