Swami Sivananda &
The Divine Life Society
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Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder-President
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Sri Swami Chidananda
Present President
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SERVE, LOVE, GIVE, PURIFY, MEDITATE, REALIZE
So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
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Sri Swami Krishnananda
General Secretary
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If you would like to visit the Divine Life Society, please write to:
The General Secretary,
The Divine Life Society,
P.O. Shivanandanagar-249 192,
District Tehri-Garhwal,
Uttaranchal, Himalayas,
INDIA.
Tel: (91)-135-430040
Fax: (91)-135-433101
World Wide Web: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org/
Contents
Hailed as the Prophet of the new age
For his inestimable services in the cause of raising
The Moral and Spiritual standard of modern mankind,
Was born on 8th September 1887 at Pattamadai, South India.
Took to the medical profession.
Published 'AMBROSIA', a medical journal.
Served for over 10 years as doctor in Malaya.
Renounced the world in 1923.
Entered the holy order of Sannyasa in 1924.
After twelve years of intense austerities
Founded the Divine Life Society in 1936.
The All-world Religions 'Federation' in 1945.
The Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948.
The Divine Life Society has branches and members all over the world, belonging
to all religions and nationalities.
Swami Sivananda has written over 300 books on Yoga and Vedanta, Health
and Healing.
He toured all India and Ceylon in 1950 and created a spiritual stir And
awakening throughout the country.
He convened the World Parliament of Religions in 1953,
Attended by delegates from all over the world.
His inspiring, godly, dedicated life has brought about the resurgence
of Bharatavarsha's dharma and Spiritual Ideals,
And made the vibrant
MESSAGE OF INDIA
To reach all parts of the modern world.
Our devotion and homage to Swami Sivananda, The World Preceptor.
This short sketch is preserved above as a token of reverence, infinite
gratitude and eternal love to the beloved Master Sivananda, the blessed
saint of Ananda Kutir.
Disciples of Sivananda
SERVE LOVE MEDITATE REALIZE
Sri Swami Sivananda
It was, I should say, by a flash that I came to the conclusion early
in my life that human life is not complete with its observable activities
and that there is something above human perception controlling and directing
all that is visible. I may boldly say that I began to perceive the realities
behind what we call life on earth. The unrest and feverish anxiety that
characterize man's ordinary existence here bespeak a higher goal that
he has to reach one day or the other.
When man gets entangled in selfishness, greed, lust and hatred, he
naturally forgets what is beneath his own skin. Materialism and scepticism
reign supreme. He gets irritated by small things and begins to fight.
In short, man is miserable. The doctor's profession gave me ample evidence
of the sufferings of this world. I found concrete proofs of the great
saying: 'Sarvam duhkham vivekinah' ('All is suffering to a thoughtful
person'). I was blessed with a new vision and perspective. I was deeply
convinced that there must be a place-a sweet home of pristine glory
and purity and divine splendour-where absolute security, perfect peace
and happiness can be enjoyed eternally. In conformity with the dictum
of the sruti (the Vedas), I renounced the world, and felt
that I belong to the whole world.
A course of severe self-discipline and penance endowed me with enough
strength to move unscathed amidst the vicissitudes of the world-phenomena.
And I began to feel the great good it would be to humanity if I could
share this new vision with one and all. I called my instrument of work
'The Divine Life Society'.
Side by side, the stirring events since the advent of the twentieth
century had their effect upon all keen-minded people. The horrors of
past and possible wars, and the consequent suffering, touched the minds
of people. It was not difficult to see that the pains of mankind were
mostly brought on by its own deeds. To awaken man to his errors and
follies and to make him mend his ways, so that he may utilize his life
for attaining worthier ends, was felt to be the urgent need of the time.
As if in answer to this need, I saw the birth of the Divine Life mission,
with its task of rescuing man from the forces of the lower nature and
raising him to the consciousness of his true relation to the cosmos.
This is the work of rousing the religious consciousness, an awareness
of the essential divinity of man.
Not by mere argument or discussion can religion be taught or understood.
Not by precepts or canons of teaching alone can you make one religious.
It requires a peculiar atonement with one's vast environment, an ability
to feel the deepest as well as the vastest, a genuine sympathy with
creation. Religion is living, not speaking or showing. I hold
that whatever be one's religion, whoever be the prophet adored, whichever
be the language or the country, whatever be one's age or sex, one can
be religious provided the true implication of that hallowed term tapas,
which essentially means any form of self-control, is made capable
of being practiced in daily life to the extent possible for one in the
environment and under the circumstances in which one is placed.
I hold that real religion is the religion of the heart. The heart must
be purified first. Truth, love and purity are the basis of real religion.
Control over the baser nature, conquest of the mind, cultivation of
virtues, service of humanity, goodwill, fellowship and amity constitute
the fundamentals of true religion. These ideals are included in the
principles of the Divine Life Society. And I try to teach them mostly
by example which I consider to be weightier than all precepts.
The modern thinker has neither the requisite time nor the patience
to perform rigorous tapas and austere religious practices; and
many of these are even being relegated to the level of superstition.
In order to give the present generation the benefit of real tapas
in the true religious sense, to reveal to them its real significance
and to convince them of its meaning and efficacy, I held up my torch
of Divine Life, which is a system of religious life suited to one and
all, which can be practiced by the recluse and the office-goer alike,
which can become intelligible to the scholar and the rustic in its different
stages and phases. This is a religion which is not other than what is
essential to give meaning to the daily duties of the human being. The
beauty in 'Divine Life' is its simplicity and applicability to the everyday
affairs of the ordinary man. It is immaterial whether one goes to the
church or the mosque or the temple for offering his prayers, for all
prayers are heard by the One.
The average seeker after Truth is often deceived by the caprices of
his mind. A person who takes to the spiritual path is bewildered before
he reaches the end of his journey, and is naturally tempted to relax
his efforts half-way. Many are the pitfalls, but those who plod on steadily
are sure to reach the goal of life which is universality of being, knowledge
and joy. I have laid great emphasis in all my writings upon the discipline
of the turbulent senses, conquest of the mind, purification of the heart,
and attainment of inner peace and strength, suited to the different
stages in evolution.
I have learnt that it is the foremost duty of man to learn to give,
give in charity, give in plenty, give with love, give without any expectation
of consequence, because one does not lose anything by giving,-on the
other hand the given is given back a thousandfold. Charity is not merely
an act of offering certain material goods, for charity is incomplete
without charity of disposition, charity of feeling, charity of understanding,
knowledge and attitude to others. Charity is self-sacrifice in different
levels of one's being. Charity in the highest sense I understand to
be equivalent to jnana-yajna (dissemination of spiritual knowledge).
Similarly I consider goodness of being and doing constitutes the rock-bottom
of one's life. By goodness I mean the capacity to feel with others and
live and feel as others do, and be in a position to act so that no one
is hurt by the act. Goodness is the face of Godliness. I think that
to be good in reality, in the innermost recesses of one's heart, is
not easy, though it may appear to be simple. It is one of the hardest
of things on earth, if only one would be honest to oneself.
There is no physical world for me. What I see I see as the glorious
manifestation of the Almighty. I rejoice when I behold the Purusha
(Person) with thousands of heads and thousands of eyes and feet,
that sahasrasirsha Purusha (thousand-headed Person). When
I serve persons I see not the persons but Him of whom they are the limbs.
I learn to be humble before the Mighty Being whose breath we breathe
and whose joy we enjoy. I do not think there is anything more to teach
or to learn. Here is the cream of religion, the quintessence of philosophy
that which anyone really needs.
The philosophy I hold is neither a dreamy, subjective, world-negating
doctrine of illusion, nor a crude world-affirming theory of sense-ridden
humanism. It is the fact of the divinity of the universe, the immortality
of the soul of man, the unity of creation with the Absolute, that I
feel as the only doctrine worth considering. As the one Brahman appears
as the diverse universe in all the planes of its manifestation, the
aspirant has to pay his homage to the lower manifestations before he
steps into the higher. Sound health, clear understanding, deep knowledge,
a powerful will and moral integrity are all necessary parts of the process
of the realization of the Ideal of humanity as a whole. To adjust, adapt
and accommodate, to see good in everything and bring to effective use
all the principles of Nature in the process of evolution towards Self-realization
along the path of an integrated adjustment of the human powers and faculties
are some of the main factors that go to build up a true philosophy of
life. For me philosophy is not merely a love of wisdom but actual possession
of it. In all my writings I have prescribed methods for overcoming and
mastering the physical, vital, mental and intellectual layers of consciousness
in order to be able to proceed with the sadhana for self-perfection.
The self-perfected ones are the 'Sarva-bhuta-hite ratah' (works
for the welfare of all living entities).
