Colophon
Antyavachanam
अन्त्यवचनम्
ANCING WITH ŚIVA, HINDUISM’S CONTEMPORARY CATECHISM WAS DESIGNED AND ILLUSTRATED BY THE SWĀMĪS OF THE SAIVA SIDDHANTA YOGA ORDER AT KAUAI’S HINDU MONASTERY ON THE GARDEN ISLAND IN HAWAII. This first book in the Master Course Trilogy was originally composed and assembled in 1991 using QuarkXPress on a network of PowerMac 9500s with the author’s original input from a mobile network of Macintosh PowerBooks using Farallon’s Timbuktu in a Winnebago field office. This edition was typeset in Adobe InDesign CS2 on a Gigabit Ethernet network of Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 and PowerMac G5 computers and an Xserve G5. Text was typeset in Adobe’s Minion fonts to which diacritical marks were added with Fontographer. The main chapters are set in 12.65-point Minion with 15-point linespacing. The Lexicon and Index are set in Minion 8.25 on 9.75. Sanskrit and Tamil fonts include those by Ecological Linguistics, Brahmi Type and Srikrishna Patil. For the sixth edition, the original artwork was scanned on a Heidelberg Linoscan 2200 flatbed scanner and an Imacon FlexTight Precision transparency scanner and color corrected in Adobe Photoshop CS. Imaging and presswork were supervised by Quad Graphics. §
The cover style and Himalayan Academy logo were created by San Francisco artist John Kuzich in 1970. The exquisite oil portrait on the back cover and the Gaṇeśa on page ii were inspired gifts by India’s renowned artist Sri Indra Sharma during his visits to Kauai in early 1995 and 1997. In April 1997, we learned of the marvelous art collection that graces the fifth and later editions: the life work of Tiru S. Rajam of Chennai, India. Remarkably, his watercolors, produced over a 50-year period, and the book’s subjects were a perfect and fortuitous match, as though he intuited the catechism’s many subjects over the years. For the sixth edition we added another two dozen pieces commissioned in 2002, bringing a total of seven decades of this remarkable artist’s timeless work to these pages.§
The original paintings were acquired through the help of two families of my Saiva Siddhanta Church living temporarily in India: Mrs. Tara Katir and her daughter Selvi, along with Durvasa and Isani Alahan and their daughters Neesha, Sitara and Priya. The stunning new portrait of Satguru Siva Yogaswami that appears with the dedication was painted in 1008 by Sri Indra Sharma of Mumbai, India, based on a group of photos and consultations with Tamil elders. S. Rajam was commissioned in 1997 to paint the cover art, then in 2000 at age 81 to execute the twelve circular paintings that illustrate A Śaivite Creed, and the line drawings appearing on the title pages of the Upanishads, Maṇḍalas and Resources. These line drawings were colorized by Ms. Sarkunavathy Sockanathan of Klang, Malaysia, and Mrs. Vidya Nathan of Koloa, Hawaii, using Adobe Photoshop. From 2000-2002 Tiru A. Manivelu of Chennai, India, was commissioned to paint the various small pieces that illustrate Truth Is One, Paths are Many, Hindu Timeline and A Children’s Primer.§
Rajkumar Manickam of Malaysia, on task force for six months in Hawaii, completed the work of putting the entire 1008-page fourth edition book on the World Wide Web, which has since been updated to reflect the additions, corrections and new artwork in the sixth edition. Sanskrit proofreading and guidance for the first printing were kindly provided by Vyaas Houston, founder of the American Sanskrit Institute; Dr. P. Jayaraman, Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Woodside, New York; Pundit and Jyotisha Sastri Laxmishanker Trivedi and his son Devendra of Fremont, California; Professor Jayaram Sethuraman of the Florida State University in Tallahassee; Braj B. Kachru and his wife Yamuna, professors of linguistics at the University of Illinois, Urbana; Veda Pundit Ravichandran of Chennai and California; and Pundit A.V. Mylvaganam of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. §
