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Guru
and Disciple By Swami Yajnavalkyananda. Guru and Disciple
DR. B. G. ADHVARYOO INTRODUCTION Thousands of people flock to Ananda Kutir every year for the Darshan of Pujya Swami Sri Sivanandaji Maharaj and for his blessings. Majority of them address and take him as their Gurudev. Amongst these visitors are the royal families, ministers, officers, lawyers, doctors, professors, teachers, business people and even farmers and labourers. The intention with the majority is to seek the blessings of Gurudev for physical gain in one way or the other. All address him as Gurudev and claim to be his disciples. This question will vex anyone, whether by mere Darshan Gurudev will shower his blessings. If not, what should be the path for the disciple if he wants to earn his blessings and how would one be fit for his blessings. Once one man approached Gurudev for his blessings. Swamiji replied: "Blessings are not obtained so cheaply. One has to earn it. One has to do Sadhana. Then and then only, the grace of Guru flows." In short, Swamiji is stressing two points for the disciples. SADHANA WITH RIGHT ATTITUDE 1. Every one has to do his Sadhana himself, Guru will direct him, make him aware of the pitfalls on the path but he cannot do Sadhana for the disciple. 2. This Sadhana should be done with proper Bhava (attitude). If the service is done with Bhava (Narayana Bhava) towards the sick and the afflicted, it would be first class Sadhana. But if the same service is done without that Bhava it brings almost no result. Look at the example of doctors and nurses. If they serve the patients with that Bhava they would be tremendously elevated but we see that this is not common because there is no such Bhava; work is done but because it is the part and parcel of the duty of service. With this consideration one who wants to tread the path of Sadhana should become a pacca disciple and proceed step by step on the path with the determination not to step back even once. Remember again, two things, Bhava and Shraddha (faith) are essential for any progress. I humbly suggest the following stages. HUMILITY Stage I: Believe oneself to be the Sandals of the Guru. One must believe firmly that one is no more than the shoes of Gurudev. This should be the real Bhava from the bottom of the heart and one should behave accordingly. To be fit to be the shoes of such a great man (Maha Manav), Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, is not a small thing. By being saturated with this Bhava, one gets some satisfaction that one is at the feet of Gurudev and that he is able to, or rather has been given, opportunity to protect his feet. Just as shoes do not remain quite long on the feet of Gurudev, one is not able to maintain this Bhava for a longer time in the beginning. In being his shoes one learns the most important quality of humility and gets over the evil of Abhiman (ego). This Abhiman is the greatest hindrance to progress in any path, and more so in the spiritual path. Swamiji has stressed that the subtle Abhiman of being a Sannyasin is the worst of all the Abhiman. In similar way, one must guard oneself from that subtle Abhiman that one is a prominent disciple of Swamiji. In this process one shall cultivate humility and eradicate Abhiman with all its possible forms. When one thinks that one is well-established in this stage, then would begin the second stage. INSTRUMENTALITY Stage II: Believe oneself to be the Danda (stick) that Gurudev holds in his hand. One must think oneself to be nothing more than a stick, as it were, in the hands of Gurudev. This stick does not do anything by itself. It only does the thing that is done by the hands of Gurudev. In the same way, cultivate the Bhav that one is only an instrument in the hands of Gurudev and whatever is done by that instrument is done by the life behind, i.e., Gurudev. One should thereby cultivate Nimitta Bhav (nominal disposition). Keep fit so that the Guru can use you as his instrument as he chooses. If this Bhava gets established then the pride of "Doership"—"I did this," "I am doing such and such a thing," "I am going to do this thing next year" will vanish. The knife is cutting but cannot say that it is operating. It is the surgeon who operates, the knife being the instrument. One must become a sharp knife in the hands of the Master Surgeon, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. He will do the finest operation of our "ego-dectomy." Because of this Bhava of being the stick one may have the satisfaction of being of some service to him and one shall have the privilege of being in his hand. One is so lucky to be in his hand for which thousands crave. SELF-SURRENDER State III: Believe to be the pen with which he is writing. One must write about him and for him. It is not the pen that is writing but the hand which holds the pen. Pen is only the instrument. It writes what the mind dictates. One must surrender the mind to Gurudev and only write what the Master Mind dictates to the pen,—oneself. His mind shall be the ruling mind. One should have no independent existence, i.e., complete surrender to Gurudev. State IV: Believe to be his spectacles. If one's glasses are dirty, one cannot see properly. In the same way, by being Gurudev's glasses let us clean the dirt in ourselves first. This will make one quite pure. One must feel that his X'ray eyes would see the slightest dirt in ourselves and therefore the necessity of self-cleansing. It is not the glasses that see but the eyes. Glasses are only an aid. If one is Gurudev's glasses one must see things as he sees. One must adjust one's vision according to his. In this Bhava one is in Gurudev's company for the greater part of the time as the glasses are in use for a long time and by this time one has raised oneself to that stage as to be in Sattvic mood for the greater period than in the beginning. If one has passed through all these stages with proper Bhava, one may consider oneself to be the "upper cloth" for Gurudev and be always nearer to his heart. When one reaches nearer to Gurudev's heart, I think life's Sadhana is over. It is at this stage that Gurudev's real blessings will grace us. Let us be prepared to earn this now, in this very life only.
This message was given on the 8th of September, 1975, the 88th Birthday Anniversary of H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. A collection of messages by Swamiji during various spiritual festivals including this message can be found in Swamiji's book, "Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals".
This is the twentieth century and history has taken a leap, as it were, by means of an advance into what we may call an industrial revolution, and a gigantic technological step in the direction of a complete transformation of human values. Mankind's vision of things has changed right from the beginning of the twentieth century on account of innumerable constructive changes that have taken place in various fields of life, in every field of life, we should say. The beginning of the twentieth century was an occasion for the starting of a scientific revolution, with the advent of masters like Albert Einstein. It was also the time for a revolution from the point of view of international relationship, when nations began to come closer and closer in their internal comity. The significance of the United Nations began to be realised more and more in its real connotation and connection with the different nations. The twentieth century has also been very eventful in many other aspects. Man has conceived the meaning of political unity, national unity and international understanding, in their true significance. This century has seen the coming into activity of many great masters like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ramatirtha, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan and many others. All these giants in the field of mind and spirit have given a magical touch to the total perspective of human values. So in many respects we should say this twentieth century has been perhaps a type of crowning edifice in the historical evolution of the ages. In this very context was born another great master H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. I shall tell you the special significance of his coming into the midst of mankind that it is today. What is that special significance? A few of us have had the blessed opportunity of living physically in contact with this Master for many many years. So, we may confidently say in all humility, that we have some sort of a personal knowledge of his own practical life and the meaning of the message that he intended to convey to mankind. I should say that we have to regard ourselves as thrice blessed for having been given this opportunity by God, the Almighty, to live physically in his presence for years and years. And to live in the physical presence of such masters is to bask in the sunshine of the Spirit. You know what it is to bask in the sun. It is to infuse your personality with health-giving rays of a dynamic storehouse of energy. As they say, the company that you keep, the books that you read and the way in which you conduct yourself in your daily life, are supposed to be the insignia of your inner substance, real worth and intrinsic validity. And to keep company with giants of the Spirit like Gurudev Sivanandaji is to be within a very powerful energizing influence which brings together into a focus in its own manifestation of personality the aspirations of all mankind. I may say here that the aspirations of mankind may be said to have found an articulation, in a very pronounced degree, in the personality and the mission of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. He gave voice and fluent expression to the inner urges of the human being. Everyone of us has an urge within us, a desire, an aspiration, a longing and a hope, all which we cannot adequately express on account of the weaknesses of our own personalities. Why do we elect a person as a representative of a constituency, in an election, for example? That person is made a member of the legislative assembly