To behold the Atman in every being or form, to feel Brahman
everywhere, at all times, and in all conditions of life, to see, hear,
taste and feel everything as the Atman is my creed. To live in Brahman,
to melt in Brahman and to dissolve in Brahman is my
creed. By dwelling in such union, to utilize the hands, mind, senses
and the body for the service of humanity, for singing the names of the
Lord, for elevating the devotees, for giving instructions to sincere
aspirants and disseminating knowledge through the world, is my creed,
if you call it one. To be a cosmic friend and cosmic benefactor, a friend
of the poor, the forlorn, the helpless and the fallen is my creed. It
is my sacred creed to serve sick persons, to nurse them with care, sympathy
and love, to cheer the depressed, to infuse power and joy in all, to
feel oneness with each and everyone, and to treat all with equal vision.
In my highest creed, there are neither peasants nor kings, neither beggars
nor emperors, neither males nor females, neither teachers nor students.
I love to live, move and have my being in this realm indescribable.
The first step is often the most difficult one. But once it is taken
the rest becomes easy. There is a need for more of courage and patience
on the part of people. They usually shirk, hesitate and are frightened.
All this is due to ignorance of one's true duty. A certain amount of
education and culture is necessary to have a sufficiently clear grasp
of one's position in this world. Our educational system needs an overhauling,
for it is now floating on the surface without touching the depths of
man. To achieve this, co-operation should come not only from society
but also from the Government. Success is difficult without mutual help.
The head and heart should go hand in hand, and the ideal and the real
should have a close relation. To work with this knowledge is karma
yoga. The Lord has declared this truth in the Bhagavad Gita. I pray
that this supreme ideal be actualized in the daily life of every individual,
and there be a veritable heaven on earth. This is not merely a wish,
this is a possibility and a fact that cannot be gainsaid. This is to
be realized if life is to mean what it really ought to mean.
Sri Swami Chidananda
In the religious and social history of this land of ours, one phenomenon
has recurred periodically through the past centuries. Time to time the
great vision of the ancient seers, the eternal verities of religion
and spiritual life, (recorded as they are in the sacred tongue, the
classical Sanskrit language) becomes confined within the circle of the
upper orthodox class. The scriptures, being inaccessible to the unlearned
and the illiterate, become the exclusive monopoly of the Sanskrit-knowing
higher class, while the majority of people degenerate gradually into
indifference and superstition. A vast section of people who toil day
and night for a livelihood have neither the energy to make a serious
study and master Sanskrit, nor the time to sit long hours at the feet
of a pundit to get enlightened. They thus lose touch with sacred
literature and the orthodox class comes to acquire a sort of tyrannical
hold over the masses on all questions bearing on God, ethics and after-life.
At such times there invariably appears on the scene a person inspired
by lofty ideals, who, perceiving the widening gulf that is created between
him and the people, at once sets about 'bridging' it in the way best
suited to the particular occasion. He applies himself to bringing out
the choicest gems of religion in the language of the people, in a manner
acceptable to popular taste and to the need of the hour. Getting into
their midst the message of beauty and hope in a form they can easily
understand, the people turn round and eagerly grasp their heritage again
and at once find their lives transformed by it. Thus responding to the
rousing message of this man of the people, there takes place a general
awakening in society.
Laughed at by the learned, condemned by the orthodox and ridiculed
by the sceptic, these few farsighted ones disinterestedly rendered their
service to the people. Sri Jnanadev thus gave his peerless Gita and
other works to Maharashtra, while Ekanath brought the great Bhagavata
to the homes of the people. The brave-hearted Potana, the genius of
Sant Tulsidas and Kambar of sacred memory, brought the precious gems
of the Ramayana and the Bhagavata to the door of the humblest in Andhra
Pradesh, Hindustan and Tamilnadu respectively. They have become household
words there and have come to be well known in all the land. Lakshmishakavi
and Moropant have done like services to the Kannada and Marathi people
with their exquisite Kavyas rendering the sacred Mahabharata in the
vernacular. Likewise the lofty thoughts of vedanta are now available
to all in the Vichara-Sagara of Nischaldas.
Coming to the present era, a similar situation had begun to develop;
but this time it was rendered very queer by a singular irony of fate.
Doubtless history repeats itself, but Providence is sometimes apt to
exhibit a strange humour and thus this time she made it repeat itself
with a funny twist in it. What distinguished the present mass from previous
history was that, instead of the unlearned masses being deprived of
and estranged from God and religion, this time the once orthodox upper
class, the once zealous custodians of the scriptures, themselves now
fell prey to the advent of new ideas and ideals from the Occident. Sanskrit
was relegated overnight to the dust of the antiquary's shelf. Loyalty
to religion, tradition and time-honoured social customs came to be regarded
as something not quite in fashion for which one had to make an apology.
The intelligentsia were the first victims to the baneful educational
policy of the East India Company whose avowed and openly admitted policy
it was to 'gradually and eventually render the English tongue into the
general language for the nation'.
The systematic adoption of English as the medium of instruction, following
Lord Macaulay's Minute of 1835, converted the once exclusive custodians
of Sanskrit lore into a new English-knowing educated class that supplied
the Company with qualified scribes, interpreters, assistants, etc. Later
under the Crown, they became the bench clerks, the camp clerks of the
civilians, revenue clerks, accountants, etc. So now that little section
which had the key to the land's culture in its keeping had shelved Sanskrit
learning, forgotten the shastras (scriptures), lost contact
with all original tradition and begun to get anglicized by bounds. The
treasurers themselves neglected the treasury and the wealth that it
contained! How this affected society in general may be imagined!
This time, therefore, the role of reviver and reclaimer of scriptural
knowledge and of spiritual life devolved upon one who was himself of
this new class. And the irony of it all lay in the fact that he had
necessarily to do this work in the very language that had brought on
the decadence which he was to arrest. For the historical malady was
not, in the present case, confined to any particular linguistic province
or region like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh or Tamilnadu, but was epidemic
through the length and breadth of Bharatavarsha. This made the problem
assume a form distinctively peculiar to India, possessing as she does
a dozen different vernaculars with widely divergent scripts. These regional
vernaculars were restricted in their scope, and to tackle the problem
through any one of them would mean a failure to reach and cover the
entire seat of the trouble. And so, even as the burnt shoe-leather served
the shoe-bite of the simple villager or as the auto-vaccine that the
modern physician prepared from the body of the patient himself, this
'case' called for medication on like lines. Providence consequently
chose an educated and somewhat anglicized apostle to resuscitate the
Indian genius. The very factor that had been largely responsible in
bringing on the malady, now became the medium of doing this work of
restoration. Swamiji set himself to broadcast the truths of Religion
and Spirituality in English to people who had gradually begun to feel
that as a sort of second mother tongue.
Writing in simple and easy English, Swamiji commenced systematically
spreading into every nook and corner of the land, the neglected and
discarded principles of divine-living, the living of a 'Life in the
Spirit' on earth. Ceaselessly and tirelessly Swamiji has striven to
hammer into a self-forgetful people the precious ideas and ideals that
had been pushed out of their ken by the inroads of an Occidental culture.
For, in effect the harm had not stopped with a mere decay of the nation's
literature, but there had poured over the land a host of ideas and customs
entirely detrimental and antagonistic to the indigenous culture and
the spiritual genius of the nation. The whole outlook of the nation
was turning commercial and mercenary. Those remote remnants of the orthodox
community that remained untouched by the foreign 'infection' retained
the old traditions merely as a paying profession, specializing in astrology,
astronomy, etc., and in the performance of formal rites and ceremonies,
as purohits (priests) or shastris; else they were pundits
versed in debate and grammar. Spirituality everywhere came to be
at a sad discount.
By making use of every possible method and every available avenue,
Swamiji flooded the land with spiritual knowledge. He acquainted thousands
with the life-giving facts and details of spiritual life, God, Religion,
Morality and Right Conduct (dharma). The truths locked up in
devanagari script began to be boldly broadcast to all in a style
of English so simple and so direct that even a high-school lad in his
teens could understand it without difficulty at the first perusal. Since
his launch into this effort he has been bringing the Upanishads, the
Tantras, the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavata, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata,
Gita and the Yoga-Vasistha to the light of day again. Through his efforts
the vital subject of brahmacharya (chastity) has regained
its legitimate place in the knowledge of the youth and student population
of the country. The living of the householders' life upon very idealistic
lines was advocated with considerable success through his works. Very
many householders are themselves living testimonies to this fact now.
