Guest guest Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Om Namah Sivaya Subramuniyaswami "The goal is to realize God Siva in His absolute, or transcendent, state, which when realized is your own ultimate state - timeless, formless, spaceless Truth." - Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927 - 2001), affectionately known as Gurudeva by his followers, was born in Oakland, California on January 5, 1927 and adopted Saivism as a young man. He traveled to India and Sri Lanka where he received initiation from Sage Yogaswami of Jaffna in 1949. In the 1970s he established a Hindu monastery in Kauai , Hawaii and founded the magazine Hinduism Today. The author of many books on Hinduism and metaphysics, Subramuniyaswami was one of the most prominent faces of Hinduism during the last two decades of the 20th century. He was one of Saivism's most orthodox and revered Gurus, the founder and leader of the Saiva Siddhanta Church , the world's first Hindu church. Professor Klaus Klostermaier, one of the world's leading specialists on Hindu studies, said in his A Survey of Hinduism: ‘Sivaya Subramuniyaswami ... did much to propagate a kind of reformed Saivism through his books. As founder-editor of Hinduism Today, an illustrated monthly, he became the single-most advocate of Hinduism outside India. His Himalayan Academy trains Indian and Western Hindu monks and his Hindu Heritage Endowment provides a source of income especially for priests belonging to the Saiva Siddhanta sampradaya worldwide. Subramuniya was honored and recognized by Hindu leaders in India and abroad.’ 1927-1946 - Youth in California Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, was born in California in 1927 as Robert Hansen. While living with his family in a chalet at Fallen Leaf Lake , near Lake Tahoe , California , the young Gurudeva began having mystical experiences at an early age. One major experience occurred at the age of six, when he distinctly saw his awareness as an entity entering the total consciousness of the here and now. In his autobiography, he relates how “the totality of the power of the eternity of the moment began to become stronger and stronger within me from that time onwardâ€. This experience formed one of the cornerstones of Gurudeva’s future teachings. A few years later, both his parents passed away. Living with relatives at the age of eleven, Gurudeva decided to learn the art of dance. Later, he explained the mystical aspect of dance: “Through the esoteric forms of dance, you become acquainted with the movements of the currents of the physical body, the emotional body and the body of the soul. The meditating dancer, inspired by music, finds the inner currents moving first, and lastly the physical body. This releases his awareness into inner, superconscious realms of the mind in a smooth, rapid and systematic way.†A friend of his parents was a dancer familiar with Indian forms of dance of the Bharata Natyam, Manipuri and Kathakali schools. She became Gurudeva’s first “catalystâ€, as she educated the young mystic in Hinduism through culture, music, art, drama, dance and all the protocols of Indian life. For four years, Gurudeva studied intensely. He learned the worship of Lord Siva Nataraja and was introduced into the Vedanta philosophy. He listened to lectures by Indian swamis at the Vedanta Society in San Francisco and read books. He was most inspired by the life of Swami Vivekananda and his four small volumes: Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Inspired Talks, and most particularly by Swami Vivekananda’s masterful poem, "The Song of the Sannyasin." When Gurudeva was fourteen and fifteen, his second and third “catalysts†patiently taught him how to center the whole being of the physical body, the emotional body and the spiritual body so that the inner light would appear. At that time, he was meditating two hours every day. Gurudeva’s strict training in classical Eastern and Western dance and in the disciplines of yoga developed him into an outstanding dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet Company, becoming their premier danseur by age nineteen. However, he knew that he would find his guru on the island of Sri Lanka and that going there to study was his next step. At twenty years of age, he took the first ship to leave for India after World War II. He celebrated his twenty-first birthday just days before going ashore and walking through the grand Gateway to India in Mumbai. Sivaya Namah Not happy with your email address? Get the one you really want - millions of new email addresses available now at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Nice to read about SatGuru, This shows that Divine has no limitations or boundaries like race, nationality etc. Thanks for sharing this wonderful