The Guru Chronicles

833 Pages·2011·63.74 MB·English

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.