The ideal of the highest Goal of life-of God-realization-the only real
purpose of human birth, he has constantly highlighted before the nation's
eyes. The details of the various kinds of practical Sadhana (spiritual
practice) to achieve this end, Swamiji patiently and painstakingly collected,
classified and arranged, and gave to the world in his own inimitable
direct, forceful and clear style. In this destined role of his as disseminator
of spiritual knowledge and awakener of the masses, Swamiji has come
to be known by all for his enthusiastic propagation of purely non-sectarian
universal ideas of the most tolerant and all-embracing character, comprising
the truths common to the major religions of the world. This then has
been his life's work, the part given to his share in the nation's destiny
by the Benign Powers that ever watchfully guide, control and shape the
course of all things on this terrestrial plane. How far he has succeeded
in his work is patent to any observer. It is apparent in the almost
nation-wide awakening that has gradually taken place among all sections
of the public. His dynamic and indefatigable dissemination and propaganda
has specially had a strong effect upon the middle and the upper-middle
classes that were rapidly becoming unduly westernized. They have been
brought back to a proper appraisal of the worth and beauty of their
own religious and cultural heritage.
Sri Swami Krishnananda
The world we live in is observed to be a solid mass of matter. Even
our own bodies are seen to be parts of physical nature governed by mechanistic
laws, which alone appears to be all that is real. It has become a commonplace
idea today, especially in the universe of science, that life is strictly
determined by the law of causality which rules over the entire scheme
of the world. We are told that distinctions that are supposed to subsist
between such realms of being as matter, life and mind are only superficial
and are accounted for by the grades of subtlety in the manifestation
and spreading of particles of matter. Even the organism of the human
body, which appears to defy the laws of the universal machine that modern
science envisages, is explained away as only one of the many forms of
the workings of the brute force of matter which is the ultimate stuff
of all things. The natural consequence of such a theory as this is the
astonishing conclusion that human life, like every other material substance
in the world, is completely determined by blind causal laws and the
so-called free-will of man is subservient to them, if not a mere chimera.
When we protest that man is not merely matter but also mind, it is explained
that mind is nothing but a subtle and ethereal exudation of forces of
matter. Man is reduced to an insignificant speck in the gigantic machinery
of the cosmos which works ruthlessly with its own laws, unconcerned
with the weal and woe of man.
This naturalistic interpretation of life, that is fast threatening
to become rampant in this modern scientific and atomic age, seems to
be really the philosophy of the common credulous man and even of the
intelligent public who have neither the patience and the leisure (nor
the equipment of understanding) to fathom the greater depths of human
experience. Hand in hand with this theory of crass materialism there
is a craze for more comfort and pleasure by lessening effort and movement
of every kind, and an inherent feeling that material progress conceived
at its zenith should be the ultimate purpose of existence. Due to an
irrational faith in the efficacy and correctness of this doctrine, the
man of the world seems to have forgotten the corruption of moral values
today, the fall in the mental life and the standard of present-day education,
and a sense of monotony and restlessness of spirit brought about by
such a view of life, in spite of his riches and material possessions.
The fact that man is not merely a humble cogwheel in the deterministic
machine of a relentless universe and that the essence of man is a spiritual
principle coextensive and co-eternal with the universal Spirit, was
easily felt by many as a reaction to the very unsatisfactory and humdrum
propaganda carried on by the materialists. The balance swung from the
extreme of materialism holding that man is merged in the physical nature,
to the other extreme of the idealism which propounded that man is perforce
dragged on by the impetus of a cosmic spiritual Substance. The difference
between these materialistic and idealistic theories is found finally
to be in the conception of the ultimate stuff and constitution of the
universe-the one advocating that it is matter, motion and force, and
the other affirming that it is pure Mind or Spirit. But both agree in
holding that man has no real choice and freedom of his own, he being
inextricably involved, merged and lost in the ultimate reality of the
universe, be it material, mental or spiritual. Unfortunate man discovered
that it was hard for him, under such circumstances, to live a normal
life of enjoyment of the aesthetic, religious and moral values-and at
the same time feel his feet well planted on mother earth, with her richness
and grandeur, promises and mysteries. Yet that life is not all. There
is some awe-inspiring and terrible truth continuously pointed out by
the phenomena of suffering, pain and death; by the restlessness of the
world and the vicissitudes of life, the endless desires of man and the
moral aspirations surging from within. The man of the world required
a loving and sympathetic, reasonable and satisfying teaching to enable
him to live as an individual, fulfilling his daily duties in life, and
yet aspiring for that marvellous and magnificent Beyond which ever seems
to beckon him through the tantalizing veils of Nature.
With the advent of Western education, people began to move along the
ruts of a so-called modernism of thinking, a rationality of approach
and a scientific attitude to life, and the sublimity and the wisdom
of the lives of their ancient predecessors were slowly lost. There were
many who delighted in doubting spiritual laws, in denying the superphysical,
and went even to the extent of decrying soul and God. They succumbed
to the glamour of applied science and the utility of an industrial revolution.
The situation called for a revaluation of all values and for the building
of man's inner life upon a stronger foundation. There emerged several
powerful and authentic voices in the prominent fields of life's activity-politics,
sociology, religion, yoga and spirituality-to correct erring
minds and give articulation to the requirements of truth, law and morality.
Swami Sivananda figured prominently among such leaders who brought about
a thorough inner transformation in modern India, and placed the grand
spiritual values on a firmer footing and in a proper setting.
This lacuna in the entire structure of life was carefully observed
by the acute vision of Swami Sivananda, who made it his mission to give
to the world a comprehensive philosophical theory, striking a balance
between reconciling and blending together the demands of an obstinate
empiricism and the principles and teachings of the lofty idealism that
the eternal Spirit alone is real; and to design comprehensively a practice
of certain synthesized techniques of inner and outer discipline to achieve
perfection. While being fully convinced of the doctrine of non-dualism-that
nought else than God can have any ultimate value-and having entered
personally into the stupendous reality of its experience, Swami Sivananda
felt the need to intelligently tackle the situations in which the human
mind is involved, without disturbing or upsetting the beliefs of the
ignorant, and taking into consideration every aspect of man's life.
We cannot teach that life in the sense-sphere is all, that the physical
body and the external material world constitute the only reality: for
the thoughtful nature raises the pertinent question that mind cannot
be equated with matter; that love and joy refuse to be reduced to movements
of electrons and protons; that the never-ending cry, from time immemorial,
of the mystics and the religious men who professed to know and who proclaimed
the existence of an unknown region and an unexplored reality of spiritual
values-and of the clear possibility of such a thing as immortality-cannot
be set aside as mere distorted voices of morbid spirits or abnormal
natures. Nor is pretentious man, being what he is, to be satisfied by
the extraordinary teaching that the world is not there at all, that
what he enjoys and suffers are mere phantasms, that life is a delirium
of consciousness, that precious values which are so eagerly and anxiously
treasured with zealous care are but the busy activities of a confused
mind. For, the searching senses and the enquiring understanding vehemently
complain that they see a world as hard, concrete and real as anything
can be; that the body has its pains and pleasures; that life has its
duties, burdens, griefs, wonders and patent meanings which cannot be
brushed aside by any effort of logic; that the experience is real and
cannot be abrogated as worthless by any stretch of imagination; that
the visible is real and is valued, as amply testified by everyday experience.
We cannot say that God created the world, for God has no desire to prompt
Him to create. We cannot say that the world is God's play, for a perfect
Being needs no play. We also cannot say that the world has no ultimate
basis at all, for the changing phases of physical nature and moral urges
of the inner spirit in man assert that God ought to be.
Swami Sivananda addresses himself to the difficult but important task
of taking man as he is-a growing organism of a psycho-physical character-neither
wholly restricted naturalistically by the mechanism of the material
world nor fully absorbed spiritualistically in the supermundane aim
of divine existence. Man is not merely a body, a mind or a spirit, but
a curious mixture of all these in a manner not comprehensible to ordinary
intelligence. The Katha Upanishad says that the true 'enjoyer' (or the
empirical agent of knowledge and action) is a composite structure of
the Atman, the mind and the senses, together. Life is not merely a process
of swirling masses of matter, groups of molecules, aggregates of atoms
or vortices of electrical forces; nor is it an occasion for the study
of psychology (or even metaphysics); nor an idealistic soaring into
the realms of logical thought, mental phenomena or mere psychic experience.
Man is at once a physical embodiment, a mental phenomenon and a spiritual
entity. He has to appease not only the hunger of the body and the thirst
of his vital forces, but has to pay equal, if not greater, attention
to the demands of his psychic nature, moral tendencies and spiritual
aspirations. Life is a synthesis of the forces manifesting in different
orders and in a graduated scale of the evolutionary structure of nature.
