ebook img

The Guru Chronicles PDF

833 Pages·2011·63.74 MB·English
by  
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview The Guru Chronicles

The Making of the First American Satguru The Making of the First American Satguru First Edition Copyright © 2011 Himalayan Academy This fi rst edition of The Guru Chronicles, The Making of the First Ameri- can Satguru, published by Himalayan Academy, was released on October 25, 2011, during the Chitra Puja marking the tenth anniversary of the Great Departure of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001). All rights are The Making of the reserved. This book may be used to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the spiritual path, but reproduced only with the publisher’s prior written First American Satguru consent. Lovingly written, designed and typeset by the swamis of the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order, 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa, Hawaii 96746-9304 USA. Published by Himalayan Academy India • USA PRINTED IN THE USA BY QUAD GRAPHICS Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2011933013 By the Swamis of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery isbn: 978-1-934145-39-5 (hardcover) 978-1-934145-40-1 (ebook) First Edition Copyright © 2011 Himalayan Academy This fi rst edition of The Guru Chronicles, The Making of the First Ameri- can Satguru, published by Himalayan Academy, was released on October 25, 2011, during the Chitra Puja marking the tenth anniversary of the Great Departure of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927–2001). All rights are The Making of the reserved. This book may be used to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the spiritual path, but reproduced only with the publisher’s prior written First American Satguru consent. Lovingly written, designed and typeset by the swamis of the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order, 107 Kaholalele Road, Kapaa, Hawaii 96746-9304 USA. Published by Himalayan Academy India • USA PRINTED IN THE USA BY QUAD GRAPHICS Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2011933013 By the Swamis of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery isbn: 978-1-934145-39-5 (hardcover) 978-1-934145-40-1 (ebook) Dedication Page v indu history is replete with stories of noble, courageous, high souls who are born to uplift and guide mankind, men and women H who come “from up down” in response to humanity’s needs—the more dire the need, the greater the soul sent to meet it. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known by his devotees as Gurudeva, was such a soul. He was born in modern times to meet modern chal- lenges—born, he would say, “to protect, preserve and promote the Saiva dharma,” to bring the knowledge, worship and realization of God Siva into the 21st century. How he did that is a story you are about to read. But he would be the fi rst to caution that this is not about him. He was only the latest guru in a lineage that had preserved the knowledge of the Self within man since the dawn of history, a lineage that existed before him, thrived during his lifetime and carries on today. ¶Those close to Gurudeva lived the stories in these pages, saw his communion with the inner worlds, experienced his life of revelation and realization. He looked and acted like Siva Himself, tall, powerful, compassionate, urgent. He did things people don’t do: created a new language, talked to the light-bodied devas, established America’s fi rst South Indian monastery, founded Hin- duism’s fi rst international magazine, saw and then recreated the future. Little wonder he was chosen by Yogaswami to carry on the Nandinatha Kailasa lineage. Little wonder he was recognized in the East as the West’s fi rst authentic satguru. Everything he did was to meet a need, to elevate consciousness, to preserve Hindu dharma for the future—not the near- est future, but the far future of thousands of years, what he loved to call “the future of futures.” His temple was built to last a thousand years. His monastery and yoga order were crafted to last even longer. His magazine continues to inspire and transform not merely individuals and institu- tions but entire nations. His realization of Absolute Reality supersedes it all. Yet he could explain karma to a child. ¶In this tenth year since his Great Departure, we dedicate this book to Gurudeva, an Eastern soul in a Western body, a man who loved all that is modern and used it to protect all that is ancient. We fall at his feet, humbled by the certainty that we have no more captured him and his predecessors here than one can snare the midday sun. Enjoy his story and that of his guru and his guru’s guru and so on back in history, and hope in your heart that you will one day meet someone like him. Jai! Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami! Jai! Dedication Page v indu history is replete with stories of noble, courageous, high souls who are born to uplift and guide mankind, men and women H who come “from up down” in response to humanity’s needs—the more dire the need, the greater the soul sent to meet it. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known by his devotees as Gurudeva, was such a soul. He was born in modern times to meet modern chal- lenges—born, he would say, “to protect, preserve and promote the Saiva dharma,” to bring the knowledge, worship and realization of God Siva into the 21st century. How he did that is a story you are about to read. But he would be the fi rst to caution that this is not about him. He was only the latest guru in a lineage that had preserved the knowledge of the Self within man since the dawn of history, a lineage that existed before him, thrived during his lifetime and carries on today. ¶Those close to Gurudeva lived the stories in these pages, saw his communion with the inner worlds, experienced his life of revelation and realization. He looked and acted like Siva Himself, tall, powerful, compassionate, urgent. He did things people don’t do: created a new language, talked to the light-bodied devas, established America’s fi rst South Indian monastery, founded Hin- duism’s fi rst international magazine, saw and then recreated the future. Little wonder he was chosen by Yogaswami to carry on the Nandinatha Kailasa lineage. Little wonder he was recognized in the East as the West’s fi rst authentic satguru. Everything he did was to meet a need, to elevate consciousness, to preserve Hindu dharma for the future—not the near- est future, but the far future of thousands of years, what he loved to call “the future of futures.” His temple was built to last a thousand years. His monastery and yoga order were crafted to last even longer. His magazine continues to inspire and transform not merely individuals and institu- tions but entire nations. His realization of Absolute Reality supersedes it all. Yet he could explain karma to a child. ¶In this tenth year since his Great Departure, we dedicate this book to Gurudeva, an Eastern soul in a Western body, a man who loved all that is modern and used it to protect all that is ancient. We fall at his feet, humbled by the certainty that we have no more captured him and his predecessors here than one can snare the midday sun. Enjoy his story and that of his guru and his guru’s guru and so on back in history, and hope in your heart that you will one day meet someone like him. Jai! Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami! Jai! Contents chapter page Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii 1 Seeking a Guru in Ceylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 Maharishi Nandinatha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3 Tirumular Is Sent on Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4 Rishi from the Himalayas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 5 “I Will Not Sentence Him to Death” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 6 Muktiyananda Sails to Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 7 Chellappaswami, the Siddha of Nallur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 8 Yoga swami’s Early Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 9 Yoganathan Is Transformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 10 “You Haven’t Caught Me Yet” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 11 “Yoganathan Is Dead” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 12 Yoga swami, the Young Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 13 Chellachi Ammaiyar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14 Yoga swami, Peerless Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 15 “We Know Not” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 16 Miracle Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 17 Prescriptions for Sadhana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 18 Yogaswami’s Final Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 19 Subramuniyaswami’s Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 20 Finding God in a Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 21 Sadhana Years in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 22 Moving to Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 23 Off to Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 24 At Home on Kauai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 25 Building a Saiva Stronghold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 26 Standing Strong for Hinduism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 27 The Mission Goes Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 28 Timeless Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 29 Spirit of the Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 30 Harnessing a Hurricane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 31 Reaching the Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Image Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 Colophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Contents chapter page Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii 1 Seeking a Guru in Ceylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 Maharishi Nandinatha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3 Tirumular Is Sent on Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4 Rishi from the Himalayas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 5 “I Will Not Sentence Him to Death” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 6 Muktiyananda Sails to Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 7 Chellappaswami, the Siddha of Nallur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 8 Yoga swami’s Early Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 9 Yoganathan Is Transformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 10 “You Haven’t Caught Me Yet” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 11 “Yoganathan Is Dead” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 12 Yoga swami, the Young Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 13 Chellachi Ammaiyar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 14 Yoga swami, Peerless Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 15 “We Know Not” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 16 Miracle Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 17 Prescriptions for Sadhana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 18 Yogaswami’s Final Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 19 Subramuniyaswami’s Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 20 Finding God in a Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 21 Sadhana Years in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 22 Moving to Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 23 Off to Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 24 At Home on Kauai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 25 Building a Saiva Stronghold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 26 Standing Strong for Hinduism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 27 The Mission Goes Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 28 Timeless Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 29 Spirit of the Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 30 Harnessing a Hurricane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 31 Reaching the Summit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Image Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 Colophon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Preface Page ix t an auspicious moment during the around-the-world 1972 In- dian Odyssey, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Guru deva) A gave diksha in Sri Lanka to several of his devotees. One, a teacher, received the mission to remain with his wife and pre-teen son in the village of Alaveddy near Subramuniya Ashram in order to collect oral and written histories about Yogaswami’s lineage of gurus. The timing was critical. Yogaswami’s Great Departure had happened in 1964, and the memories of those who were close to him were still fresh. They saw the need to chronicle their guru’s life, so they put aside their usual distrust of outsiders and eagerly shared their experiences. It was important to cap- ture their recollections at this time, for it assured a faithful telling of Yo- gaswami’s life and teachings. To wait for decades would invite a sketchy history and stories forgotten. It was discovered during this one-year sojourn that years earlier Yog- a swami had told devotees: “My biographer is coming. He’s in a white body, and he’s coming here to tell my story.” Once when an Englishman arrived in Jaffna, devotees ran to Swami, saying, “This is your biographer.” Yogaswami retorted curtly, “No. He is coming later, much later.” During the devotee’s stay, more than a few of the villagers had dreams indicating that the American schoolteacher living in Alaveddy was the biographer Yoga swami had spoken of. Word swept through the Jaffna peninsula. One by one visitors came to the humble home of Swami’s biographer to share their stories of their guru, Sri Lanka’s lion of dharma, and of his guru, Chellappaswami, and his guru’s guru, Kadaitswami. The teacher sat on a mat listening to hundreds of narratives, carefully penning them by hand. Later he wove them into a 120-page manuscript entitled S oldiers Within, which he presented to Gurudeva after returning to America. This book began with those papers. In fact, Soldiers Within was stud- ied within the monastery for decades and shared with only a few close devotees. It remained unpublished until now. In the intervening years, Gurudeva asked his monks to undertake further research. We collect- ed more oral histories and written biographical material, translating as needed from Tamil in consultation with Tamil elders. Finally we assem- bled the material into this tome. In 1998 Guru deva sat with his editing team of monks to review, line by line, a preliminary 400-page version, which did not include his own biography. Preface Page ix t an auspicious moment during the around-the-world 1972 In- dian Odyssey, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Guru deva) A gave diksha in Sri Lanka to several of his devotees. One, a teacher, received the mission to remain with his wife and pre-teen son in the village of Alaveddy near Subramuniya Ashram in order to collect oral and written histories about Yogaswami’s lineage of gurus. The timing was critical. Yogaswami’s Great Departure had happened in 1964, and the memories of those who were close to him were still fresh. They saw the need to chronicle their guru’s life, so they put aside their usual distrust of outsiders and eagerly shared their experiences. It was important to cap- ture their recollections at this time, for it assured a faithful telling of Yo- gaswami’s life and teachings. To wait for decades would invite a sketchy history and stories forgotten. It was discovered during this one-year sojourn that years earlier Yog- a swami had told devotees: “My biographer is coming. He’s in a white body, and he’s coming here to tell my story.” Once when an Englishman arrived in Jaffna, devotees ran to Swami, saying, “This is your biographer.” Yogaswami retorted curtly, “No. He is coming later, much later.” During the devotee’s stay, more than a few of the villagers had dreams indicating that the American schoolteacher living in Alaveddy was the biographer Yoga swami had spoken of. Word swept through the Jaffna peninsula. One by one visitors came to the humble home of Swami’s biographer to share their stories of their guru, Sri Lanka’s lion of dharma, and of his guru, Chellappaswami, and his guru’s guru, Kadaitswami. The teacher sat on a mat listening to hundreds of narratives, carefully penning them by hand. Later he wove them into a 120-page manuscript entitled S oldiers Within, which he presented to Gurudeva after returning to America. This book began with those papers. In fact, Soldiers Within was stud- ied within the monastery for decades and shared with only a few close devotees. It remained unpublished until now. In the intervening years, Gurudeva asked his monks to undertake further research. We collect- ed more oral histories and written biographical material, translating as needed from Tamil in consultation with Tamil elders. Finally we assem- bled the material into this tome. In 1998 Guru deva sat with his editing team of monks to review, line by line, a preliminary 400-page version, which did not include his own biography.

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.