or the legislative council in the Parliament, because we ourselves cannot express our ideas properly. We are unable to speak our deeper feelings, in a proper language, and place it before the Parliament in an adequate context. So, we elect a proper person. And the person whom we elect as a Member of the Parliament, or for the matter of that any kind of representation, is supposed to be capable of articulating our inner aspirations and our inner feelings. In other words, he expresses the total spirit of the people who have elected him. Likewise, these great spiritual masters can be regarded as the total representation of the aspirations and the inexpressible feelings of all mankind. You know Jesus the Christ was called the Son of Man, apart from the fact that he was called the Son of God. Why was he called the Son of Man? Everybody is a son of man. What was the speciality in Christ being called a Son of Man? The meaning is that he was a Son of Man, i.e., the son of the total mankind and not a son of Joseph or Mr. so and so, as we all are in the ordinary sense of the term. When we say Christ was the Son of Man, we mean that He was the expression of the total feeling of humanity. And in the culture of Bharatavarsha, we have the tradition that the Avatara or the incarnation of God is the summoning of the Almighty by the total aspiration of mankind. God does not incarnate Himself by the call of one man merely, unless, of course, that one man is capable of drawing into his personality the powers of all other people also due to his peculiar relationship with God. Ordinarily, a single individual cannot call the total power of God, just as a drop cannot summon the power of the whole ocean. But, the personality of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was unique as far as his relationship with God is concerned. There were many, as I mentioned to you earlier, of his calibre and category who could summon into activity, into implementation, into a forceful manifestation, the deeper feelings of man and the crying aspirations of the soul which were neglected unfortunately, notwithstanding the fact that the beginning of the twentieth century has seen the revolutions of science and industry, business and commerce, and international nearness of approach. While everything was achieved, one thing alone was ignored. That is why we are grieved even today. Everybody has a sorrow in his heart. We have radios and televisions; we have jet planes and motor cars; we have the best food to eat and most attractive dress to put on; we have got social status and position; we have got money to spend and to burn. There is nothing that we lack, materially speaking. But we are unhappy, we are sorrow-stricken and we have a grief at the bottom of our heart. This is the essence of the whole matter. This grief is present in every human being,--you, me and everyone--in spite of the fact that we have all comforts conceivable that can be bestowed upon us by science and industry. The purpose of the incarnation of these Masters is to point out where the crux of the whole problem lies. They are the physicians of the soul and they come to diagnose the illness of the spirit in man. Though for all practical purposes a person may be looking healthy and handsome, he may be secretly sick, not knowing the reason behind the sickness, and an expert doctor alone can find out what is wrong with him. Similarly, though we seem to be happy and smiling outwardly in social and public life, there is a peculiar lacuna in our approach to things in general, on account of which we are sorrow-stricken in our hearts, and this can be diagnosed and cured only by spiritual adepts. Masters and geniuses of the type of Gurudev Sivanandaji, whose birthday we observe on the 8th of September every year, have pointed out where the illness of man actually lies. This illness is a common illness of all people. It is a secret disease which is infecting every human being. Though desires vary from person to person and though predilections and idiosyncrasies of each are different from those of other people, there is a peculiar trait in every individual which is common with everybody else. And that is the one cementing element which can bring all people together on a common platform. But for that element, there is nothing similar amongst us. We are dissimilar in every respect. We speak different languages and we have different ideals in social life. We eat different kinds of food and we have differences in every respect. But, there is one thing which keeps us together, and that is what we call the soul of man. Bodies are different, languages are different, houses are different, everything may be different, but the soul cannot be different. My soul and your soul are the same and they speak the same language. Though verbally I may be speaking a vernacular of India or the English language, somebody else may be speaking in French or German, the soul in all speaks in a single language. The language of the soul in the West is the same as the language of the soul in the East. The language of the soul of a man is the same as the language of the soul of a woman or that of a child, for the matter of that, because the soul is indistinguishable in its characteristic. While the characteristics of personalities may differ, the characteristics of the structure of the soul do not differ. So, here is a common ground for a real unity among all people. A few days back, a person came from the All India Radio, Delhi, and asked me for a message, to be broadcast in the All India Radio, concerning 'the relevance of religion to national integration'. I was trying to tell him, in that short message which I gave him through the tape, that it is very strange that he should speak of relevance of religion to national integration, as if there can be any other relevance. Because, that would be like speaking of the relevance of the soul to the body of an individual. What is the relevance of the soul to the body? There cannot be any other relevance. The soul is the only relevance conceivable. Minus the soul, what is the body! You remove your soul from your personality, and let us see what you are. You will simply disintegrate into smitherings the moment the soul is withdrawn from your personality. You may wonder why it should happen. The soul is not a spark of light or a centre of gravity that is situated in a location of your personality, as ordinarily you may conceive wrongly. The soul is not any such thing as you may imagine. It is a peculiar 'something' which is difficult to explain in language. It is like electric energy. You cannot say where electricity is. Is it inside the body or outside the body? Is it inside the power-house? It is in every speck of creation. In every atom of the world is electricity present. Likewise, the soul is present in every nook and corner of this creation. It is not sitting inside the body like a small insect or a flame of a candle inside a pot. To conceive it as being located somewhere would be a very peculiar and childish notion. The soul is that integrating 'something' which brings the cells of the body together into a bodily form. It is the force which brings together the various thoughts of your mind and enables the harmonious functioning of anything that you can call as yourself. If, therefore, the soul is to be withdrawn, you will not exist any more. That which you call the 'You' or the 'I' is the soul. It is not something different from what you are. What you yourself are, that is the soul. And if the soul is removed, you yourself are removed. So what is left there? Nothing. You do not 'have' a soul. You yourself 'are' the soul. So, do not say, 'I have a soul inside me.' As I just mentioned, this is a peculiar baby's idea of the soul. What you yourself are, that is the soul. So, minus you what is the soul, and minus the soul what are you? They are identical. You are the soul; the soul is you. Now, to ignore the existence and the operation of the soul in human conduct and activity, would be to ignore yourself completely. What would happen to you, if you ignore yourself in the programme of life? The question is very strange, if everybody starts ignoring one's own self,--I ignore myself totally, you ignore yourself totally, everybody ignores himself or herself totally in the meaning of life,--then what remains in life? There would be no such thing as life itself. So, to remove religion is to remove the soul. That is what I was trying to tell our friend other day who came to me from the All India Radio. Religion is the science of the soul. It is not Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc. These are not religions. These are only the shapes that religion has taken in social relationship. Religion is the characteristic of the soul made manifest in outward conduct and activity. And if the soul is what you are, then religion is your conduct, and you cannot say that your conduct can be other than the religious. Your conduct and activity have to be religious; because, you are the soul, and religion is the conduct and activity and expression of the soul. So, to live a kind of life minus religion is to think the unthinkable and the impossible. There is no such thing as a life without religion. That would be like your living without a soul. That would be again to live without your own self. That is an absurdity of the first water. This is a very difficult thing to conceive in the mind. People had a very wrong notion of spirituality, of religion, of God even, of creation, of social relationship, etc. To set right these errors of thought in mankind in general and to show a path to the whole of humanity, Masters like Swami Sivanandaji were born. The philosophy and the religion of Swami Sivanandaji is the philosophy and the religion of mankind. He did not come to preach Hinduism. He did not belong to any particular religion. He did not even act as a human being. He acted as a super-personality and as a representative of God, the Almighty, who cannot be regarded as a prerogative of any particular creed or cult. God is an impersonal existence, whose representation was this Master and Masters of his kind.