In this sense the whole of one's life is a sadhana, an integral
endeavour for fullness on the part of mysterious man whose constitution,
attention and training ranges at once from the lowest matter to the
highest Spirit. As a body he is a creature of natural forces, subjected
to the suffering and the mortality attending upon all composite structures
in the physical world. He is one with inanimate matter when taken purely
as a material structure. But man's tale does not end here. He grows
like a plant, feels and reacts like an animal, and in-so-far as the
craving for food, sleep and sex is concerned, he is indistinguishable
from the inhabitants of the mute kingdom. But man struggles to reach
above the realm of the brute, exercises a moral consciousness totally
absent in animals, and displays a marvellous understanding power and
reasoning capacity in distinguishing between true and false, right and
wrong, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. This makes it amply clear that
while partaking of the natures of matter, life and mind (observable
also in the inanimate world, the vegetable kingdom and the subhuman
beings) he is also more than all these; and while including these in
his individual make-up he also transcends them in an astonishing degree.
The life of man is thus very complex, embracing variegated elements,
exhibiting diverse characteristics and manifesting different grades
of reality. If life is a sadhana-a continuous journey and movement
and a story of adjusting oneself to and adapting oneself with the vast
universe-it is not enough if we merely look into one side of the picture.
We have to consider every aspect of the revelation of reality in man.
This is precisely the mission of Swami Sivananda, to whom all life is
yoga, and whose writings are an elaborate dissertation on integral
living.
The human self is constituted of a consciousness which is not pure
existence but a dynamic process. This dynamic process is interfused,
as it were, with the nature of the circumstances in which it finds itself
in the world-an environment of social elements, political restraints,
moral commands, physical needs, vital urges, intellectual situations
and the like. In other words, in his activities and in the problems
he has to encounter every day, man discovers that his life is related
to others' lives and undergoes growth and change as the world appears
to change. We have to remember that human life is involved in the time-process
and hence bound by temporal laws. The human self is in the world, though
not of the world. Thus a study of man is nothing but a reflection on
the totality of situations within the range of human knowledge-whether
explicit as in the usual everyday experiences and in the themes of the
physical and psychological sciences, implied as in philosophy or revealed
as in religion. Such a study has to include in its gamut the whole of
life's problems, in-so-far as they affect the human self, the aspiring
individual. Man thinks, feels and wills, and does not merely exist.
Hence his approach to the religious value of God, the ethical value
of duty and the logical value of truth, should proceed from his own
central reality-as far as he experiences it in his daily life.
Human life is conceived by Swami Sivananda as a school of education
for the jiva (or the empirical self) caught up in the meshes
of ignorance, desire and activity. This education has to be physical,
intellectual, emotional, moral, active and spiritual, all at once, in
a way beautifully fitted to the conditions in which one is placed. The
actual technique of this education differs in its details in different
individuals, in accordance with their age, health, avocation, stage
of evolution, social relations, etc., all of which call the attention
of the soul in a variegated world. Essentially, any scheme of education
should consist of methods for bringing about and effecting (1) the development
of personality, (2) a knowledge of the world, (3) an adjustment of self
with society, and (4) a realization of the permanent values. By development
of personality what is meant is the wholesome building up of the individual,
not only with reference to the internal states of body, mind and consciousness,
but also in relation to the external world reaching up to it through
the different levels of society. In this sense, true education is both
a diving inward and a spreading outward. Knowledge of the world is not
merely a collection of facts or gathering information regarding the
contents of the physical world, but forms a specific insight into its
inner workings as well-at least in-so-far as man's inner and outer life
is inextricably bound up with them. When this knowledge of one's own
individuality and personality-as it is involved in a world of picturesque
colours and varying depths-is acquired through intensive training by
study, reflection and service of one's preceptor, it becomes easy for
one to discover the art of adjusting oneself with society. Truly speaking,
this adjustment is not possible for one who has no knowledge of the
deeper spiritual nature of humanity.
The aim of the individual as well as of society is the realization
of the values-personal, social, political and even universal-all mutually
related and determined by a common goal to which all these are directed,
consciously or unconsciously. Ignorant man may not be fully aware that
the eternal values of life are summed up in the all-comprehensive terms-God,
Freedom, Immortality-and that all his daily struggles are nothing but
gropings of his mind in the darkness of his ignorance to recognize and
participate in these by way of all that he sees, hears or understands.
To awaken the human spirit to this tremendous fact is the primary mission
of Swami Sivananda, and his voluminous works cater to the hungry souls
who are in search of food but cannot find it for want of knowledge.
The writings of Swami Sivananda cover a vast range of subjects, in
accordance with his plan of approaching man from every side and every
aspect. These works treat of-in detail-such diverse topics as anatomy
and physiology; health, hygiene and sanitation; physical exercise, first-aid
and treatment of diseases; the discipline of the physical body through
the technical hatha-yoga processes of asanas (or bodily
postures), pranayama (or regulation of the vital force and of
breathing), bandhas, mudras and kriyas; in fact all intricate
methods for the perfection of the body to prepare it to withstand the
onslaughts of nature's pairs of opposites such as heat and cold, hunger
and thirst; an exhaustive psychological analysis of the composition,
working and behaviour of the inner man: the mental, volitional, affective,
moral and rational natures which so much influence and decide the values
of life as a whole; the duties of man, his relationship to family, community
and nation; his position in the world and the universe; his national,
international and world relations; the social, ethical and political
structure of individuals; the assessment of religious and spiritual
values; and a comprehensive and penetrating discussion of the characteristics
of the ultimate goal of human life, as well as an intensive treatment
of the nature of the way leading to this goal.
In his expositions of these subjects Swami Sivananda appeals not merely
to the rational and the scientific man-the intelligentsia of society-but
also to the devout, the faithful and the believing, and the common masses
ignorant of higher laws; to spiritual aspirants, recluses, sannyasins,
householders, businessmen, women and children alike. It will be observed,
on a careful study of his writings, that his appeal is more to the heart
and the feelings, and his admonitions are mostly of a practical nature
adapted for an immediate application in the day-to-day life of man belonging
to every class of society.
His works are, strictly speaking, comprehensive gospels on the different
yogas: e.g. (1) jnana yoga (the philosophical technique
of the rational and the scientific intellect in unravelling the secrets
of nature and living a life of the wisdom, truth and justice of the
law of the Absolute); (2) raja yoga (the psychic and mystical
way of analyzing, dissecting and inhibiting the constituents and modifications
of the mind-stuff, thus enabling man to overcome its tyrannies and to
rise to a comprehension of his position in a universality of the Spirit
or the Purusha); (3) bhakti yoga (the way of spiritual love and
devotion directed to the majestic Sovereign of the universe, the merciful
and compassionate Father of all creation, by which emotions such as
those fastening man to relationships with his parents, children, masters,
friends and partner in life-are sublimated and ennobled by being centred
in the universal nature of God, who promises man the hope of salvation
when he has surrendered his self completely to him); (4) karma yoga
(the science and art of spiritual activity, a splendid manner of
converting every action and every duty in life-physical, mental, moral
or spiritual-into yoga by linking it up with a ceaseless consciousness
of the omnipresence of the Absolute, of the surrender of personality
to God, or of one's standing as an unaffected witness of the movements
of the internal and external nature); (5) hatha yoga (the disciplining
of the physical body, the nervous system and the vital forces with a
view to preparing the individual for the practice of the higher yoga
of inner discipline and meditation); (6) kundalini yoga (the
bringing into activity of a highly occult force dominant and latent
in the individual, by a rousing of which-through a training of the prana
and the mind-the illimitable resources of nature are spontaneously
placed at the disposal of man, and he becomes possessed of a consciousness
of his true atonement with the universe); (7) mantra, yantra
and tantra yogas (the ways of certain purely mystic processes
of generating spiritual forces and vibrations within, as also of relating
these to the forces without, through the symbology of specific sounds,
formulas, diagrams and rituals intended to free man from confinement
to the lower nature, and raise him to the regions of the higher nature);
(8) japa yoga (the spiritual practice of chanting of the name
of God or certain significant letters, words, phrases or sentences in
order to bring about a condition of harmony and illumination in the
inner nature of man); (9) laya yoga (the method of the dissolution
of the mind in the Spirit by the recession of effects into causes, the
merging of the grosser in the subtler, and the raising of one's consciousness
and force from the lower to the higher). Swami Sivananda displays a
great mastery in the synthesis of these various yogas and assures
the aspirant-world that success is bound to come when practice is backed
up by sincerity, firmness and patience.
It is said that a sage of Self-realization is like a pure crystal which
has, by itself, no colour, but appears to assume the tint of any object
that may be brought near it. He is supposed to behave, speak and act
like a child with a child, an adult with an adult, an old man with an
old man, a scholar with a scholar and an ignorant one with an ignoramus.
The idea behind this spontaneous self-expression-uninitiated by any
particularized motive, intention, effort or will-is a close following
of one's true nature with the Divine Will, which is immanent and active
in all beings, and which has neither partiality nor prejudice, neither
preference nor ill-will in regard to anyone. Swami Sivananda, in his
personal life and example as well as in his writings and speeches, reflected
spontaneously, as it were, the nature manifested and exhibited by the
environment around him, and acted in close keeping with a purely impersonal
life. His works are not so much enunciations of principles for the guidance
of the intellect and the reason, as practical instructions on the methods
of the life spiritual, meant to go straight into the hearts of aspiring
individuals (whether or not they have carefully thought out beforehand
the conditions and the inner circumstances under which they have been
prompted to take to the spiritual way of living).
There is no circumlocution, no statement of superficials or throwing
of unnecessary side-lights in his writings. A clear-cut, well-defined
and open path free from all mystifications and ambiguities is laid before
the seeker with an intention not merely to give information but to enlighten
and guide him at every step of his sadhana. His style and expression
are remarkably simple, surging from the heart and the feeling of one
who has not only had a vision of the perfection and the delight of God,
but possesses an insight into the sufferings of man, the depth of his
ignorance and his needs-not only physical, mental and moral, but also
spiritual. His entire teachings are powerfully charged with the dominant
spiritual note that all forms of life in society-whether individual
or collective-have ultimately to be based on (and to derive meaning
and inspiration from) the recognition of a boundless existence deeper
than all that is visible and conceivable.
Fired with a deep anxiety to relieve the world of ignorance and pain,
Swami Sivananda faced the situation in the best possible manner open
to him, and spared no pains in harnessing all his energy for the noble
divine purpose which he set before himself. His works are illustrative
of almost every way of contacting man through literature-metaphysics,
ethics, religion, mysticism, psychology, parables, stories, catechism,
yoga, prayer and ritual.
The qualified student to approach his spiritual literature is neither
one who is totally ignorant of spiritual values nor one who has attained
to the apex of spiritual life. The aspirant endowed with the ethical
and the moral qualifications of yama, niyama and sadhana-
chatushtaya (the four kinds of spiritual effort: discrimination,
dispassion, sixfold virtues and desire for liberation), who has, by
his purity of mind, received monitions as to the existence of a higher
life and is stirred with the zeal to grasp it and realize it in his
own life, but is at the same time troubled by doubts and lack of knowledge
in regard to the proper method of approaching it and the spiritual way
of conducting himself, should turn to the works of Swami Sivananda.
Most of his writings begin with a vivid and clear portrayal of the
nature of suffering in the world, the detection of which is the fundamental
prerequisite of a spiritual way of life. Like Sankara, the philosopher,
Swami Sivananda boldly affirms the existence of a supreme Absolute,
second to which there can be none. Like the Buddha he gives a colourful
picture of the character of pain in life and makes a careful diagnosis
of the cause of this pain, gives a detailed analysis of the human psyche
and delineates the laying out of the path which runs up to the ultimate
perfection and peace of man, together with a dignified and glorious
description of the characteristics of his final destiny.
Swami Sivananda emphasizes that life is the working out of a philosophy,
and philosophy is the unravelling of the mystery of existence, an all-round
consideration of the deeper implications of experience and not merely
a raising of the mansions of logical systems. Philosophy is more a digging
deep into the abyss of life than a flying into the air of abstract speculation.
Swami Sivananda recognizes that any philosophy divested of human concerns
is doomed in the end to failure and can never appeal to the restless
and inquisitive spirit of man. Philosophy, religion and life meant one
and the same thing to him. They signify not any unworldly or other-worldly
concepts, but move in close association with man's demands for food
and love, fame and power, value for life, concern for others, regard
for oneself and his ultimate aspiration for immortality in Brahman.
The ringing tone of Swami Sivananda's life and teachings is that of
a divine love based on proper understanding, a love in which the obstructing
barrier between man and man is broken open and in which one easily discovers
a happy way of participating in the life of others in the world. Endless
hope-which seems to be the only foundation of all human enterprises
-bespeaks the remote possibility, if not the immediate fact, of a union
of the personal will with the Universal Law of God. It is this love
and this meaning of hope and aspiration that can assure a world-brotherhood,
a world-government based on universal sympathy and altruistic considerations.
It is this principle of humanitarianism and an acute perception of the
necessity of rousing mankind to the presence of an Almighty God that
characterize the life and teachings of Swami Sivananda.
The Vedas declare that there is no limit to God's glories and there
is no cessation of man's endeavour to comprehend His Nature and the
path leading to Him. Swami Sivananda caught the significance of this
great truth and so never felt that spiritual teachings can have an end,
that one can ever be tired of teaching the spiritual way of life or
of listening to spiritual instructions, that there could be a limit
to the carefulness with which the guru has to look after the
welfare of his disciples at every stage. To him every moment is an opportunity
for sadhana, an occasion to exercise unlimited caution in regard
to one's spiritual practices and to be aware of the chance of temptations,
thwartings, side-trackings and stagnations of mind and spirit in one's
life.
The philosophic life is not strange. It is the normal flow of a well-adjusted
and perfected activity in the healthy maturity of seasoned knowledge
and profound insight into Truth.
The inspiring teachings of Swami Sivananda constitute one long song
of liberation, the liberation of the individual, the society, the community,
the nation and the world-physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually.
The central burden of this eternal song of all-round freedom is peace-peace
to all, peace everywhere-by learning and imbibing the lesson that Life
is One. Every breath that flows from man, every movement of his limbs,
every turn of his behaviour, is a direct or indirect effort towards
the reconstruction of his personality to suit a better purpose, to bring
about an easier and happier condition of life with liberty and peace
as its emblems. Man represents a microscopic specimen of what happens
in the gigantic cosmos on a colossal scale. The attempt to reach unity,
freedom and happiness-which are seen to be vigorously active in man-can
also be seen to be busy in the fulfilment of the purpose of the cosmos.
In one's own personal life, in society and in the state, man struggles
to manifest a regular system and order, abolishing chaos and confusion.
An intense passion for the firm establishment of system and order seems
to be innate in the very structure of all beings, especially in those
self-conscious ones in whom the development of intelligence has come
to the stage of displaying the ability to know the difference between
right and wrong, true and false. The universe does the same thing, with
this difference-that while man strives with insufficient knowledge,
the universe moves freely with an unrestricted expression of this tendency
to realize the highest truth, goodness and freedom in its own bosom.
The changes that take place in the parts are felt in the constitution
of the whole. As every cell in the human body organizes itself to live
in accordance with the law that regulates the whole body, and as every
error on the part of a cell brings about a reaction from the entire
body with the purpose of setting right the wrong that has entered into
its being, so does the cosmic Law correct the errors committed by the
individuals who constitute the cosmos. Small errors cause mild reactions
and great wrongs lead to tremendous upheavals. Even the so-called unobserved
acts in the grosser world produce mighty vibrations in the subtler regions.
The entire teaching and activity of Swami Sivananda centres round an
untiring stress on the possibility of individual and world peace on
the basis of a knowledge and practice of this rule of Unity in every
level of existence, in every man, woman and child. He ceaselessly warned
humanity that peace cannot be had by warfare, exploitation, domination
and competition, for these bursting waves on the surface are raised
by the storms of desire and greed, and that there can be no rest for
man until these violent commotions cease through understanding and co-operation.
Man's concept of pleasure is nothing but an outcome of his erroneous
judgment of a present good, his desire is the result of a wrong idea
of a future good, his pain the consequence of a false notion of a present
evil and his fear the corollary of a mistaken evaluation of the nature
of a future evil. All passions and their several variations are veritable
diseases brought on by erroneous thinking. These are to be eradicated,
for they are irrational and founded on ignorance. Man needs proper education
of his faculties in the direction of the real and the good in the highest
sense. For Swami Sivananda, every activity in life can be transformed
into a yoga of the Divine, provided the requisite knowledge is
acquired by study, contemplation and service.
The revered Mahatma Gandhi did a signal service not only in the field
of politics but also to religion, philosophy and ethics, when he emphasized
the aspect of Truth is God. In the assertion commonly made, viz.,
God is Truth, the judgment involved is likely to become questionable,
for the predicate 'Truth' is referred to 'God' whose existence is here
presupposed or taken for granted. Naturally, those to whom the existence
of God has not become an article of faith and whose rational attitude
has not been convinced of it will take the assertion 'God is Truth'
as not a demonstrated fact but a hypothetical proposition. But in the
assertion 'Truth is God', no such sublime inconsequence is involved,
for none can deny that there is such a thing as Truth. And this Truth
is identified with what we have to understand by God. Truth is the law
of the universe. This law is not blind but intelligence itself operating
everywhere. Law and Law-giver in this case are one. And likewise, to
Swami Sivananda, Truth is not merely truth-speaking but 'That which
is'. It is the unchanging, infinite and eternal Substance, which is
at once the law and the love governing and guiding man, society, nation
and world.
