Introduction
There are always on the Earth a few rare souls who from birth are open to the mysteries within life and consciousness more than the rest of us. They become the medicine men, the shamans, the mystic hermits, the spiritual visionaries and awakeners. From the day he was born in Oakland, California, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami was different. Oh, he went to school, played in the mountain snows where he was raised, near Lake Tahoe, danced his heart out and became the Premier Danseur of the San Francisco Ballet Company at nineteen. But those day-to-day exploits did not define him. He was defined by the inner experiences he had from the beginning to the end of his life. Amazingly, these visions began as he lay in a crib, a mere infant, as you will read in this booklet, which is drawn from the larger biography of our guru lineage, called Seven Mystic Gurus.§
In this book we share fourteen of Gurudeva’s visions, and we let Gurudeva’s own words, when we have them, tell the tale. Each is different, with hardly anything to connect it to another, as though he were opening doors to complete worlds of knowledge, experience, divinity.§
What is not in this book are the thousands of psychic moments we witnessed at his feet between the 1960s and his passage into a world of light on November 12, 2001, such as the many times he called upon his favorite finder of things, Detaza, to guide him to something that had been misplaced. What is not here are Gurudeva’s regular seances—which during certain periods were almost daily—in which he inwardly and boldly called to his table the tall, turban-headed Mohan, expert in astrology, who would answer questions stated aloud by the monk accompanying Gurudeva, who inwardly heard the answers and repeated the words aloud, slowly enough that the monk could accurately write it all down, by hand in those days, on a pad of paper, a back of a paper menu or whatever was available. He could resume the dictation at will if interrupted. These seances were spontaneous, in the flow of Gurudeva’s dramatic mission dance. But, as he explained to the monks privileged to sit with him those evenings, he could only knock on the inner door. Whether the call was answered was up to those on the other side. Sometimes no one responded to his subtle call, and he would just ask, aloud, “Is anyone here?” remaining open to communications from with the within, but always testing to be sure it was a spirit of the highest order, and not a demonic force, for he well understood the power of the negative and had a dozen ways to keep such forces at bay. §
What is not here are the communications with Rishi Kalidas, an overlord who last lived on Earth as a Chinese aristocrat 10,000 years ago, who provided guidance, especially about the future, pointing out, when called upon, the best direction to be taken and speaking, in transcendental tones, of the importance of the work in which Gurudeva is engaged. Rishi’s messages were often the most profound and precious of all, scribbled on a napkin in some tea shop in Japan or at a coffee table in Chennai, or in a cozy corner of Gurudeva’s own office at the monastery. In those rare sessions, the knowledge shared was limited only by the quality and depth of the questions asked. It was not unusual, once a strong connection was made, for the devas to linger for an hour or more, and for Gurudeva to ask every now and again, “Any more questions?” Invariably, the queries focused on current events, issues, people, philosophical queries and problems of the day. Gurudeva received invaluable, practical guidance for every aspect of his mission in these sessions, and the monks with him experienced a rare glimpse into another world, a world so familiar to Gurudeva, just as real as this world, more, he might say.§
What is not in this book are the three days he spent in Venice in 1967 with five young monks, successfully tracking down an opera house where he remembered being attacked, in a previous birth, after a singing performance, had his throat slit, and was thrown into a canal to die. What is not here are the past-life readings he blessed his monks with, sitting alone with them for hours, as the devas recounted in exquisite detail a series of lives the monk once lived, accomplishments once made, and how the monk would contribute to Gurudeva’s mission in this current incarnation.§
Nor will you find here the things Gurudeva saw from afar, for he could travel astrally at will to a distant place and see who was there, hear what they spoke and tell the monks about it. Not here are his explorations into the chakras, which he saw vividly and heard, telling of the sounds they make, the colors they radiate and the states of consciousness they rule.§
Not here are his talks with the garden devas, elemental beings who helped him to help the monks learn to grown their own food in the tropics, nor the flashes of business insight which made him one of the most effective CSOs (Chief Spiritual Officer) in any religious institution, nor the amazing way his writings echo the contents of the ancient Saiva Agamas without his ever studying them, a resonance that continues to confound the world’s greatest Agamic pundits, who have told us personally, during their Kauai visits, that his teachings express perfectly what the Agamas reveal, but more lucidly. Not here are his friendly conversations with the Deities of Hinduism and his frequent communications with his own satguru, Siva Yogaswami, who had left this Earth plane in 1964. While visions were mile markers throughout Gurudeva’s life, the clairvoyant and clairaudient communications began in the late 60s, and intensified many fold with the 1973 arrival on Kauai of the Kadavul Nataraja Deity, when Gurudeva’s third eye opened upon inner plane manuscripts and Saivite Hinduism was unleashed in full glory on this side of the planet.§
Not here are his daily journeys into the clear white light, his diurnal plunge into the timeless, formless, spaceless Self, Parasiva. That, in truth, was his greatest achievement. He looked at everything else as just “the tools of my trade.” But the Self, that was something else, and he found there the essence of himself, the essence of your self, the essence of existence, the Absolute upon which existence itself depends.§
Those visions and mystical communications shaped his inner landscape, brought a new language to the planet and became the grist for a thousand spiritual discourses he would give. Those visions guided his Saiva Siddhanta Church, gave form to the disciplines and routines that would sustain his monks through the decades, helped him know the deepest heart and karmas of thousands of devotees around the world. It did not hurt that he looked like Lord Siva walking on the Earth, but it was the unassailable authenticity of his spiritual encounters that brought seekers to his feet, and kept them there. Here, they marveled, was a man who knows God, directly and powerfully.§
He did not want the monks to make much of this side of his life, partly because he saw it as normal and unexceptional, the way a great artist takes his virtuosity for granted, and partly because he knew that devotees would focus on all that magical stuff instead of on their own spiritual growth through sadhana to the Self within. So, these little events, the common coin within the walls of his monastery, never were published, never were reported on our websites. Each monk had the blessings of his encounters, to be kept sacred and secret.§
Still, Gurudeva did talk of the few visions we present herein, knowing they would be a source of inspiration to others, lifting the veil a bit, revealing another quarter of human possibility that ordinary pilgrims on the path rarely get to visit. He would say these are the natural facilities of every human being, waiting deep inside to be unfolded. He would say such things are both our natural heritage and a troublesome distraction from the real work of Self Realization, a two-sided sword that can pull us inward if we accept it with tempered enthusiasm or push us farther from our goal if we become enchanted with the supernatural and the occult and take it on the ego. This balance was, for him, essential, for he was immersed in the supernatural from the beginning, and worked hard to not let it define him or his mission.§
With amazement in our hearts that such a being lived in this age, and gratitude that we knew him and lived in his radiant presence, we offer this little booklet at Gurudeva’s feet during Chitra Pada Puja on November 13, 2009, marking the eight years that have passed since his Mahasamadhi.§
163rd Jagadacharya of the Nandinatha§
Sampradaya’s Kailasa Parampara§
Guru Mahasannidhanam§
Kauai Aadheenam, Hawaii§
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami§