The Stotras of Ramanuja’s Immediate Disciples (Bombay:
Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute, 1994).
Subramaniya See KARTTIKEYA.
Subramuniyaswami, Satguru (1927–2001)
American founder of the Saiva Siddhanta Church
The American-born Satguru Subramuniyaswami
was an important teacher in the Saiva SIDDHANTA
tradition. Through his organizational work, fund-
raising, and many books he helped spread Hindu
teaching in America and around the world.
Born in Oakland, California, on January 5,
1927, and orphaned in 1938 at age 11, Robert
Hansen spent his childhood and youth in the San
Francisco Bay area and was, before he renounced
the world, a lead dancer in the San Francisco Ballet
Company. He was raised by a family friend who,
as a student of Indian art, dance, and culture, had
lived as a guest of the maharaja of Mysore, India.
As a child, he wore Indian clothing and learned to
appreciate many elements of Indian culture. As a
teenager, he was exposed to Swami VIVEKANANDA’s
writings and the lectures of other SWAMIS. He
relates that he studied MEDITATION and classical
YOGA disciplines with several teachers.
At age 21 Hansen traveled to India and Sri
Lanka, searching for a spiritual teacher. In Sri
Lanka he studied with Shaivite elders and pun-
dits (see SHAIVISM), one of whom, a member of
the Chettiar caste, adopted him into his extended
family and introduced him to temple worship. He
meditated in the jungle caves at Jalani and attained
SELF-REALIZATION by experiencing the absolute real-
ity of SHIVA, which transcended all time, space, and
form. This experience of Self-Realization became
the cornerstone of his mystical teachings. Also in
Sri Lanka, he met his GURU, Jnanaguru Yoganathan,
also known as Shiva Yogaswami (1872–1964) who
initiated him into the Shaivite tradition of siddha
yoga and named him Subramuniya. Yogaswami
was a direct descendent of the original gurus of
this Sri Lankan lineage known as the Nandinatha
Sampradaya, a tradition that has its roots in the
2,200-year-old sacred text Tirumantiram, by the
saint TIRUMULAR. He followed his initiation with
years of spiritual practice (SADHANA) and began to
be referred to as Satguru, or “one who has attained
God-realization and assumes responsibility for the
spiritual life of his disciples.” Upon the passing
in 1964 of Shiva Yogaswami, Subramuniya (or
Gurudeva, as he was affectionately known) became
the spiritual successor of the lineage.
In 1950, he returned to the United States and
continued his spiritual path, developing various
psychic powers, including clairvoyance and clair-
audience. In 1957, at age 30, he began his pub-
lic ministry by founding the Subramuniya Yoga
Order and the Christian Yoga Church, both in San
Francisco, California. During the 1960s, the latter
was disbanded; in 1970 the Subramuniya Yoga
Order moved to Hawaii, where it was renamed
the Wailua University of the Contemplative Arts.
In 1973, the organization became the Saiva Sid-
dhanta Yoga Order, and later the Saiva Siddhanta
Church. Subramuniya called the Church the
“first Hindu church, organized according to the
American church system.” In an attempt to sus-
tain Shaivite orthodoxy, the church recognizes the
celibate monk as the ideal spiritual practitioner
and requires at least 12 years of adherence for a
man to become a SANNYASI. Women may follow the
celibate life of the BRAHMACHARINI, but they are not,
strictly speaking, monastics in this church.
In addition to the church, Gurudeva created
the Himalayan Academy, an educational publica-
tion house, and Hindu Heritage Endowment, a
public service trust begun in 1995 to establish
and maintain permanent sources of income for
Hindu institutions worldwide. These organiza-
tions serve the growing Hindu DIASPORA. Local
missions are on five continents. Subramuniya was
instrumental in founding and building 37 Hindu
temples around the world, including his own Irai-
van Sivalingam temple on the island of Kauai, the
first all-granite Agamic (built to Shaivite canoni-K 424 Subramaniya