The Divine Life Movement I love seclusion. I have to hide myself at times. I do not crave for name and fame. I did not spend much time in a deep study of all the scriptures and religions of the world, for preparing thrilling lectures. I never liked to spend time in writing fine essays for publication through books or newspapers. I was not pleased when people called me: "Mahatma, Guru Maharaj." I never planned for any Institution to perpetuate my name. But the Divine Will was different. The whole world came to me with all divine glory and splendour. That may be due to the intense prayers of thousands of sincere seekers after Truth coupled with my own inborn tendencies to share with others what I have and to serve the world on a large scale on the right lines, for the attainment of Light, Peace, Knowledge and Power. I was induced to start the Divine Life Society when I found some facility and useful hands to carry on the work. I carried the Message of the Sages and Saints and taught the world the way for Peace and Bliss. Because of the popularity of the Divine Life Society, many learned and pious souls from far off lands have come to see me and, sharing with me the love for selfless service, are doing valuable work in spreading right knowledge, which alone can confer lasting peace and happiness. Many foreign Branches of the Divine Life Society are reprinting parts of my writings and distributing them free in their respective regions. The Need of the Hour When man gets entangled in selfishness, greed, lust, passion, he naturally forgets all about God. He always thinks of his body, family and children. He constantly attends to his food, drink, comforts and conveniences. He is drowned in the ocean of Samsara. Materialism and scepticism reign supreme. He gets irritated by little things and begins to fight. There is restlessness, misery, panic and chaos everywhere. Now the whole world seems to be in the grip of materialism. The invention of new kinds of bombs causes terror everywhere. People have lost faith in holy scriptures and the teachings of the sages and saints. People have become irreligious owing to wrong education and evil influences. The stirring events since the advent of the twentieth century did not fail to have their effect upon all spiritual-minded people, Sannyasins, saints and men-of-God. The horrors of world wars moved them greatly. The fateful epidemic and the world-wide depression that followed it, touched their compassionate heart. They saw that the sufferings 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 enthusiastically utilise his life for attaining worthier ends, was felt to be the urgent need of the age. Millions were eagerly looking for such guidance. This silent prayer was heard and I saw the birth of the Divine Life Mission with its task of rescuing man from the forces of bestiality and brutality and divinising his life upon this planet. Just at this critical juncture, I started the Divine Life Society. Now people consider it a blessing to the world. It has as its basis the quintessence of the teachings of all religions and of all saints and prophets of the world. Its principles are broad, universal, all-embracing and in accordance with science and reason. It has set for itself the task of raising man above the sorrows and miseries of this mundane life by making him see the Blissful Divinity that is hidden behind all outward forms. Good thoughts pervade and influence all good people. The thought-currents generated by the Divine Life Movement have had their effect upon the people of Europe and America, and now there is a great thirst for peace all over the world. Millions dread the speedy termination of the race by nuclear weapons. Universal Ideals for Spiritual Perfection The Divine Life Society is an all-embracing and all-inclusive Institution; its objects, ideals and aims are very broad and universal. It does not condemn any of the principles or tenets of any cult. It includes all the fundamental principles of all religions and cults. There are no pet dogmas or sectarian tenets. It leads people to the spiritual path. It enables people to take easily to the Divine Life even while living in the world and following the teachings of some particular cult or religion. The Society has brought about a vigorous awakening throughout the world and has contributed much to a new life of freedom in action, a life of harmony amidst worldly turmoils and a life of bliss through mental non-attachment and mental renunciation of desires, egoism and mine-ness. There is universal appreciation of the principles, aims, ideals of the society and the method of its work. It lays great stress on the practical side of Sadhana. It expounds in a rational and scientific manner the Yoga of Synthesis. Members belonging to various institutions and organisations in all parts of the world become members of the Divine Life Society and write to me for spiritual guidance. I take special care of them and give them lessons through post for their spiritual progress and welfare. The Divine Life Society proclaims that any man can attain Wisdom in his own station of life, be he a Brahmachari, Grihastha, Vanaprastha or Sannyasi, be he a scavenger, Brahmin, Sudra or Kshatriya, be he a busy man of the world or a silent Sadhaka of the Himalayas. Divine Knowledge is not the sole property of Sannyasins, recluses. It explains how although the central basis is Jnana Yoga, Vedanta, it is necessary for one to practise Karma Yoga for purification of mind and heart; Hatha Yoga to keep up good health and strength and purify the Prana and steady the mind; Raja Yoga to destroy the Sankalpas and induce concentration in meditation; and Jnana Yoga to remove the veil of ignorance and ultimately rest in one's own Satchidananda Svarupa. The Critical Juncture Students became irreligious, At this critical juncture, Rapid Growth of the Mission I started the Divine Life Society in 1936 for the spiritual uplift of mankind. I trained many sincere students in Yoga. For their quick spiritual evolution, I introduced the morning common prayer classes with Group Asana Class. To the local poor people and thousands of pilgrims I gave medical aid by starting a free dispensary. Experts were sent to various centres to deliver lectures on Bhakti, Yoga and Vedanta. A small temple was erected for prayers and worship. When a large number of students came for training, boarding and lodging facilities had to be provided for all the students and visitors; and thus Sivananda Ashram came into being. The Yoga Vedanta Forest University came into existence when regular classes began to be conducted on all Branches of Yoga. To help the students all over the world, the University Press was established for printing necessary works on the practical side and half a dozen periodicals, with a number of machines to do the work automatically. The small dispensary grew into a big Sivananda Medical Organisation, with a General Hospital and a building of its own. Though the Divine Life Society continues to be the Central organisation, to fulfil the various functions that have developed to carry out organised work, many other institutions had to come into existence. Now the Ashram, a very big Spiritual Colony, looks like a huge factory with the wonderful, indescribable Peace of the Himalayas. Spiritual aspirants who come to the Ashram and stay there for months or for years, find that there is scope for spiritual progress both as workers in the different institutions of the Ashram and as silent meditators in the temple precincts or in the jungle retreats of the neighbourhood, and each chooses his line according to his own bent of mind. Basic Approach More than to strive to reach a Heaven after this life, the followers of the Divine Life try to make conditions of Heaven prevail upon earth. The tenets of the Divine Life Society are perfectly non-sectarian and universally applicable. The basis of this Movement is adherence to the triple ideal of truth, non-violence and purity—the common fundamental tenets of all the religions throughout the world. Therefore the Divine Life Movement has the willing cooperation of the peoples of all faiths and cultures, a Plan of Life and a Goal that is common and acceptable to all upon earth, who wish to rise above sorrow and obtain lasting Bliss. This, then, is the Divine Life Movement. No Secret Doctrines The Path of Divine Life Sadhana is no other than the essence of all Yogas and the main essentials of all religions. Here everyone finds the features suitable and unoffending to his own faith or belief. The great need for a vigorous and intense working of its Ideals is more than ever patent today, because the most recent developments in the fields of science, politics and sociology have tended to bring mankind nearer than ever to the brink of the dangerous precipice of total agnosticism and violent self-destruction. Hatred and violence, untruth and deceit, vice and impurity are fast becoming the order of the day. A strong counter-force alone can possibly balance to some extent this downward trend. Thus to counteract these baneful influences that are rampant today and to check man's whirling rush towards ruin, the Divine Life Society was established. I carry the message of peace, goodwill, spiritual fraternity and the realisation of the oneness of Spirit. There are neither petty dogmas nor secret doctrines nor esoteric sections in this Divine Life Movement. Lovers of Truth realise its fullness, infinite beauty, majesty and splendour. It gives room and shelter for all. It enables one to realise the religion of the heart, the religion of oneness. What Is True Religion Not by mere argument or discussion can religion be taught. Not by precepts or moral canons alone can you convert a person to be religious. Not by pointing to your loads of sacred literature or the miracles of your Chief can an aspirant be won over. Practise religion and live upto its teachings if you want to evolve and attain the Goal of Life. Whatever be your religion, whosoever your prophet, whichever be your language and country, whatever be your age or sex, you can easily grow if you know the way to crush the ego, to destroy the lower nature of the mind and to have mastery over your body, senses and mind. This is what I have found out to be the way for real Peace and bliss eternal. Therefor I do not try to convince