Asia Times: Revered spiritual leader of Tamils dies


	November 22, 2001	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Revered spiritual leader of Tamils dies

COLOMBO - Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the Hindu leader who became the spiritual leader of Sri Lankan Tamils, has died at his retreat on the Hawaiian Garden Island of Kauai, his followers have confirmed. The 74-year-old, who was born in California and published the Hinduism Today magazine, was reported to have fasted to death after learning that he had incurable cancer.

Subramuniyaswami, the successor of Sri Lanka's great guru Yogaswami, was considered the hereditary spiritual leader of 2.5 million Tamils of Sri Lanka. He is also credited with ushering Hinduism into America and for more than five decades Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, taught Hinduism to Hindus and seekers from all faiths.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, 59, was installed as guru of the ashram in Hawaii, known as Kauai Aadheenam. Subramuniyaswami had been suffering from advanced intestinal cancer that was diagnosed in early October, when he was hospitalized for severe anemia, according to a spokesman for the Hindu master's Saiva Siddhanta Church on Kauai. He subsequently decided to follow the Indian yogic practice of Prayopavesa, abstaining from nourishment. He died at 11:54 pm on the 32nd day of his self-imposed fast, attended by 23 monastics.

The Hindu world had been preparing for his passage since October 16 when news was released of his fast to the death. Temples, ashrams and devotees around the world began the mrityunjaya yajna, a worship ceremony traditionally offered prior to the passing of a great saint, which is considered an extremely auspicious and exalted event, signaling "the completion of his mission on Earth and his return to the great inner heaven worlds whence he was sent to help mankind".

Subramuniyaswami has been 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. His academy serves, personally and through its magazine, books, courses and travel and study programs, serious seekers and Hindus of all denominations. His mission was to protect, preserve and promote the Saivite Hindu religion as expressed through its three pillars: temples, satgurus and scripture.

If asked what is so special about him, people will likely 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, and a living example of the pure path taught by his guru and followed by his devoted disciples.

Subramuniyaswami was born on January 5, 1927, in Oakland, California. After being orphaned at an early age he was raised by a family with deep ties to India, and was trained in the disciplines of yoga. He also was trained in classical Eastern and Western dance, and by the age of 19 he was dancing with the San Francisco Ballet. But in 1947 he renounced this career and moved to India, where he intensified his spiritual training and attained enlightenment a year later. Sage Yogaswami, the leading guru of Sri Lanka, ordained Subramuniyaswami into his lineage in 1948.

Subramuniyaswami founded the Saiva Siddhanta Church, the world's first Hindu church, while still in Sri Lanka, then returned to the US in 1950. He began writing, and in 1957 founded the Himalayan Academy and opened America's first Hindu temple in San Francisco. The 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 oversaw more than 50 independent temples worldwide.

In 1960, he initiated his first monastic disciples and opened centers in Nevada and California. Among his teachings were the strict principles of nonviolence, which prompted him to teach his followers to stop hitting their own children. He also opposed coercive proselytization in religion.

He was the author of more than 30 books on Hinduism, including his popular trilogy, Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva. The books offer practical insights on Hindu metaphysics, mysticism and yoga. His "Master Course Lessons on Saivism", taught in many schools, preserves his teachings among thousands of youths.

Subramuniyaswami began publishing Hinduism Today in 1979 after moving his operations to Kauai, where he opened the first major Saivite Hindu theological center outside the Indian subcontinent on 51 acres of land. Hinduism Today is an influential, award-winning, international monthly magazine published as a public service of Subramuniyaswami's monastic order, created to strengthen all Hindu traditions by uplifting and informing followers of the Sanatana Dharma everywhere.

At his Kauai ashram, Subramuniyaswami initiated construction of the Iraivan Temple, the first all-stone, hand-carved granite Agamic temple ever built in the West. It is expected to still take several years to complete. The temple will include a 700-pound single-pointed quartz crystal to represent the God Siva in His transcendent state.

In a statement released following the September 11 strikes in the US, Subramuniyaswami wrote, "As unimaginable as this tragedy is, we must all not respond to violence with more violence in our homes and streets. Trust our government and the governments of the world to perform their military duty to assure our safety in the future. We must be the peacemakers, the arbiters of differences and the protectors of goodness. The world has always been populated by people of the lower nature and those of a higher nature. Immature souls, young souls in spiritual evolution, live in the chakras below the muladhara, where fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, confusion, selfishness and maliciousness without conscience reside.

"Old souls live in the higher chakras, where reason, will, understanding and love prevail. Life on Earth has always been happiest, safest and most rewarding when the higher-consciousness people are in control, both of themselves and of those who follow a lower path. Each one can make a choice in the days ahead to remain in the light and illumine the world or be drawn into the darkness of hate, fear and revenge. Our Siva is a God of love, and our traditions and scriptures assure us that this love will overcome every lesser force."

Subramuniyaswami was honored by the World Religious Parliament in New Delhi in 1986 as one of five Hindu spiritual leaders outside of India who had most dynamically promoted Hinduism in the past 25 years.

In 1986, New Delhi's World Religious Parliament named Gurudeva one of five modern-day Jagadacharyas, or 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 publications. The Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival chose Subramuniyaswami as a Hindu representative at its conferences. Thus, at Oxford, England, in 1988, Moscow in 1990 and Rio de Janiero 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 His Holiness 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 August 2000, while attending the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations, Subramuniyaswami received the U Thant Peace Award for his contributions to global peace - previously given to Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul and Mother Teresa.

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