The true significance of this Truth and of this Love is not properly
assimilated in ordinary man's life, but is fully realized in the life
of the superman who is not only a world-ruler but also a self-ruler.
It is not Nietzsche's egoistic elevation of man to power, but the realized
sage, a veritable embodiment of the Divine that is the ideal superman,
a being who is at one and the same time a man of the world and a representative
of the Absolute. True knowledge is a knowledge of things in their essences,
in their relation to the universe, in the relation of Truth. This Truth,
this Law, when it is supported and protected, supports and protects
everyone. Dhanno rakshati rakshitah. It is only when we realize
that joy is in the fulfilment of the law of God that we become truly
free and liberated from all bondage. Dharma is the innermost nature
and truth of man and of the universe, for it is the body of the Divine
Will. This is real duty, and here is the secret of world-peace. Swami
Sivananda lived and preached this deathless truth, this law and order
of Nature, for the solidarity of the world and for all mankind to emulate
and follow. His divine mission shall be fulfilled when even a modicum
of this knowledge shall succeed in throwing light into the dark corners
in man's mortal nature.
Here is the essence of the law and the love that unites all the world.
This is the rationale behind all the gospels of world-peace and doctrines
of universal love and brotherhood. By broadcasting the ancient wisdom
of India, the wisdom that discovered the true relation of man to his
environment, Swami Sivananda ceaselessly urges humanity to muster forces
for bringing about real peace in the world. All his teachings and messages
are lessons in the attainment of unity by the integration of personality
in the consciousness of the Absolute. The aim of life is the practical
realization of the eternal spiritual essence which finds itself in man
in a very limited and obscure form.
Every individual tries to stretch beyond himself by desiring, aspiring,
longing. Desire of any kind is a disclosure, in one's conscious states,
that there is something wanting, something lacking, something inadequate.
Give the whole world to man; he will not be satisfied. Why? Because,
there is that something, beyond the world, lying outside the
possession of any earthly individual. Give him the whole of the heavens;
he will still be dissatisfied, because there is yet an unfulfilled want.
This grievous mishap is the direct result of man's ignorance of his
unity with creation. 'For the magnanimous, the whole world is one family,'
says the scripture. There can be no peace to man unless he begins to
recognize, live and serve his vast surroundings as his own Self, until
he does his best at least to approximate his conduct in daily life to
this sublime ideal. Peace is only in God, and the peace which we can
hope to enjoy in this world depends upon the extent to which we have
succeeded in reading and manifesting this infinitude of the Spirit in
our social, national and world relations. This achievement is not only
a consequence of the knowledge and experience of Truth by man, but also
a necessary condition of his attaining any success in his endless struggle
for perfection. This is the teaching, the religion, the ethics, the
philosophy and the gospel of Swami Sivananda to every son and daughter
of this earth of every station in society. This is the hope of humanity.
Sri Swami Venkatesananda
Swami Sivananda's 'Divine Life' is a synthesis of the ancient
and the modern. It is ancient in its governing principles and modern
in its approach and application. Swami Sivananda has brought the philosophy
that had for centuries reclined on the armchair into the household and
business houses, in the factories and fields of other activities.
Life is divine in its origin, content and meaning. Life, divorced from
philosophy, loses its aim and charm. When the horizontal being strives
to look up and endeavours to reach an ideal, it becomes a vertical,
standing, human being. Man is different from beast only because he can
and he ought to live for an ideal. It is man who realized that life
has a purpose and a meaning. He who eats in order to be able to eat-he
is no better than an animal; he exists but he does not live. Therefore,
Swami Sivananda wants us, first of all, to understand and feel that
we have a nobler mission than eating, drinking and sleeping-to use his
own words.
Our mission in life is to realize that we are, in truth, the Immortal
Spirit encased in mortal human sheath. There is a divine spark in everyone.
It is the life of our life. It is in its light that our mind and intellect
function. Various prophets of the world have given it various names,
but rose called by any other name smells as sweet! We live, we think,
we feel, we experience our contacts with the objects of the world, and
we carry on the various activities only because that divine spark dwells
in us. A recognition of this universal truth is the first principle
in Swami Sivananda's Divine Life.
We commence our journey with an intellectual understanding of this;
but our destination is actual realization or direct and immediate experience
of it. Since this Divine Spark is the reality in us and since all our
faculties exist and thrive in It, Swami Sivananda exhorts us to strive
for integral perfection. Divine Life or spiritual life or yoga should
not promote any single aspect of our personality at the cost of any
other. This inner spiritual culture must simultaneously sublimate our
emotions, purify our thoughts, strengthen our will, enlighten our intellect,
control our mind and curb our senses. Our thoughts must be sublime,
our speech noble and ennobling and our actions selfless and humanitarian.
This is the second principle in Swami Sivananda's Divine Life.
It is enough to do good in order to promote the welfare of society.
Whatever be the personal life or the inner motives of a social benefactor,
we honour him if he does good to us. But unless at the same time he
strives to be good, the weeds of vanity, lust for name and fame,
and desires of various types, will seriously hamper the inner culture
of the soul. Garlands and glorification might satisfy one's vanity,
but they cannot appease his hunger-only food can. The culturing of the
soul demands that one's entire inner nature must be good. This
integration of one's inner life and external conduct is the vital third
principle of Swami Sivananda's Divine Life.
Social well-being is not opposed to individual salvation. In fact they
are the two sides of the same coin of Divine Life. It is when they who
ought ever to have been the benefactors of humanity turned their backs
upon society that the society, like a rudderless ship, headed towards
the rocks of atheism, materialism and sensualism. Swami Sivananda emphatically
declares that the world is not outside us, but it is within us! One
should live in the world and yet be not worldly. This is the fourth
principle of Swami Sivananda's Divine Life.
Society is a training ground for the individual soul. Social contacts
serve a twofold purpose. We are enabled to cultivate virtues. The suffering
in the world around us gives us opportunities to serve others. At the
same time, our social contacts also test and evaluate our inner spiritual
worth. We are saved from complacency and self-delusion.
The first integration that Swami Sivananda effects is the integration
of Man and the World. Man is a part of society. He is a limb of the
society. What happens when a limb is torn away from our body? That limb
disintegrates; and the body suffers from the loss. Similarly, if you
and I cut ourselves away from society, if we shirk our duties in life,
there will be a disintegration of our personality and the society too
will suffer. Therefore Swami Sivananda exhorts us to 'Serve all. Love
all. Give or share with others, what we have. This is an amplification
of his motto: Do good. By this he achieves an integration of
Man and the World.
The second integration is that of the head, the heart and the hands
of man. Swami Sivananda discourages a lop-sided development of the personality
of the seeker after Truth. The forces of darkness must find no quarters
in any part of our being. Work and worship, study and service, holiness
and household duties, should all go hand in hand. One's own heart must
be converted into God's Abode. It must be pure and God-loving. The Divine
Light or the Light of the highest wisdom must illumine the 'head' of
man. Then, the darkness of ignorance, in which he sees himself as a
distinct and separate entity whose survival depends upon his ability
to deprive others of what he needs, will vanish. In the Divine Light
he will have a vision. In that new vision he will perceive that all
creation has but one Cosmic Soul. The influence that a pure heart and
an enlightened intellect will have upon the hands of man is quite apparent.
In his heart is love of God; in the light of a new understanding he
perceives that God as all-pervading. Therefore, he will love all and
serve all; he will share what he has with all. And what is of greater
importance, he will not feel proud of all this. The new vision and the
new outlook make goodness his compelling nature. This is the vital advantage
in this integration of the personality of man. There is no artificiality,
hypocrisy or diplomacy. Goodness becomes natural, spontaneous and overwhelming.
The vessel is prepared for the next stage.
The third integration is the integration of Man and God. Goodness paves
the way to Godliness. Goodness enables man to approach the ideal closer.
What he at first understood intellectually becomes 'visible' to the
inner eye. He sees that the Divine Spark is the reality in him and in
all beings in the world. Selfless service of humanity with intense unselfish
love and charity have burnt up the gross evils that veiled the truth
in his heart. The latent tendencies of past wrong actions are still
there to deal with. They are destroyed by various internal purificatory
practices like pranayama, repetition of Holy Names of God, study
of scriptures and company of holy men. The idea now becomes distinct.