people by heated debates and arguments. Real Religion is the Religion of the heart. The heart must be purified first. Truth, love and purity are the basis of real religion. Conquest of the lower nature of man, control of mind, cultivation of virtues, service of humanity, goodwill, fellowship and mutual amity, constitute the fundamentals of true religion. These ideals are included in the mottoes of the Divine Life Society. I am very particular in propagating these ideals on a wide scale. I do not waste time in finding out suitable authoritative statements from scriptures to satisfy the curiosity of aspirants. I lead a practical life and try to be an example to the students for moulding their lives. Know that true religion begins when you go above body-consciousness. The essence of the teachings of all sages and saints, the fundamentals of all religions and cults, are the same. People needlessly fight over non-essentials and miss the Goal. May the Divine Life Movement, the harbinger of peace, harmony and exalted life shed its lustre and glory throughout the world! Gospel of Divine Life The world of unreality is beset with many difficulties at every step that we take to attain the Goal—Nirvana—which the Lord Buddha attained after years of determined and steady struggle. The modern thinker has neither the requisite time nor the patience to perform rigorous Tapas and austere religious practices; and some of these are even being relegated to the superstitious level. In order to give the present generation the benefit that will result from religious practices, to reveal to them their real significance and also to convince them thoroughly of their efficacy and usefulness, I taught my gospel of DIVINE LIFE, which is a system of religious life suited to one and all, which could be practised by the common office-goer as well as the obscure labourer without undue interference in the performance of their daily round of duties. The beauty in "Divine Life" is its simplicity and practical applicability to everyday affairs of the ordinary man. While following the teachings of his own religion, a man can attain quick spiritual evolution by following the principles of Divine Life. Practical Aspect 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 by leading a Divine Life are sure to reach the goal of their religious aspiration, i.e., Self-realisation. I have laid great emphasis in all my writings upon disciplining of the turbulent senses, conquest of mind, purification of heart, attainment of inner peace and spiritual strength, to suit the different stages of evolution, the taste and temperament of each individual. Role of Divine Life Branches and Spiritual Aspirants My message to individual spiritual aspirants and to the Branches of the Divine Life Society is as follows: "You have come to this earth to attain spiritual perfection. You have come here to attain supreme and unalloyed Bliss. The purpose of human birth is the achievement of Divine Consciousness. The Goal of life is Self-realisation. Man is not a sensual animal. Man, in his essential nature, is an ever free, ever pure, ever perfect, immortal, spiritual being. Feel that you are the Immortal Self. You are Satchidananda. Remember 'Ajo nityah sasvatoyam puranah,'—you are unborn, eternal, imperishable and ancient. To live in this exalted Consciousness is to experience indescribable joy every moment of your life, to experience a limitless freedom in the Spirit. This is your birthright. This is the aim of your life. This is the goal. To realise this through a life of truth, purity, service and devotion is the chief purpose of the Divine Life Movement. "Fear dominates in this era of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Hatred rules the policies of vast sections of the so-called enlightened and civilised mankind. This age of advancement has been exposed to be in reality an age of degeneracy in the views and values, the ideals and morals of the greater masses of mankind. At this juncture, cultured men and women all over the world look to the sacred land, India, for light and knowledge. It is your noble task to spread this light of spiritual knowledge and spiritual Idealism to all corners of the globe." Oneness of Humanity "The Upanishads say: 'All this is verily the Atman. The One, blissful Self indwells all beings.' The spiritual oneness of all humanity is a great lesson man needs today. Whatever has been and whatever will be in the future, all this is verily the one, eternal Being alone. The Message of Divine Life is: 'See God in all faces. Serve all. Love all. Be kind to all. Be compassionate. Feel everyone to be your own. Serve your fellow beings in the spirit of worship offered to the Divine which indwells them. Service of man is truly the worship of God.' Let this message ring freedom from end to end in every land. Let this message enter into every home and into the heart of everyone. "All great religions of the world do verily declare this divine message of the spiritual basis of man's life. They do verily declare the universal brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of the Almighty Lord. Know well that the heart of the Vedas, the heart of the Bible, the holy Koran, the sacred Gathas and all the world scriptures are in truth one and sing in unison the sweet message of love and concord, goodness and kindness, service and worship. Discard the barriers of name and form. Seek the oneness at the heart of all beings. Include within your spiritual embrace entire humanity. Live for peace. Live for universal love. Live in the Life Divine." The Clarion-Call of Divine Life "A Divine Life Branch is a great blessing to man in the present age. It is a veritable boon from the Divine. It is a field of dynamic Yoga, a field of practical Vedanta. Spread of Divine Life is the hope of mankind. Through Divine Life shall man free himself from ignorance, pain and suffering and go beyond sorrow into the realms of peace and bliss now and here, in this very life. Divine Life brings peace and brotherhood to mankind. It purifies man, ennobles his nature and unfolds his glorious, hidden, divine personality. Divine Life is the gift of India to the world at large. "Let the clarion call of the Upanishads ring through every village, town and city. Let the glorious chant of divine Name fill all quarters. Let virtue be implanted in every heart and Dharma and the good life be seen in every walk of life. Divine Life must be practical. Ideals of Divine Life must shoot up into practical realisation. Divine Life must be made vigorously manifest in the lives of the people. This is important. Be sincere. Work with concord. Be adaptable. Adjust, adapt and accommodate. Remember always that work is the important thing, not personal views and individual opinions. Therefore dissolve all differences and work together for the cause of a pure life and spiritual perfection. "Perfection of the individual leads to the perfection of mankind ultimately. Spread the doctrine of selfless service. Inspire all to follow the path of Yoga and attain the Goal of life, fine health and long life." It is not through rules and regulations and restrictions that I tried to help the seekers after Truth. Stage by stage, I gave instructions through letters, periodicals and valuable publications to all the students for creating some spiritual vibrations through collective prayers, common meditation, Bhajans and Kirtans. For spiritual progress, it is not number that counts. Even a single sincere student can move the world and bring light and knowledge to the world. The following letters written to my students between 1936 and 1940 will clearly explain how I started a dynamic campaign all over the world and established over 300 Branches of the Divine Life Society. (1) Importance of Collective Sadhana "Evolution is quicker through collective Sadhana, mass prayers and common meditation. The purpose of Divine Life Branches is not amassing wealth, name or fame. It is just to bring peace and harmony to the world by creating spiritual vibrations at various centres. Organise weekly meetings. Invite friends who are spiritually-inclined. Clear the doubts of the devotees. You can have a library with philosophical books. Invite learned men of your place to give discourses. Occasionally print my "Twenty Important Spiritual Instructions" and other leaflets for free distribution. Thus you can lay the seed for a Divine Mission. It will grow slowly and bring spiritual good to the world. This will contribute a lot to your own evolution and to the uplift of mankind as well." (2) How to Start a Branch of The Divine Life Society 'Well begun is half-done.' I am not interested in gigantic plans and programmes. If there is a good beginning and if the workers have sincerity, faith and devotion, success is assured. I wrote to sincere students:- "You have made a wonderful start and a good beginning. It will strike root and bear blossoms soon. You can have the Yoga Class in a house, in a room. Make a signboard also. Hold meetings once a week. Collect some books from your friends and develop a library. I shall send you all my publications. To meet the ordinary expenses you can collect a small subscription from members. Have the following aims and objects:- (a) To have Self-realisation through Yoga. (b) To regenerate youths through Yoga Asanas, Pranayama and ethical training. (c) To disseminate the Knowledge of Rishis and Yogins far and near. (d) To develop universal brotherhood, cosmic divine love. "Never be disheartened or diffident. There are many who have started a Branch of the Divine Life Society in their own homes. The members of the family join together in the morning and evening for common prayers and conduct Bhajans and Kirtans. The spiritual vibrations thus created bring peace and prosperity to the entire family. Do something among your own selected friends, even with two members." I am ever ready to give detailed instructions to enthusiastic aspirants who are desirous of spreading the divine knowledge:- "Collect a few members. Read some pages of my books. Clear the doubts of the aspirants. Make them do some Japa, Kirtan, meditation, study of the Gita. Ask them to maintain a spiritual diary and Likhita Japa notebook. You have got rare things and knowledge and capacities in which you have not sufficient confidence or of which you are not even aware. Express your hidden faculties. Give whatever you possess. The world will be benefited. Form a Group in your own place and start similar activities in different parts of the city. Do not waver. Be hopeful. You can do wonders. Radiate joy and peace. Have a definite line of work. Work a little. This will suffice. You can spend the time nicely, usefully. Let the flower blossom. The bees will come by themselves. Much effort is not needed. No effort is necessary. Simply press the switch; it will flow. I wish you success, freedom and perfection. "Have meditation in the open air with select friends. Arrange group demonstration of Yoga Asanas. Have Trataka practice on OM or any of the Lord's pictures for 5 minutes. Introduce fasting or Phalahara on Ekadasi days. Give lessons on the various Chakras. "Prepare the lessons daily at night, the previous day. Concentrate and collect ideas. Register and record them on a piece of paper or in a notebook. Read a paper if you cannot deliver a lecture. Speak slowly. Recharge yourself with mild Kumbhakas and Japa. Take good nutritious food and fruits. "If you cannot give a fine speech, write an essay and read the paper with emphasis and great force from the bottom of your heart. Slowly you will gain the power of oration. When you meet good thirsty souls, give them good ideas and ask them to form such groups in their own places. That will facilitate your future work. Ask every man with whom you come in contact to read a few Slokas daily from the Gita and repeat the Gayatri Mantra. Initiate many. Eulogise the usefulness of Mantra and Japa. Introduce Malas for Japa." (3) Spiritual Current Must Be Kept Alive I carefully watch over the activities of the Branches and continue to inspire and encourage them every now and then. I send able and advanced aspirants to keep alive the current and spur them onward in their activities. Here are my instructions to one of them: "How is the Centre now? Dead or gasping or full of life? Approach all Headmasters of High Schools and arrange for a magic-lantern Show of Yoga Asanas. Do not fail to do this work. I did this work in all schools of Punjab and the U.P. during my travels. Kindly send me a report of your activities now and then. Never make false excuses. Do not be diffident. Do not become a Zanana Vedantin. Through the work you do in schools and colleges spiritual Samskaras become imbedded in thousands of minds. That will burst forth when the time comes. "Be bold. Even M.A's, Judges and Surgeons are worldly. You will be an Avatar before passionate people. Be bold and talk with nobility, humility and sincerity. You can electrify and spell-bind the audience. Assume a different strong personality on the platform. Throw fire, zeal and enthusiasm into your utterances. Do not lose any opportunity. Whatever you are doing now is sufficient to elevate the world. Do not wait to become a great Pundit to do this work. "I am receiving several letters from the Branches you have visited and exhibited the Movie Films in Countless appreciations. No one has done such a work before. It is unprecedented. When the work taxes you, hide yourself in your own room or go to a solitary place for a change. Recharge the battery through silent meditation in seclusion and come out with redoubled energy. Regulate your energy. Do not pour all in at once. Take sufficient rest. Learn to relax. Hide yourself." (4) Service Is Greater Than Meditation "The present work you do is a greater Yoga than the important, so-called meditation (sleep and building air-castles combined) done by Vedantins of the present day. It is a great Yajna. Work like a lion. Roar like a lion. Congratulations on your noble work done in various Centres. It is all His Grace. Feel this. It is His Will that worked through your mind, intellect and body. Be grateful to Him always. Pray for His Blessings and Mercy. If anything is offered to you by devotees and admirers, do not refuse it under a false sense of Vairagya. Money is needed for work, medicine for the sick and publication work. Become a Maha Tyagi and Maha Bhogi. Take rest. Do not overwork. Regulate your energy. Drink, inhale much ozone. Do not mix with people. Talk a little on vital points only. As you are working hard, take great care of your health. Take plenty of milk, fruits, almonds. Take rest for a week. Rest means change of work and not sleeping and wasting time with useless friends or in aimless wanderings. "Serve people whole-heartedly, willingly, untiringly, without grumbling, without showing even an occasional Sunday castor-oil face. This is rather difficult. Try your utmost. Then it will become pure Yoga. You need not meditate. You need not do Japa. You need not close the nostrils for Pranayama. Convert every motion, every breath, every movement of the body into pure Yoga as above described. It is service of the Lord. You work, live and breathe for Him alone. Entertain this Bhav. You will have cosmic consciousness soon. Remember this point: Work is worship. Work is meditation. Do not forget this. You will have to evolve through work and meditation. Scavenging is Yoga when done in the right spirit. The first duty before you is to place your head at the feet of all elders, Swamis and everyone in the Ashram, be he a scavenger or a Zamindar. Feel oneness. Be cheerful. Adjust. Bear injury and insults. Train the mind to be even in all circumstances and places. Then only can you be really strong." (5) Integral Yoga I do not encourage lop-sided development, but urge my disciples to combine the important branches of Yoga with emphasis on dynamic selfless service and cultivation of virtues, while yet giving the full scope of individual discretion to the aspirant: "I do not press you to remain in cities. Your health and spiritual progress are very important. See how you have turned out solid work in such a short period. If you are still energetic and if you think that you can get on with the work with perfect ease, you can remain there for some more time. Or you can say 'Goodbye' to the city life. It is in your hands. "You can come by the end of this month. Do not stay in cities longer. It will be detrimental to your interests and progress. You need seclusion now. Spend a long period in study also. Your present knowledge is shallow. Your inner nature also is not regenerated. Sadhana is needed. Now you need rest, a quiet life, in the Himalayan-Gangetic atmosphere for recharging the battery, for doing dynamic work with redoubled energy and vigour. Long stay in cities must be followed by a frequent change to secluded places. That will be beneficial to you. Kindly do come and stay here for a long period. Mere flying visits will not be of much benefit. "Thou art blessed. God exists. God indwells everything. God is the Inner Ruler. God is to be realised. Dharma leads to God-vision. Goodness leads to God. Love leads to God. Meditate on the Eternal, thy, innermost Self or the Atman. Persevere in Sadhana. Plunge in Sadhana and meditation. Enter the silence. Become a flame of God. Attain eternal bliss through the Life Divine. He who lives for the service of others is very happy. He is blessed. He attains God-realisation. Service purifies the heart and brings the divine Light. Be rooted in the Atman. This is real Sadhana. Claim thy birthright amidst typewriting, editing books, writing articles. This is better than a cave-life. This is dynamic, integral Yoga. Though you are in the city, feel that you are in the Ashram here in the Himalayas. This is Yoga. This the test put by Janaka to Sri Suka." (6) All-round Application to the Task I want my disciples to be like myself in applying themselves in an all-round manner to the propagation of the message of the Lord and developing the divine qualities in themselves and inculcating them in others. "Wherever you go, give, distribute, disseminate, your ideas, mottoes, ideals. Broadcast your spiritual feelings. Share with others. Always give, give, give. Give all. Ask nothing. Your usual routine for meditation and study must be kept up. Brahman alone is real. Minus Indriyas, you are Brahman "Tat Tvam Asi". I am not tired of repeating again and again these three ideas. They must enter your very nerves, cells, blood, bone. Hammer these ideas on the minds of all, along with Bhakti and Nishkama Karma. Carry these three ideas in your pocket, Chitta. This world, body, is shallow, Jalam, Svapna. "Teach Asanas to thousands. Read my Brahmacharya article in all schools and colleges with demonstration of Asanas and Pranayamas. After silent meditation for 5 or 10 minutes, have Kirtan and OM chanting. Explain the Yogic and Vedantic terms to the members. The whole city will be charged with spiritual vibrations. Mere study of my writings with a little explanation of the Yogic terms will nicely constitute your Yoga Class. I have to remind you of:- (a) Initiation into Mantra of as many thousands of students as possible. (b) Introduction of Japa Mala. (c) Kirtan and Bhajan at night. (d) Study of the Gita, Atma-Bodha, Viveka-Chudamani, the Upanishads, etc. (e) Printing some leaflets for free distribution. "On Ekadasi day, arrange for a mass Hari Kirtan in a big Hall or Temple. Have a programme for short lectures by great men. Distribute Prasad at the end. Make necessary preparations seven days in advance. Thrill the world. This is an important and sacred work, wherever you go. This is a Divine Life Conference in small scale. You can do this, I know. "You are doing wonderful work indeed. It is a beautiful beginning. This kind of combination of Japa, Kirtan, Yoga Asanas, study and lecture is the thing needed. Keep a memorandum book in your pocket. Note down all the points you have to attend to. By such work you can improve yourself. You will develop thinking. You will know Nature, Her ways. You will be more concentrated also when the mind is fully occupied. Thousands will be inspired to do some kind of religious performance. It is all purification of heart and Yoga for you. "You can do real, silent, solid work through individual talks. It is a field for preparation and enlightenment for you. Work in various localities of the city must be taken up. It is not blind work. It is not business. It is His work done through your body and mind. In the course of five years you will excel many of the professors and renowned religious leaders, if you are sincere and do steady dynamic work."
