SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA AND HIS MESSAGE
(Sri Swami Chidananda)
Sri Swami Sivananda was a noble-souled man, filled with wonderful love in his heart, who lived all his life to make other people happy, and this was the chief aim and objective of his life. Therefore, he became a person beloved by countless people all over the world. He was himself a very happy person and enjoyed to laugh and make other people laugh also. He was very humorous and radiated cheerfulness, made people to forget all their sorrows and troubles, and brought joy and sunshine into their life. This he did to all people. He had no sense of difference between East or West, this country or that country, this race or that race, this religion or that religion. He was also a person of great compassion, understanding and sympathy. His personality was such that immediately he made everyone feel that they belonged to him and he belonged to them. He had no strangers in this world. For him, everyone was his. He simply showered his love upon all. It was a very strange thing to observe how even people who did not know his language and whose language he himself did not know, immediately felt a sense of oneness, the moment they came before him. He was a person of very simple nature. Many ministers, scholars, statesmen and other public figures came and offered their homage and respect to him. But he never felt himself big or great in any way extraordinary. He was just natural and simple, almost childlike in his behaviour. But, together with this absolute naturalness and simplicity deep wisdom was there in his heart, for he had attained this nature through years of great penance and prayer in a very lonely place. Of course he had some elements of this nature even previously from his young age. He was a kind and helpful person even during school-days. He was very serviceable to elders and even strangers.
Later on he qualified himself as a medical man and became a doctor. He travelled out of India to the Far East where he served as a doctor. For ten years he was in Singapore and Malaya, doing such medical service with great love. This medical service of his was something that brought about a great change in his nature. He served the poor and the suffering people without any expectation of gain or reward. In those days, Malaya was the land of British rubber-planters. People of the East slaved and laboured for them in their rubber-plantations. There were also tin-mines in which people worked. Indian labourers, Chinese labourers, Malayan labourers,—all of them were thus working in these plantations and mines. He lived and worked near one such very big plantation. And he grew in compassion, kindness and sympathy. He was moved by the pains and sufferings of these poor people. His large-hearted nature went out to them in great sympathy and friendliness. He became a brother to all and was something like a good Samaritan. He made no difference between day and night in his work. His door was open to all people at all times. Whenever a suffering man called him, immediately he went to his side. And sometimes, because they were very poor, he went and treated them freely. And at times he even left with them some money from his own pocket. This was the type of person that he developed into during those days.
At the same time, this contact with disease, human sorrow, human pain and suffering and death brought an inner awakening into him. He found the real nature of life on earth. He found it was no beautiful or sweet experience. He found that it was full of pain and suffering, disease and death. This brought in him the awakening of a religious consciousness. He felt that life here was painful and human body was an abode of much suffering and sorrow, and the soul within was in a state of bondage and imprisonment in human body. So his mind turned to philosophy. He read the lives and teachings of saints and philosophers, and he began to search for a way out of sorrow and pain. “Is there not a way by which man can transcend this present state? Is this the only state of experience available to man? Or is there another state of experience also within the reach of man, another state where the imperfections, sorrows and pains of this present state will not be present, a state which will be marked by peace, joy, true happiness which is absent here now?” This questioning and this quest drew him into the study of philosophy and the study of thought. He reflected and contemplated upon these questions. Ultimately it dawned upon him that there was a state full of blessedness, full of beatitude, full of peace and joy, and that state was within the reach of all human beings. So what previously people had attained, now also one can attain. Thus, he decided to dedicate himself to this attainment. Suddenly a day came when he gave up his very successful practice, his popularity, his wealth, everything, and came away to India. He came as a lone wandering seeker and he turned his footsteps to North, towards the Himalayas. After weeks or months of travel he reached a quiet little village on the banks of the sacred river Ganga. It was a little place on the slope of hills close to the Ganga