The veil becomes extremely thin and almost transparent now. In two steps
of meditation and realization man reaches the goal. Concentrating the
rays of the mind, he turns them within himself and focusses them on
the Divine Spark within. The veil is now completely burnt and the Truth
is realized. This is an ineffable, direct and immediate experience.
Man realizes that he is, and has ever been, God Himself in reality.
This is the goal. He who has reached the goal is the greatest benefactor
of humanity, because he stands as an inspiration for all mankind and
as a beacon-light to guide the ship of society to the safe harbour of
goodness. Swami Sivananda's Divine Life ensures the salvation of man
and the prosperity of entire mankind.
Sri Swami Sivananda
The life of man is an indication of what is beyond him and what determines
the course of his thoughts, feelings and actions. The wider life is
invisible, and the visible is a shadow cast by the invisible which is
the real. The shadow gives an idea of the substance, and one can pursue
the path to the true substance by the perception of the shadow. Human
existence, by the fact of its limitations, wants and various forms of
restlessness, discontent and sorrow, points to a higher desired end,
incomprehensible though the nature of this end be.
As life on this earth is characterized by incessant change, and nothing
here seems to have the character of reality, nothing here can satisfy
man completely. The Bhagavad Gita has referred to this world as anityam,
asukham, duhkhalayam, ashashvatam-'impermanent, unhappy, the abode
of sorrow, transient'. The sages of yore declared with immediate realization
that 'Truth is One' and that the goal of human life is the realization
and the experience of this Truth.
The universe is inconstant, and it is only a field of experience provided
to the individuals so that they may evolve towards the experience of
the Highest Truth. It is the glory of the people of Bharatavarsha (India)
that to them the visible universe is not real and the invisible Eternal
alone is real. They have no faith in what they perceive with the senses.
They have faith only in that which is the ground of all experience,
beyond the senses, beyond even the individual mind.
Earnest seekers used to seek shelter under great sages who purified
the holy region of the Himalayas with their mighty presence, and lived
the austere life of Yogis in order to attain freedom from the trammels
of earth-bound life and rest in the beatitude of the Absolute, Brahman.
This they considered the true life, and thus the way of fulfilling the
law of the Eternal.
The great law-giver Manu, after describing the various tenets of dharma,
finally asserts: "Of all these dharmas, the Knowledge of
the Self is the highest; it is verily the foremost of all sciences;
for, by it, one attains immortality." The pursuit of dharma, artha
and kama has its meaning in the attainment of moksha which
is the greatest of all the purusharthas (ends of human life).
Dharma is the ethical and moral value of life; artha is its
material value; and kama is its vital value; but moksha is
the infinite value of existence which covers all the others and is itself
far greater than all these. Others exist as aids or preparations for
moksha. Without moksha they have no value and convey no
meaning. Their value is conditioned by the law of the Infinite, which
is the same as moksha.
The Vedas and the Upanishads are the expiration of the Divine Being,
and they give an exhaustive commentary on spiritual life. They are expositions
of the significance and the import of human life and of the method of
the transmutation of the mortal appearance into the Immortal Essence.
The instance of the great Nachiketas and the story of his adventurous
search for Truth narrated in the thrilling Katha Upanishad serve as
exemplars to all men capable of thought and reflection.
Nothing of the world of sensibility can be of real value-this is what
Nachiketas taught through his memorable act of renunciation. Not even
the longest life and the immense wealth offered to him could tempt him.
He persevered in his quest for the Highest, and in the end achieved
the Highest. Nothing short of it could satisfy him. Such are the true
heroes. A real hero is not he who stands against bullets or risks his
life in hazardous attempts, fights battles, dives into oceans and climbs
high cliffs, but he who subdues his senses and overcomes his mind, recognizes
the supreme unity of life and casts aside dualities and desires. To
achieve this is the duty of man; this is the immortal message of the
sages of the Upanishads.
The tangle of sense-experience in which man is caught is most vexing,
and hard it is to free oneself from it. Man is deluded by the notion
of the reality of the so-called external relations of things, and thus
he comes to grief. The Mahabharata says that the contact of beings in
this universe is like the contact of logs of wood in a flowing river,
temporary. Yet the attachment to sense-percepts is so strong that phantoms
are mistaken for facts, the impure is mistaken for the pure, the painful
for the pleasant, and the not-self for the Self.
The message of the ancient sages is that the life one lives in the
sense-world is deceptive, for it hides the Existence underlying all
things and makes one feel that the particular presentation of forms
before the senses alone is real. "Children run after external pleasures
and fall into the net of wide-spread death. The heroes, however, knowing
the Immortal, seek not the Eternal among things unstable here," says
the Upanishad. The call of the ancient sages to man is: "O son of the
Immortal! Know yourself as the Infinite; become the All. This is the
supreme blessing. This is the supreme bliss." This is the undying message
to man.
The sages have again and again stressed: "If one knows It (i.e. the
Immortal Being) here, then there is the true end of all aspirations;
if one does not know It here, great is the loss for him." (Kena Upanishad).
And sage Yajnavalkya says that all great deeds done in this world, without
the knowledge of the One Imperishable Being, are not worth anything.
Humanitarian services, fasts and charity, one's political, national,
social and individual life, should all be based on the feeling of universal
brotherhood which is the eternal expression of the Reality of universal
Selfhood.
Humanity can hope for peace when this condition, discovered and laid
down by the rishis, (viz. abiding by the law of the Divine) is
fulfilled. Peace can be had only to the extent that the system of the
Divine is adhered to in life. And this peace is inversely proportional
to the love of body, individuality and its relations in the world, in
which humanity is generally steeped. An 'awakening' of a higher consciousness
is necessary so that disorder and discontent may be abolished.
Education of humanity in the right direction is the precondition of
world peace. Materialism, atheism, scepticism and agnosticism which
are rampant in these days, and which have robbed man of his reverence
for the Supreme Absolute, are mainly responsible for the increasing
selfishness, craving, confusion, violence and agitation of mind that
are seething in the world. Man should learn that behind the appearance
of materiality, discreteness, externality, doubt and impermanence, there
is the reality of spirituality, unity and infinity.
Without the recognition of this reality, life loses life and becomes
an emptiness, devoid of meaning and purpose-dead, as it were. To live
in the Divine is to die to the narrowness of the sense world; and to
be confined to the latter is to 'destroy oneself' (in the words of the
Ishavasya Upanishad). The present trend of life has to be overhauled
and reorientation in it brought about in the light of morality, ethics
and spirituality. The change that is required is not merely in the outward
form but in the very perspective and the inner constitution of the system
of living.
This can be done when man's ideals are based on the truths of the spirituality
of Oneness, lifted above blind beliefs, differences and materiality.
When this is achieved, man would have fulfilled his great duty here.
For the man scorched in the waterless desert of worldliness the only
hope is in the cool waters of the Ganges of wisdom, flowing from the
Himalayan heights of the sages of the Upanishads. Drink from this perennial
fount, and refresh yourself.
Sri Swami Krishnananda
The attempt to achieve perfection begins with the consciousness and
application of the immediate reality that is presented to the senses.
That which is definitely known to be existent in the normal human state
of consciousness is the body situated in a world of plurality. The maintenance
of the body in harmony and of the proper relation of the body with the
external world is the first empirical concern of man. It should be the
duty of a seeker of perfection to be careful to see that the body is
not out of its balance in any way, at any time. The health of the body
is of great importance in one's endeavour to utilize one's power in
the quest of truth. External purity and observance of the laws of hygiene
are not to be neglected if the body is to be maintained as one's friend
and helper. Saucha is the basic rule of sound health. This must
include the system of partaking of diet of a suitable quality, in a
suitable quantity, at a suitable place and suitable time. Mental health
and physical health are generally inter-dependent.
The practice of the moral law and ethical conduct will pave the way
to the maintenance of a sound mind in a sound body. Passions and disturbing
emotions disbalance the system and ruin the health of a person. A mental
disturbance means the irrhythmic distribution of the vital energy and
the disturbance of the nerves. This leads to the illness of the body.
A good aspiration towards a non-selfish end is the prerequisite of a
good programme of life. The early stages of one's life should be spent
in the pursuit of knowledge, service of the teacher, self-control and
austerity. At this stage one should not concern oneself with the duty
and the business of the world, which are likely to draw one's attention
away from the primary duties which one is expected to fulfil at this
time. The moral law which includes the canons of truthfulness, love
and continence should become the guiding factors in the expression of
one's thought, word and deed. Contentment, joy and devotion to the ideal
of one's life bring about the health of the mind as well as of the body.
One's ideal of life should be that which never perishes in time and
is never contradicted by anything else. To know what this ideal is,
one requires the aid of an able teacher.