As if by chance, I had found a piece of paper that intrigued me. One night when I was working late and was searching for a misplaced paper, I found a small pamphlet in the trash basket. It was called "Sadhana Tattva" and was by Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh. As soon as I read it, my body began to shake. It began with "An ounce of practice is worth tons of theory." Here was a teacher who was down-to-earth and practical. There was nothing mysterious about his teachings; I felt that I had to meet him for myself. I got a few days leave from the army. The first time I saw Swami Sivananda he was sitting with about 30 or 40 people around him. He looked like an ordinary man among them. The look on his face and manner of speech were simple and straightforward. Each word came from his heart. There was no kind of religious hypocrisy, no sitting on a tiger skin with ashes smeared all over his body. He had an extraordinary spiritual glow. The second time, I saw him, Swami Sivananda was coming up the stairs in my direction. I didn’t want to bow my head to him. I was young and arrogant and never wanted to bow my head to anybody—Swami, God-realised soul or whoever, I didn’t care. But it is the tradition in India that you should bow your head to a holy man. To avoid the situation I just moved out of his path. The Master saw me and headed in my direction. He asked me who I was and where I was coming from. Then he bowed down and touched my feet!! My whole body began to shake violently. With all my heart, with all my life and love, I learned to bow without any type of reservation. He touched my heart not with miracles or shows of holiness, but with his perfect egoless nature. He didn’t consider that I was just a stupid boy standing there, though I was just that. He touched my heart and broke the ego. That was my first lesson, and if I could attain one millionth of the state of egolessness of the Master, it is His Grace. Before leaving, I went down the Ganga where it was the custom of the Ashram to do Aarati (waving of lights) every evening. All the devotees and inmates of the Ashram assembled by the banks of the Ganga to watch Master perform this evening worship. I was sceptical. I was of a scientific temperament and knew that a river is only water, H2O—imagine worshipping H20!! But as I stood there and watched Master waving the lights, I saw the river become a mass of flowing lights. At that instant the river assumed a divine flow, a manifestation of the Grace of the Lord. Master turned and looked at me and in my mind I heard his message, "God pervades everything; this too is His Special Form." This entirely changed my outlook on life. I returned to my army base and after discharge went home to South India and underwent teachers’ training. It was my mother’s wish that I should become a teacher. But even while living and working at home, I remained immersed in Sadhana. In my heart I knew that I must return to see my Master. One fine morning in August 1947, the postman brought the Call from the Himalayas in the form of an invitation to the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Sri Gurudev’s birthday. I knew that I had to go; it was the Divine Message for which I had been waiting. Though I planned to go for only a few days, as I took leave from my mother at the bus, I heard a voice saying that I would not be returning. I tried to still the voice, but could not. Upon arriving at the Ashram, I was asked to assist with the Ashram chores. In India, it is necessary to wash lentils before cooking. They are then set out in the sun to dry, but often the monkeys come and steal them. I was given the Karma Yoga of protecting the lentils from the monkeys. One day as I was doing this, Master passed by and said, "Stay here". "Yes, Swamiji," I replied without thinking. Then I realised what I had done. I had given my word to my Master and I could never go back on it. So Sri Gurudev accepted me as a new disciple and welcomed me to the Ashram as a permanent staff member. On Sivaratri, March, 1948 I took Sannyas and became Swami Vishnudevananda. When my parents learned of this they wrote a distraught letter. I showed it to Master, who coolly handed it back with the words "Maatha Naasti, Pitha Naasti" (There is neither mother nor father for you). My troubled heart found instantaneous peace. It was the special capacity of Sri Gurudev to find out the capabilities and special talents of each of his disciples. He would encourage and nourish this. Under his expert guidance, imperfect and unripe aspirants matured and developed their latent talents. Master saw in me the tendency towards Hatha Yoga and that I was a good organiser. Thus Swamiji’s training was directed in developing these inherent qualities. He appointed me Professor of Hatha Yoga at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. Master touched me and opened my intuitive eye. All my knowledge of Asanas, Pranayama, Mudras, Bandha and Kriyas returned to me from past lives. People from all over India and the entire world came to the Sivananda Ashram. Master would send them to me for instruction. To be the first Hatha Yoga Professor at the Forest Academy and the centre of so much attention proved a bit too much for me to handle. I soon developed a case of "Ego Fever". I was a 90-pound weakling and felt the need to give an appearance in keeping with my stature at the Ashram. I decided to grow a beard and long hair, the marks of a distinguished Yogi. Master watched all this happening. When the ego became too inflated, he decided that it was time to stick a pin in it. One day he looked at me and said, "Yes, Vishnu Swami, the beard suits you. Yes, it is true we must all make a good appearance and impress people. Yes, yes, keep on with it." At that moment, my body contracted. I realised what I was doing. I immediately shaved and decided to never again put on airs or impress people. It is wonderful to see how Master never said an unkind word, even when people made fools of themselves. He gently tried to make them realise what they were doing and they should go about correcting their faults. At one point I felt the need to leave the Ashram for a few months of seclusion in the Himalayas to do intense Sadhana. Upon returning to the Ashram, I threw myself into the work with a new gusto. I had not only lots of creative ideas for improving things, but also the energy to carry them out. Once Master said to me, "Vishnu Swami, now I see your Kundalini rising. When this happens, the mind is flooded with inspiration." I became Master’s personal assistant. This gave me the opportunity to observe his actions firsthand. I learned that the way Master acted in public was exactly the way he acted in private. There was no pretense or showmanship about him, just an honest, straightforward and loving nature. One day I was speaking with Master in the office when a carpenter, a Sikh, walked by. Master asked me to ask the carpenter to come in so that he could discuss some work that had to be done. I immediately ran out and yelled, "carpenter, carpenter, come here." After the man had left the office, Master turned to me and asked, "When you called the carpenter, did you see God in him? You should have addressed him politely as Sardarji. You came here to see God, yet you cling to your arrogant ways." My heart sank. I had been brought up to treat some people as inferiors and to speak to them in a commanding way. I had done this action without thinking. With great love, Master had pointed out to me this flaw in my character. One of my duties as personal assistant was to set out Master’s bed in the evenings. One night as I went lo the cupboard for a sheet, I found a nest of rat babies. I brought this to Master who was sitting on his verandah. It was dark and when asked to look, Master said, "What is it, Prasad?" Then he saw what it was, "Quickly put them back before the mother returns and is upset." But the mother never returned; maybe she was caught by the Ashram cat. The babies died because she did not return to care for them. I brought their bodies to Master, who without hesitation said "OM Trayambakam" for their departed souls. He didn’t see any difference between the soul of a rat and a human being. One night I saw an assailant try to kill Master with an axe. I jumped up and in great fury threw the man to the ground. Master later said to me, "You must learn to control your emotions." This was a great learning experience for me. I saw that to a realised Master, God comes in many forms. To Sivananda, a person who tried to take his life was as much God as a man who would come to garland him. He had great love for both. Shortly after that I complained to Master, as I felt that there was too much gossip and idle chattering among people in the Ashram. I felt that only "Sattvic" (pure) people should be permitted to stay. Instead, we had many undesirable people whom Master allowed, even encouraged to stay. Master’s response was, "If you are so holy, you have no need of an Ashram. This is a place for people who need my help. It is better that they are here than out in the world where they can do great damage." Master Sivananda was a great man, not only in spirit, but in physical form as well. One time when we were constructing his Mahasamadhi Shrine, he came and lay down in the spot where his body was to be buried. It was too short and he ordered us to it larger to accommodate his massive body. One day Master said to me, "Vishnu Swami, one day you must go to America. People are waiting there for you to teach them Yoga." At that time I laughed. The Master might as well have said, "Someday you will go to the Moon." At that point America seemed as far off as the Moon. But it is interesting to note how his words proved true. The last job I had before leaving the Ashram was to supervise the construction of Master’s Mahasamadhi Shrine. At the inauguration of the work, Master gave me 10 rupees. He told me that it would always pay for whatever work he asked of me. With the energy of that 10 rupees I was able to construct the Mahasamadhi Shrine, come to the West, establish all the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams and teach Teachers’ Training Courses to thousands of people. Those 10 rupees has taken me around the world innumerable times. It is only through Master’s energy and his grace that I was able to do all the work I’ve done. Everything I’ve done has been in Master’s name.
Talk given on the 1st of June, 1972, the Sannyasa Anniversary of Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. A collection of messages by Swamiji during various spiritual festivals including this message can be found in Swamiji's book, "Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals".