info. God Bless, Divakar. Selvaratnam Selvakumar <selvauk Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 8:11:51 AM Great Devotees of Lord Siva 74A Om Namah Sivaya Subramuniyaswami "The goal is to realize God Siva in His absolute, or transcendent, state, which when realized is your own ultimate state - timeless, formless, spaceless Truth." - Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927 - 2001), affectionately known as Gurudeva by his followers, was born in Oakland, California on January 5, 1927 and adopted Saivism as a young man. He traveled to India and Sri Lanka where he received initiation from Sage Yogaswami of Jaffna in 1949. In the 1970s he established a Hindu monastery in Kauai , Hawaii and founded the magazine Hinduism Today. The author of many books on Hinduism and metaphysics, Subramuniyaswami was one of the most prominent faces of Hinduism during the last two decades of the 20th century. He was one of Saivism's most orthodox and revered Gurus, the founder and leader of the Saiva Siddhanta Church , the world's first Hindu church. Professor Klaus Klostermaier, one of the world's leading specialists on Hindu studies, said in his A Survey of Hinduism: ‘Sivaya Subramuniyaswami ... did much to propagate a kind of reformed Saivism through his books. As founder-editor of Hinduism Today, an illustrated monthly, he became the single-most advocate of Hinduism outside India. His Himalayan Academy trains Indian and Western Hindu monks and his Hindu Heritage Endowment provides a source of income especially for priests belonging to the Saiva Siddhanta sampradaya worldwide. Subramuniya was honored and recognized by Hindu leaders in India and abroad.’ 1927-1946 - Youth in California Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, was born in California in 1927 as Robert Hansen. While living with his family in a chalet at Fallen Leaf Lake , near Lake Tahoe , California , the young Gurudeva began having mystical experiences at an early age. One major experience occurred at the age of six, when he distinctly saw his awareness as an entity entering the total consciousness of the here and now. In his autobiography, he relates how “the totality of the power of the eternity of the moment began to become stronger and stronger within me from that time onward”. This experience formed one of the cornerstones of Gurudeva’s future teachings. A few years later, both his parents passed away. Living with relatives at the age of eleven, Gurudeva decided to learn the art of dance. Later, he explained the mystical aspect of dance: “Through the esoteric forms of dance, you become acquainted with the movements of the currents of the physical body, the emotional body and the body of the soul. The meditating dancer, inspired by music, finds the inner currents moving first, and lastly the physical body. This releases his awareness into inner, superconscious realms of the mind in a smooth, rapid and systematic way.” A friend of his parents was a dancer familiar with Indian forms of dance of the Bharata Natyam, Manipuri and Kathakali schools. She became Gurudeva’s first “catalyst”, as she educated the young mystic in Hinduism through culture, music, art, drama, dance and all the protocols of Indian life. For four years, Gurudeva studied intensely. He learned the worship of Lord Siva Nataraja and was introduced into the Vedanta philosophy. He listened to lectures by Indian swamis at the Vedanta Society in San Francisco and read books. He was most inspired by the life of Swami Vivekananda and his four small volumes: Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Inspired Talks, and most particularly by Swami Vivekananda’s masterful poem, "The Song of the Sannyasin." When Gurudeva was fourteen and fifteen, his second and third “catalysts” patiently taught him how to center the whole being of the physical body, the emotional body and the spiritual body so that the inner light would appear. At that time, he was meditating two hours every day. Gurudeva’s strict training in classical Eastern and Western dance and in the disciplines of yoga developed him into an outstanding dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet Company, becoming their premier danseur by age nineteen. However, he knew that he would find his guru on the island of Sri Lanka and that going there to study was his next step. At twenty years of age, he took the first ship to leave for India after World War II. He celebrated his twenty-first birthday just days before going ashore and walking through the grand Gateway to India in Mumbai. Sivaya Namah Not happy with your email address? Get the one you really want - millions of new email addresses available now at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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