In the Timeline, for a new view of Indian history for dates before 600 bce, we drew from the work of S.B. Roy, author of “Chronological Framework of Indian Protohistory—The Lower Limit.” For the second printing, Professor Shiva G. Bajpai, Director of Asian Studies at California State University, Northridge (co-author of A Historical Atlas of South Asia), proofed the timeline and made valuable additions. Extensive historic aid was gratefully accepted from Dr. David Frawley, author of Gods, Sages and Kings, and Sripadu D. Kulkarni, editor of the 18-volume Study of Indian History and Culture. Corrections were provided by Dr. Georg Feuerstein, author of Encyclopedic Dictionary of Yoga, Professor Subash Kak of Louisiana State University and Bill Shurtleff of Lafayette, California. Corrections for the entire second printing were submitted by Markandeya and Sundari Peruman of Houston, Texas; Al Rammohan of Woodridge, Illinois, Director of the International Tamil Language Foundation; Kenneth Stuart, a scholar in Mount Shasta, California; Chaturbhuj N. Gidwani, of the United Arab Emirates; Navnit C. Shah of Ocean, New Jersey; and Vijay S. Alsi of Vienna, Virginia. Proofreading of the entire sixth edition was accomplished by Mrs. Sheela Venkatakrishnan of Chennai.§
The comprehensive index for further study was originally compiled by Jordan and Vita Richman of Writer’s Anonymous, Phoenix, Arizona, then greatly enhanced and updated for the sixth edition by Chamundi Sabanathan of Santa Rosa, California. Dr. Prem Sahai of Webster City, Iowa, contributed to the descriptions of the Hindu family structure. In presenting the major sects of Hinduism, C. Ramachandran, editor of Tattvaloka, answered questions on behalf of the Śaṇkarācharyā of Śriṇgeri Maṭha; and three scholars wrote tracts on Smārtism, Śāktism and Vaishṇavism, respectively, for HINDUISM TODAY: T.K. Venkateswaran, Professor of Religious Studies at University of Detroit; June MacDaniel, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Charleston, South Carolina; and Graham M. Schweig, Director of the Institute for Vaishnṇava Studies. §
Dr. Virender Sodhi, Āyurveda Vaidya, of Bellevue, Washington, confirmed the accuracy of the sections on the science of āyurveda. Assistance on astrology was received from Pundit K.N. Navaratnam of Melbourne, Australia, and Chakrapani D. Ullal of Los Angeles. The Hindu Heritage Endowment, the Hindu Businessmen’s Association and the Hindu Workingmen’s Associations have established an irrevocable fund to annually provide hundreds of individuals and worthy institutions with complimentary copies of this vital sourcebook.§
Nearly two decades ago, when the first edition was being produced, many contributed their time and knowledge. In researching the tradition of sannyāsa, two of my swāmīs—Paramacharya Bodhinatha and Acharya Palaniswami—traveled through South India and Sri Lanka speaking with heads of Śaiva Aadheenams and other Hindu monasteries. Particularly helpful were Swami Tapasyananda of the Ramakrishna Mission in Chennai, Swami Chinmayananda of Chinmaya Mission, Swami Satchidananda of the Integral Yoga Institute and Pandit M. Jnanaprakasam of Erlalai Aadheenam in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.§
Always available to assist in a wide range of philosophical and historical areas was Pandit M. Arunachalam. Information and assistance on clarifying the two schools of Śaiva Siddhānta came from numerous devout scholars, including Pandit Kandiah of Jaffna, A.P.C. Veerabhagu of Tuticorin; Sri La Sri Shanmuga Desikar Paramacharya, head of the 1,400-year-old Dharmapuram Aadheenam, and his pandits, and Justice Maharajan of Chennai, the world’s foremost adept on Tirumantiram. We could not have developed the chapter on monism and pluralism without them, nor without our noble opposition in the mid-1980M at the Śaiva Siddhānta Perumandram in Chennai and at the Selangor Wilayah Persekutuan Ceylon Śaivites Association in Kuala Lumpur, notably from the late Tiru V.K. Palasuntharam. Several other heads of aadheenams were helpful in this and other areas, including Sri La Sri Arunagirinatha Sri Gnanasambanda Desikar Paramacharya Swamigal of the 1,200-year-old Madurai Aadheenam, and the late Kundrakuddi Aadigal of the 400-year-old Kundrakuddi Aadheenam. I would also like to honor Sri La Sri Sivaprakasa Paramacharya Swamigal, Guru Mahasannidhanam of the 500-year-old Tiruvavaduthurai Aadheenam, for his support through the years. §