bank. It was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Practically, civilised modern India ended this spot, for, beyond this place there was only the Himalayan mountains and forests. It was the Northernmost part of India, where, in the Himalayan mountains, India ended and the land of Tibet began. And here he made it the place of his silent seclusion, penance, prayer and inner meditation. He reached this place sometime in 1923-24. For ten years he plunged himself in quiet meditation. He spoke very little, practised self-control, lived a simple life, served the neighbouring people with compassion and kindness. It was a place where only monks and such recluses lived. He served them. There were some villages with simple village-folks. He sometimes gave medical aid to them also. Otherwise, most of the time he was sunk in prayer, meditation and study. This intensely lived life brought about spiritual illumination to this wonderful man. From that day onwards began his mission of calling to mankind towards this great attainment. He wanted to share his joy and peace with everyone. So he called to all people and said: “O friends! O beloved children! There is a way by which you can transcend all the sorrows and all the sufferings of this life and attain true peace and true happiness in this life here. You have come only for this attainment. That is the main purpose of your life. And this is true life, a life that leads you to this great attainment, where sorrow vanishes and joy comes into your heart, where all the restlessness of the mind subsides and there comes peace, where there is no more inner darkness, where comes light within, and life becomes no more a thing of sorrow, true life becomes a thing of great joy.” This message which he brought into the lives of countless beings, he gave this message the simple name of “Divine Life.” He gave a simple universal name which did not have the label of any particular religion. A life that took you towards divine experience, a life that was lived in the knowledge that within this physical body and this restless mind there is an all-perfect, Divine principle. That eternal divine principle is of the very nature of absolute peace and radiant bliss. Within you is this hidden divinity. Within you is this immortal spirit. That is eternal existence. That is radiant, pure consciousness. That is bliss. That is peace. There is this foundation of joy within you. And leaving this, neglecting this, we are searching here and there, wandering in this world of external objects. We are trying in vain to seek for happiness in objects which are temporary, which are changeful, which are finite, full of defects. How can perishable, changing finite objects bring real happiness and satisfaction? This is impossible. And therefore man ever seeks for happiness where it is not to be found. And then he weeps and wails and does not know what the reason of his sorrow is. The reason of sorrow is in him only. It is this primary state, this great error of thinking, that this imperfect world can give real happiness that is at the root of all sorrow in this world. There is no mistake in this outside world. The world does not stand up before you and say: “Come. O man, I will give you happiness!” The various things and objects in this world do not declare and say: “Yes, we are the source of happiness. We can give you happiness.” So they do not promise anything; they do not cause disappointment. It is you who is expecting something and then cause the disappointment. So mistake lies not in the world but in man. And thus, from birth to death man wanders in this forest of earth-life, in this desert wilderness of perishable, changeful objects, ignorantly imagining that through these objects he can attain true happiness here. These objects only give some temporary sense-satisfaction. A nice, beautiful form or colour gives a little satisfaction to the eyes. Some pleasant sound or an endearing word gives a little satisfaction to the ears. Some sweet taste can give a little satisfaction to the tongue. Some nice, soft touch gives a little pleasure to the sense of feeling. So these pleasant little experiences of a little pleasant taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight only give a little sense-satisfaction. This sense-satisfaction is not happiness. It is not joy. It is only upon the physical bodily level. It is a biological process, depending entirely upon your nervous system. This nervous system is part of this animal structure. This physical body is only the animal structure of your personality. If any part of your nervous system cannot function, then you cannot have this sensation. So all this fivefold sense-experience is a matter of physical nervous process. This is not happiness. Happiness is an inward state of being. It is an inward state of mind and heart. And sometimes it just wells up from within, even when there in no object present at all. When you are sitting alone at times, when no desire troubles your mind, when there is no particular wish or want felt inside, and you are sitting at peace with yourself, you can experience a rare joy from within. This joy comes in the absence of any object or thing whatsoever.