Two years afterwards, in the year 1924, he came across a great saintly person known as Swami Visvananda Sarasvati, whom he met, as it is said, only for a few minutes and from whom he received initiation into the sacred order of Sannyasa, as Swami Sivananda Sarasvati. This was on the 1st of June. This Swami Visvananda Sarasvati is little known to the public and, perhaps, personally he was not even acquainted to Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. It was a unique coming-together of two personalities, as if ordained by God Himself, and Jnana Sannyasa, as it is known, was offered to Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. Jnana Sannyasa implies Sannyasa without ritual. The ritualistic confirmation of this Jnana Sannyasa was subsequently performed by the great Sri Swami Vishnudevanandaji Maharaj of Kailas Ashram, who attained Mahasamadhi very recently. Thus, Swami Visvanandaji Maharaj was his Diksha Guru, while Swami Vishnudevanandaji Maharaj was his Sannyasa Kriya Guru. But Swami Sivanandaji had equal regard for both. From the year 1924, after he received Sannyasa, he started a rigorous life of Tapas or austerity. People who had the blessedness to see him those days described him as a fire of renunciation. There was an old Swamiji in the Kailas Ashram, who is now no more; who used to come to our hospital for medicine. He was a regular patient. Everyday he used to come with some trouble or the other. He had seen Swamiji in those days—1924 and onwards. He used to give us an idea as to what he looked like, in what esteem he was held by people in Svargashram, what was the type of Tapas he was performing to the astonishment of the other Sadhus, and the great reverence which he commanded from all the Mahatmas of Svargashram. The only two centres in Rishikesh which had a little population then were the Svargashram on the one side and the Kalikambalivala Kshetra in another place. There was nothing here where the Divine Life Society is situated now. This place known as Muni-ki-reti was an uninhabited forest. They say even wild animals used to crawl in these areas. When the land was dug up for some construction, they discovered even bones and skulls. No one knew what exactly was the situation or condition of this area. It was completely deserted, uninhabited by human beings. Such were the days when Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj entered the life of austerity in Svargashram. From the year 1924 till the year 1936, for 12 years, he was an incognito Mahatma doing his own Tapasya for a purpose which he alone knew. None of us was there and no disciples were there. He had neither associates, nor friends. What we hear from people who had seen him in those days amounts to this, that he wore little clothing and ate no delicious diet, which, of course, was not available at all even if he wanted. The only food that was available to Mahatmas in those days was dry bread (Chapattis, Rottis, the Pulka which had no ghee or oil) and Dal which also had no fat, neither ghee nor oil. People say that Swamiji did not take the Dal even, he used to take only the dry bread from the Kshetra and drank Ganga water over it. You know what will happen if you eat only dry bread with Ganga water. You will have diarrhoea instantaneously in this atmosphere. Anyhow he bore it. He was a doctor himself, but he had no medicines with him. He continued to live that austere life with dry bread and Ganga water. There was no question of milk or tea, or coffee, not even Dal, not even pulse. Vegetables were out of question. This went on for some years, and people held him in great regard for his tremendous renunciation which he held as his ideal of personal life. From another little information that we gathered from Swamiji himself during his later years, we understood that he used to go to the other side of the Laxman Jhula bridge. His Kutir was somewhere directly opposite to the Darsana Mahavidyalaya of the present day, and he used to be put up there. But he never used to stay in the Kutir most of the daytime because of fear that people would frequent him. He was a worshipful figure, even from the very beginning of his life in Rishikesh and Svargashram on account of the distinguished life of austerity that he led. It is difficult to live a life of austerity. Only if you live that life, you will know what it is. It is like death itself. You may even prefer death to a life of that kind. So it was a terror to see him leading a life of that kind with no clothes on his body. Who would give him clothes! There were no charities of any kind in those days. As I have already said, he used to absent himself from his Kutir to avoid frequentation by visitors and other Mahatmas, by going to the other side of the bridge. It was then some kind of a rope-bridge. Now we have an iron bridge of a modern type. There is a sand bank which you can see even now and Swamiji used to sit there during the night and do his oblations and austerities. During the nearly 26 years of life that we led physically with him I did not get even an inkling as to what sort of meditation he practised, what was the Japa he did and what was the purpose for which he meditated. He would never say anything about these things, nor were we in a position to get any information about these. This is all we knew, that he was staying on the sand bank during the larger part of the day and night on the other side of the Laxmanjhula bridge and would come to the Svargashram for his Bhiksha during the appointed time. The life of Swamiji of this calibre and austerity began to be known by people who had occasions to come to Badrinath and Kedarnath. In those days there were no motorable roads as we have now. From Haridwar onwards pilgrims had to walk on foot, as there was only a foot path. There was a possibility of coming by vehicle upto Haridwar only. I used to hear in my younger days that Haridwar was a place full of ice. Perhaps in those days it was very cold, colder than it is now, and people had to carry fire with them to keep themselves warm. Such legends were in vogue then. People who used to go by the foot path to Badrinath had to cross the Laxmanjhula bridge and walk through what you call Phul Chatty and other way-side halting places. It was all jungle throughout. Swami Sivananda was then known as the great Mahatma of Svargashram. There was neither the Divine Life Society, nor the Sivanandashram, even to dream of. He was familiarly known as the great saint of Svargashram, the Virakta Mahatma of Svargashram. One of the pilgrims who happened to go to Badrinath and who was a lover of saints, heard of the name of Swami Sivananda. He was a teacher in a High School in Nagpur, and his name was Hari Ganesh Ambekar. He later on joined this Ashram and took Sannyasa. He was our Gurubhai Swami Hariomananda Sarasvati. He was one of the earliest disciples, if you could call them disciples. They were disciples not in the sense of students who sat at the feet of the Guru, but in the sense that they admired the saint and wanted to keep him in their memory. Swami Hariomananda Sarasvatiji, Hari Ganesh Ambekar in his Purvashrama, used to send a money order of one rupee per month. That is what we have heard from Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj himself. In those days, one rupee was a very big amount. Those were the days when one kilogram of rice used to cost only one and a half annas or nine paise. So, you know the value of one rupee. He was one of the donors. But this one rupee, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj never used to spend for himself. He purchased some medicines or a cup of curd, not for himself, but for a neighbour who was sick, suffering from dysentery. You know very well, dysentery was quite common among Sadhus, who were compelled to eat a diet without any fat or something soothing to the walls of the intestines and stomach. Illness was very common, especially diarrhoea and dysentery. They were the common illnesses of having dry stomach, without any lubrication. Swamiji used to purchase a little curd and a little medicine and then started his philanthropic activity in a meagre way which culminated in a small dispensary called Satya Sevasrama, in Laxmanjhula. It became a government hospital and till recently it was functioning. Now it is closed. Thus he commenced his ministry of humanitarian and spiritual service which continued simultaneously or side by side with his life of austerity, till the year 1936. It is very unfortunate that we have no information as to what transpired between him and his Guru, his austerities and what sort of meditation he practised. His reply to queries from his disciples was: "You do not bother about what I did, but you do what I say." From the attitude he held in regard to life, till late in his life, we could gather by reading between lines that he was a combination of heights of Vedanta Philosophy and pinnacle of austerity or Tapas. He used to define Tapas as ‘flaming like fire by sense-control.’ One day, he put me a question: "What is Tapas? Can you define?" But, before I could say anything, he himself gave the definition. "Tapas is burning like fire by sense-control." I remember this definition even today. It is the heat that is produced in the spiritual body of ours by the control of the senses which deplete our energy and make us weaklings that we are. Can you dream or imagine for a moment that the status and the spiritual dignity which this Institution commands today, is the efflorescence, flower and the fruit of his Tapas and his spiritual stature! All success is the result of Tapas. This is his teaching. There can not be a saint without Tapas. There is no spirituality without Tapas. And Tapas is the same as Sannyasa. It is not wearing an ochre-coloured robe. It is neither an order of life, nor a stage into which you enter socially. But, it is an entry into the dedicated life of austerity and control of oneself. Today, being Sri Gurudev’s Sannyasa anniversary, we should contemplate on the spiritual spark that blazed itself forth as the great Swami Sivananda Sarasvati whose presence and Tapas, whose spirituality, goodness and large-heartedness became the nucleus and the seed for this large Institution which vibrates today in the hearts of many people in the world, not as buildings or constitutions, not as visible bodies or Institutions but as spiritual aspirations, noble longings for God-realisation, charitableness in nature and a conviction that the realisation of God is the only goal of life. "God-realisation first, everything else afterwards"—this was, is and will be the teaching of this saint for ever. Everything else follows automatically from this great surging longing of the heart. There are very few who could so forcibly proclaim this most unpalatable of truths that God-realisation is the primary aim of life. Because, many like to dilute this concept with ‘plus world’, ‘plus humanity’ and all that. They say, ‘God plus world’, ‘God plus humanity.’ But here was one who would not add anything to God or God’s perfection, to make it complete. As a matter of fact to add something to God would be to diminish the Perfection itself. God’s presence and the recognition of Him is the primary objective of all human activity, human longing and desire of every kind. There is no such thing as adding something to God’s perfection, because God is another name for Perfection itself. Can you add something to Perfection? No; for, then it would cease to be Perfection. That is Perfection, to which no addition is necessary, and also Perfection is of such a nature that you cannot subtract anything from It—that Perfection is God. Most of his earlier writings began with this proclamation: ‘Goal of life is God-realisation.’ He would commence his work,—be it a book, or an essay, or a message, or even a lecture,—with the sentence, ‘Goal of life is God-realisation.’ Slowly, this concept is becoming more and more academic in these days, i.e., it is accepted only by the intellect as a logical conviction and a rational acceptance of spiritual values but having little bearing on the practical life of people. But to saints of the type of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, it was a calling of life and not a mere intellectual conviction or a rational acceptance. When we say that goal of life is God-realisation, we have said everything that needs to be said. Vairagya, renunciation or Sannyasa spontaneously flows from the acceptance, from the heart, of the fact that the goal of life is God-realisation. It follows as a necessary consequence. We need not make another statement about it. Vairagya or Sannyasa is the necessary result that follows spontaneously and logically from the acceptance of the reality that the goal of life is God-realisation. If the goal of life should be God-realisation, God should be the Reality; because you cannot regard an unreality or a lesser reality as the goal of life. That which is Real can only be the goal; the unreal cannot be the goal of life, not also a partial reality can be the goal of life. It is the full Reality that alone can be the goal of life. So, God has to be the fullest of realities. And that which is fully Real has to exclude everything else that is tagged on to It externally by associations temporarily contrived by the weaknesses of flesh. So the Sannyasa of Satgurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was an inner spiritual fire which burnt forth in his practical life and in his teachings and the instructions which he gave to his disciples. He had no disciples and he never said that he had any disciples. On the other hand, he positively used to say, ‘I have no disciples.’ He also used to say that he had no organisation or an Ashram. He was the same Swami Sivananda who came to Rishikesh in the year 1922 under the name of Kuppuswami, the same Swami Sivananda who lived through the life of Sannyasa and spirituality and service to mankind, and it was the same Swami Sivananda who attained Mahasamadhi in the year 1963 without any change in his attitude to this world. Such are the sparkling ideals that he set forth before us. Every first of June, we celebrate and observe as an anniversary of this momentous event of his entering into Sannyasa, many years back. And no greater homage could be conceived to this saint than a sincere determination to lead the life that he himself intensely led, and to develop a similar attitude towards life as a whole, that the whole world is enveloped by the Presence of God. The Isavasyopanishad says: "Isavasyamidam sarvam, yat kincha jagatyam jagat." Whatever is moving or unmoving, Sthavara or Jangama, whatever is visible or invisible,—all this is indwelt by the supreme Being of God. The Upanishad also says: "Tena tyaktena bhunjithah." Here is the seed of Vairagya and Sannyasa at the very commencement of the Isavasyopanishad. It says, "renounce and enjoy." Enjoy by renunciation, not by possession. The enjoyment that comes by renunciation is more intense than the enjoyment that comes by possession of the things of the world. That satisfaction or pleasure or enjoyment which seems to come to us by the acquisition of the objects of sense, is a pain that comes to us in the guise of satisfaction. But that joy which comes to us by renunciation is a real and permanent joy. Why is it so? Because, renunciation is the relinquishment of false values, the abandonment of falsity in our attitude to things, which brings about a spontaneous inflow of God-consciousness and the substance of Reality into our hearts. When our substance or being commingles with our consciousness, there is a manifestation of delight, Ananda. But, in possessing things, in grabbing objects and in coming in contact with the temporary, fleeting values of the world, we do not come in contact with Reality, rather we flee away from Reality. The more you believe in the reality of objects, the farther you are from Truth or Reality. The more you come in contact with things, the more also are you unwittingly running away from the reality of God. The more you ask for pleasure from the objects of the world by sensory contact, the more is the pain that you invite from them; because all sensory contacts are sources of pain, for they have a beginning and an end. Contact with objects is the opposite of contact with Reality; because while objects are external, Reality is Universal. So the more is the contact with objects, the lesser is the contact with Reality; and consequently greater is the pain that we suffer in this life. So, "Tena tyaktena bhunjithah"—renounce the false values of the world on account of which you have a craving to come in contact with the transitory values, and enjoy the bliss of that union with Reality, the Supreme God indwelling all things. The Isavasya-Upanishad adds: Ma gridhah kasya svid-dhanam—"Covet not the things of the world." Do not ask for things which do not really belong to you. The things of the world do not belong to you, because they are unreal. How can unreality belong to you! Therefore, do not ask for the things of the world, which are untrue. Renounce all false values with this awareness that God indwells all creation, both movable and immovable. This is, in some way, the quintessence of the gospel of Divine Life which inspired the teachings and the writings of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. To him we pay our obeisance by directing our thoughts and contemplating on these eternal values, and by proclaiming once again in the same tone and intensity of feeling and fervour, that the goal of life is God-realisation. Everything else follows in the wake of this acceptance, as a shadow follows the substance or, as they say, ‘the tail follows the dog.’ You need not separately tell the tail to follow. All the things of the world and all values that are regarded as covetable in life will come in abundance and in plenty, if we accept from the bottom of our hearts that the goal of life is God-realisation, for which ideal Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj lived and sacrificed all his life. Such is his Sannyasa, such is his Vedanta and such is his teaching for our practice. May his Grace be upon us all!
SWAMI Sivananda was about six feet tall, with a shining copper red for his complexion. He had broad shoulders and long arms. His head and face were clean shaven. His countenance was childlike—no guile, no gall in it. His eyes sparkled. The Master’s titanic proportions of head and body reminded one of the Deities of Grecian mythology. In the simplicity of a monk, the Master seemed like a monarch. He was a picture of serenity and youth. It was impossible to judge his age from his appearance. He refused to grow old. "You look like the rock of Gibraltar," commented a visitor from Indiana, U.S.A., when she saw the Master on his sixty-eighth birthday. The Master had a vibrant, powerful voice. Often at a meeting he would gently push aside the mike, saying, "I don’t need it." His stentorian voice could reach an audience of thousands without the need of amplification. Paying a handsome tribute to his voice, Dr. Hari Prasad Shastri, founder of Santi Sadan, London, once commented, "We cannot describe our joy when we heard on the gramophone the sweet and holy voice of this great advocate of spiritual life. It was indeed an unforgettable thrill." The Master’s walking made no sound. For years he walked barefoot, but in later life took to canvas shoes. There was a poise in his every movement. When he spoke, the flow of language was steady and natural, and tongue-slips were conspicuous by their absence. In appearance the Master was far too simple—no colourful marks on the forehead, no matted locks or flowing beard, no rosaries around his neck, no beads, bangles or ear-rings—just enough clothing to protect his person from the weather and to ensure decency in society. In winter he wore an overcoat and in summer two large pieces of cotton, one around his waist, and the other over his shoulders and across his chest. It so happened one day in 1956 that an old South Indian lady walked into the Ashram office to have Darshan of the Master. He greeted her with an "Om" and folded hands, showed her a seat and made kind enquiries about her health and her pilgrimage. When he resumed his work the lady quietly walked out. Near the dispensary she asked an Ashramite, "Where is Swamiji? When can I see him?" "Swamiji is in the office. Why, you are coming from there only!" said the Ashramite, visibly amused. With tears in her eyes the old lady went back and prostrated at the Master’s feet. Similarly in the forties, one Adiga from Tirthahalli visited | ||||||||||||||||||||
