Esteemed Kaua'i Hindu leader battling cancer

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The revered head of a Hindu temple along the Wailua River is gravely ill, his followers say.

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, well known as Gurudeva, is suffering from cancer and is too weak to see visitors, they report.

Community leaders have been kept informed of his condition.

Mayor Maryanne Kusaka called Gurudeva "a gifted and inspired leader" and a trusted friend and adviser. She cited his "legacy of goodness and aloha" for a range of initiatives benefiting the community.

Ron Kouchi, County Council chairman, lauded Gurudeva's profound, simple wisdom. "Of all the people that I've met in the last 10 years, he has had the most significant impact on my life," he said.

Gurudeva is an American who found enlightenment in Sri Lanka in the late 1940s. He established the Kaua'i temple of the Saiva Siddhanta Church more than 30 years ago on a 51-acre Wailua Homesteads site overlooking a Wailua River waterfall.

His followers publish Hinduism Today, a magazine with global circulation. They have published posters and cards promoting the aloha spirit, and produced a compact disc to teach children about the risks of drug abuse.

Their most aggressive project is the construction of the $16 million San Marga Iraivan temple. The temple's massive concrete foundation was poured two years ago and the granite columns are being shaped in India.

It is being built, Gurudeva has said, to last 1,000 years.

Information on Gurudeva and his church is available online.