Finally, appreciations to the swāmīs of my Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order—Paramacharya Bodhinatha, Acharya Palaniswami, Acharya Ceyonswami, Acharya Kumarswami, Muruganathaswami, Arumugaswami, Natarajnathaswami, Sivakatirswami, Shanmuganathaswami—who met daily, month after month, to finalize the essential philosophical presentation contained in these pages, and to my tireless band of Sivanadiyars, yogīs and sādhakas, who also assisted in so many important ways. §
Coordinating as liaison officers for two decades were Dr. S. Shanmugasundaram in Sri Lanka, and in Chennai, the late Tiru N.K. Murthi, retired aerodrome officer, and recently Tiru Lakshmanan Nellaiappan. Also crucial was the untiring support of Sri Lanka’s A. Gunanayagam and V. Canaganayagam. In outlining temple liturgy, we were blessed with the backing of Sivasri Dr. T.S. Sambamurthy Sivachariar of the South India Archaka Sangam, who sent to Hawaii two expert priests, Kumaraswami Gurukkal and Shanmuga Gurukkal, to train my Śaiva swāmīs in the Parārtha Pūjā for daily performance in our Kadavul Hindu Temple, and in Śaiva Ātmārtha Pūjā for my family Church members. §
In the area of scriptural translations, we owe a debt of gratitude to a host of scholars, including Dr. B. Natarajan, who rendered the Tirumantiram into English at our behest; Professor Raimundo Panikkar for his splendid anthology of Vedic texts, The Vedic Experience, which he produced over a period of ten years while residing above a Śiva temple in Varanasi; the late Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, former President of India, Robert Hume and Juan Mascaro for their translations of the major Upanishads; the Sivathondan Nilayam of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, for their English translation of Sage Yogaswami’s Natchintanai, and Ratna Ma Navaratnam for her Testament of Truth, Aum Ganesha and Karttikeya, the Divine Child.§
Dr. A. Anandanatarajah Deekshidhar and others of the ancient hereditary Deekshidhar priesthood at Chidambaram Temple in South India performed monthly pūjās blessing this work for many years. At Kauai Aadheenam’s Kadavul Hindu Temple, during the twenty years it took to create this text, my monks held (and continue to hold) three-hour vigils around the clock and performed pūjā every three hours, night and day, without fail.§
Going back even further, we express our deepest gratitude to Tiru Kandiah Chettiar, his wife and their son Vinayagamurti, with wife Sivayogam, for introducing me at age 21 to the refined culture and holy people of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, for adopting me into their family and especially for taking me on that never-to-be-forgotten full-moon day in May of 1949 to my beloved satguru, Sage Yogaswami, to receive initiation into sannyāsa. It was the slap on the back (called “a coronation” by the local Jaffna Hindus) from that remarkable soul that resonates in the 1,000 pages of Dancing with Śiva.§
We cannot fail to gratefully remember Professor. R. Ramaseshan of Tanjavur, India, who translated the first edition of Dancing with Śiva into Tamil just before he was murdered by atheists who opposed his spiritual work. Pundit Mylvaganam of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, translated a later edition into Tamil in the late 1990s. Munshiram Manoharlal of New Delhi printed an Indian edition in 1996. The Tantra-Sangha of Moscow translated and published the Russian language edition in April 1997. In May, the Marathi translation was completed by Mrs. Kulkarni of Mumbai, India. A Malay translation was finished in 1996 by Sukumaran Apparu of Malaysia. A Spanish translation was completed in 2005 by Sarasvati Kumaran of California. Partial translations have been submitted for Tamil and French. Offers have been made to render the book into Japanese, and more languages are welcome.§