When one undergoes the process of education, no other factor in life
should interrupt or interfere with this process. The process of education
should be such that it includes in a balanced way all the sides and
layers of the human nature,-physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual.
Physical health, intellectual understanding, moral integrity and spiritual
wisdom are what lead to the ultimate perfection. The different intellectual
sciences which are taught in the universities of today are a feeble
apology for the integral education that is necessary for the attainment
of perfection. No education which neglects certain important aspects
of human life can be complete and worth its name. A well-adjusted and
balanced study of the essential human nature should constitute real
education. After one is well-educated, one must direct one's consciousness
and intelligence to the analysis of experience and knowledge of truth.
Understanding, willing and feeling are the three faculties in man which
have to be taken as the means to the practice of the method of approach
to the truth. Some make use of all these faculties in a certain proportion
in their march to perfection. Others take to an exclusive method which
transforms the other methods into itself, or keep them away as subservient
elements.
The method of feeling is faith. Faith in God is the standard way, for
some, of reaching perfection. Love of God and service of God through
His manifestation as the universe is the principal path. Faith does
not question and reason, but accepts the testimony of the teachers and
the scriptures in believing that the omnipresent God is the one Reality
of the universe. This acceptance of the cosmic presence of a spiritual
Being as the supreme Lord of the universe implies an attitude of reverence
and love on the part of the devotee towards such a Being. The human
emotions are not destroyed here but are turned towards God and thus
sublimated. God is loved as a father, a mother, a son, a friend, a husband
or a master. The world becomes a pointer to God, and worldly love an
indication of the presence of God-love. The world is the body of God.
Nothing is to be ultimately rejected. Everything is to be loved as a
step to God-realization.
The path of the will is the austere method of determination and decision
in regard to the way and the goal. The will bases itself either on faith
or on understanding. Will based on faith is different from will based
on understanding, and the two wills constitute two different paths to
perfection. The will that is based on faith concentrates itself on the
Supreme Being which is accepted as an act of faith. As God is everywhere
and the mind of man is characteristic of a behaviour which is contrary
to the fullness of God, the mind should be checked and its modifications
completely transformed in a higher Being. Contrary modifications are
opposed with their contradictories or replaced by others of a more beneficial
nature, or the modifications of the mind are fixed on God and given
a transcendental touch of the philosopher's stone of the infinitude
of experience. Matter is separated from Spirit through contemplation
on the essential distinction between the two and on the independence
and absoluteness of the Spirit. The power of the will is such that it
either completely excludes from consciousness all forms pretending to
exist outside the Infinite or absorbs them into the consciousness of
the Infinite. Thus the will is a way to perfection.
The path of the understanding is the rational method of investigation
of experience. Here the understanding and the will become one and the
will becomes another name for the movement of the force of the understanding.
The experience of one's finitude implies the existence of the Infinite.
The nature of the Infinite is opposed to that of the individual. God
is accepted not merely because the scriptures have made mention of Him
or because the teachers believe in Him, but because one's own experience
and understanding become self-contradictory in their expressions when
the Intelligent Infinite is not accepted, and also because the infinite
consciousness comes to be the logical deduction of the inmost experience
of the finite individual. The longing for the Infinite and the Perfect
is ingrained in the deepest recesses of everyone. The sense of the presence
of the Infinite becomes the indicator of, and the guide to, the achievement
of perfection.
Contemplation on the idea of the Infinite is the way. The objects of
the universe are the phases of consciousness. The existence of the individual
is on the same level of reality as that of the other individuals. The
subject and the object are related to each other as complements, and
one is not superior or inferior to the other in the degree of the manifestation
of Reality. Contemplation should therefore take the form of an assertion
of the conscious Reality of the universe as a whole. Here the universe
ceases to be a material presentation but discloses its true nature of
consciousness. The knower and the known sink into a Reality larger than
what they reveal at present. The individual becomes the specimen of
what is systematically going on in the cosmos, and the one purpose of
contemplation and meditation is to attune the individual's processes
to the cosmic process.
This attainment does not consist in any action of the body, but in
an attitude of the mind. It is the intense affirmation in consciousness
of the supreme validity of the indivisibility of the truth of the universe.
This conscious affirmation of absoluteness should be continued until
its actual realization. The practice should be continuous and should
be attended with an intense devotion to the ideal, based on clear perception
and understanding. The deep and prolonged meditation on the Absolute,
in this way, leads to perfection.
The necessary implications of the processes of meditation described
above are absence of hatred, cultivation of universal love, freedom
from attachment, peace of mind, self-control, turning away from desires,
fortitude and a deep sense of service,-all based on correct understanding
and introspection. The nature of the way is determined by the nature
of the destination to be reached. The end very much influences the nature
of the means. The end is the evolution of the means; the means is a
relative representation of the end. The characteristics of the end are
reflected in those of the means, and by this standard one can judge
the genuineness and correctness of the means. The end is the consummation
of the process or the means, and the means is an indication of the characteristics
of the end. The Infinite is reflected in every individual, and hence
no action on the part of the individual can afford to be completely
isolated from the universal process going on within the Infinite. The
path to perfection is the recognition, by degrees, of the presence of
the Infinite in every moment of the individualized processes of the
universe.
Sri Swami Sivananda
- Divine Life is the perfect life led according to the laws of Truth.
- Divine Life is life immortal, in which the ideal state of perfection
and the expansion of the self in infinity and eternity is attained.
- Divine Life is life in tune with the infinite.
- It represents the synthesis of the fundamentals of all religions.
- It represents the principles of dharma.
- It has no creed of its own, but it represents the essence of all
creeds.
- It is a means to attain the true ideal of all beings, viz., God-realization.
- It lays the greatest emphasis on each individual perfecting himself.
- It teaches you how to control your mind by concentrating all your
attention on the inner Atman.
- Divine Life means a good life together with self-discipline and
an inner awareness of the Atman.
- Entertain divine thoughts; do virtuous actions. This is the gateway
to Divine Life.
- Right conduct, self-conquest, compassion, benevolence, pursuit
of truth, service of humanity, meditation and self-enquiry: this is
good living; this is Divine Life.
- Divine Life aims at harmony, peace and concord.
- Live in peace and harmony with your fellow beings. Radiate goodness
of heart all around. This is Divine Life.
- Through the path of Divine Life alone the world can be cured of
its ills.
- Artificial living in bungalows with motor cars and servants, with
a big bank balance but without Divine Life, is not prosperity.
- Reform yourself through Divine Life; the society will reform itself.
- Come, then; take a resolve today that you will live every moment
of your life for the realization of God.
- If everyone of you makes up your mind to lead the Divine Life from
today, from this very moment, what doubt is there that the entire
society, of which you are a unit, will not become blessed?
- The dawn of a new life awaits you! The time has come! Strive for
Divine Life. You will be blessed.
- A life of self-discipline is a spiritual preparation for the selfless
service of humanity.
- Light the torch of Divine Life. Hold the torch aloft. Let humanity
see the spiritual path aright.
- On this very day, make your resolve to become strong and powerful-physically,
mentally and spiritually.
- Life is a valuable asset; utilize it for attaining God-realization.
- Life without a worthy ideal is like a rudderless boat.
- Life without aspiration is like a vegetable existence.
- Human birth is a blessing. It is very difficult to get a human
birth. Do virtuous deeds. Evolve and expand. Meditate and realize
God.
- A little meditation in the early morning hours and a well regulated
life will give a balance and rhythm to your life and an inner spiritual
strength and courage.
- The raft of the Knowledge of the Atman will take you safely
over the stormy waves of this great ocean of samsara (birth
and death).
- Shake off lethargy and faint-heartedness. Exert. Show manly fortitude.
Success will be yours.
- Yield not to despondence. Be lion-hearted. Strive. You will prosper
gloriously in every attempt.
- Learn the lessons of life. Learn to live rationally and righteously.
Seek the way of Light. Be in tune with the Infinite.
- Fight bravely the battle of life. Arm yourself with the shield
of discrimination and the sword of dispassion.
- All is but one stupendous whole. Know this spiritual oneness of
existence by living a life of purity, inquiry, devotion and meditation.
- Do not run away from evil. Rise above evil. Face it. Overcome it.
Eradicate it. Bring in the Divine Light.
- Let your life be dedicated to selfless service and spiritual endeavours.
Let it be a source of inspiration to others.
- Never allow defeat to overcome you. Be always courageous. Defeat
is illusory; victory is real.
- Find out your way back to God. Get out of this dark maze of samsara
with the help of the torch of discrimination.
- This world is a bridge. Pass over it and reach the abode of life
eternal; do not build over it.
- Live not in yesterday, live not in tomorrow, but live, work, serve,
love, purify and meditate today.
- Right Conduct
- Out of good life comes Go
