Great Devotees of Lord Siva 74E

[Guest guest]

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

Honors and awards

 

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.

 

1988 - Oxford, England: Hindu representative at the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival. Gurudeva 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.

 

1990 - Moscow: Hindu representative at the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival.

 

1992 - Rio de Janeiro: Hindu representative at the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival.

 

1993 - Chicago: at the centenary Parliament of the World's Religions, Gurudeva was elected one of three presidents, along with Swami Chidananda Saraswati of the Rishikesh-based Divine Life Society and Kerala's Mata Amritanandamayi, to represent Hinduism at the Presidents' Assembly, a core group of 25 men and women voicing the needs of world faiths.

 

1995 - Delhi, the World Religious Parliament bestowed on Gurudeva the title Dharmachakra for his remarkable publications.

 

1997 - Gurudeva responded to the US President's call for religious opinions on the ethics of cloning from the Hindu point of view.

 

1997 - Gurudeva 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.

 

1998 - The Vishva Hindu Parishad of Kerala sent an envoy to Kauai to honor and recognize Gurudeva as the "Hindu Voice of the Century."

 

2000 - On August 25, he received the U Thant Peace Award (an award created by Sri Chinmoy) at the United Nations in New York. Prior recipients of this award were the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. He addressed 1,200 spiritual leaders gathered for the UN Millennium Peace Summit, with the message, “For peace in the world, stop the war in the home.†Upon his return to Kauai, 350 citizens and county and state officials gathered to herald his accomplishments on the island and beyond.

 

until 2001 - he was a key member of Vision Kauai 2020, a small group of community leaders that includes the Mayor, former Mayor and County Council members. They met on a monthly basis to fashion the island's future for twenty years ahead, based on moral and spiritual values.

 

Principles and philosophy

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami belonged to the ancient monistic school of Saiva Siddhanta. This theology is called monistic theism, as it possesses a rare synthesis of devotional theism and uncompromising nondualism. It equally promotes temple worship and yogic revelation. It teaches that God is both within and outside of man, being the Creator and the creation, immanent and transcendent. In Gurudeva’s own words: “God Siva is everywhere. There is no place where Siva is not. He is in you. He is in the temple. He is in the trees. He is in the sky, in the clouds, in the planets. He is the galaxies swirling in space and the space between galaxies, too. He is the universe. His cosmic dance

of creation, preservation and dissolution is happening this very moment in every atom of the universe.â€

 

At the core of Gurudeva’s philosophy is his absolute perspective that the Reality of God comprises three perfections - Parasiva (Absolute, Transcendent Reality), Satchidananda (Immanent Love) and Paramesvara (Primal Soul) - and that man's soul is already perfect in its undifferentiated identity with Parasiva and Satchidananda, although this identity is concealed from us by our fascination with the world of form. Parasiva and Satchidananda are not aspects of the evolving soul, but its very nucleus - which does not change or evolve.

 

The evolution of the soul lies in the maturing of its intrinsic Godliness over the course of many lifetimes and beyond, so that it finally becomes indistinguishable from God Siva's third perfection, the Primal Soul. The primary goal of Gurudeva’s monistic Saivism is attaining the life-transforming realization of one's identity - in perfect nondifferentiation - with Parasiva. “We are That. We don’t become That.†This is termed Self Realization (enlightenment), and may grant moksha, permanent liberation from the cycles of birth and death. A secondary goal is the realization of Satchidananda, a unitive experience within superconsciousness in which perfect Truth, knowledge and bliss are known. Therefore, the path of monistic Saivism leads the seeker to the realization of all three

perfections of the Reality of God: Satchidananda first, then Parasiva, with the final goal of Paramesvara obtained long after moksha.

 

A brilliant teacher and orator, Subramuniyaswami spoke eloquently about virtually every aspect of life—from ultimate reality to household harmony, kundalini yoga to adolescent angst.

 

 

 

 

Sivaya Namah