This great truth, that joy is within, happiness is the very centre of your true being, and it has to be sought for inside and not outside, and that the more one runs outside it increases desire, the further one gets away from happiness and peace. This truth was given to every one by the teachings of our Master. But he was a realist and a practical man. Even though he gave this great ideal of Self-experience, he knew man had to live his normal life also. And he gave some practical suggestions and rules for daily living through which, even while living and fulfilling the duties of normal life and carrying on one’s normal domestic, social and professional duties, man gradually grew into this state of self-management and inner control. This graduated discipline that he gave to man was the very essence of his Divine Life teachings. And he gave these rules and regulations of an utterly non-sectarian character, so that they did not interfere with the religion in which one was born or the religion and faith which one practised. These rules of Divine Life were such that anyone could incorporate it within one’s own life without affecting ones belief and religious practices. He embodied these teachings in twenty instructions. And in these Twenty Spiritual Instructions he put the essence of the teachings of all saints and sages. He said that this is religion in daily life. He said that this is the practice of religion; this is the science of religion. And the adoption of these rules made one move towards happiness and peace and move away from suffering and sorrow.
Be kind and friendly. Hate none. Dislike none. See only the good points in others and do not look into the defects of others. No one is perfect and no one is responsible as God made him what he is. Therefore, take things with a charitable view. See the good and ignore the false. If you want to see the false, see the false that is in you. And try to remove it and become a perfect person. Thus, practise kindness in daily life. Let your speech be free from anger and harshness. Speak sweetly and speak softly. Forgive people. Ever try to serve. Stick to truth. And thus, through selfless service of all, through the practice of kindness and compassion, through the practice of sweet speech, purify your heart. Develop a great love for the supreme universal principle which is the source of this entire universe. That is what is the very basis and source of both your being as well as the existence of this universe. Seeing that, attaining that, one attains fullness. In this present state of separation from that source of your being you are incomplete. Completeness and wholeness comes into your life when you regain once again your inner spiritual contact and relationship with That. And therefore, generate a great aspiration and a great longing for attaining the experience of That. Develop this inner hunger, this inner devotion, through practice of inner life. Be alive in your interior and grow in your inner life. Progress through prayer. Progress through daily contemplation. Progress through inner adoration. And try to practise ceaseless remembrance of that supreme divine principle. Do it in the midst of your daily life. Let your interior rest in that eternal Substance. Such life is called Divine Life, for it is a life that takes you towards divine experience. It is a life that unfolds the divine nature that is inherent within you. It is a life that is lived in the awareness of the spiritual purpose of your life. It is a life where, through your thoughts, words and daily activities, you express the divine within you. It is a life where you manifest beauty, love and joy from within. Life is no longer a process of giving expression to your petty little selfish nature. It is not a process of petty selfish action, of anger, irritation, sharp words, fights and quarrels, petty enmities and jealousies, temper and restlessness, but it is a life which radiates compassion and kindness, friendliness and love, the spirit of selfless service, the desire to make others happy, the wish to be more and more useful to others. Such a life is called Divine Life. You become a blessedness to yourself. You bring joy into your home. You cause happiness to your parents and your own kith and kin. You bring friendliness, love and happiness in your own neighbourhood, amidst your friends, in the society in which you move, in short, in all fields of your active life. You move as a centre of blessedness. You fill yourself with joy and peace. You bring joy and peace to others also. But to do this you require self-control. If you are a slave of your own senses, you cannot live such a life. So, you require sense-control—control over your mind and its desires, control over this ego and its selfishness. But you should not think that this discipline of control is something puritan. You should not think that this is austerity of monks and nuns. On the contrary, such discipline and such control is the symptom of real civilisation. These are the signs of true education. Such control and self-government over oneself and such denial of one’s own desires in the higher desire to make others happy is the very essence of true culture. Civilisation, education, culture—all are based upon such rational self-control. It is such self-control only which makes life worth living. A society or a community is truly rich and wealthy if it has men and women of such self-government. This is not a world-denying philosophy. For, don’t forget, remember, that out of this temporary denial you are moving towards an abiding state of true joy and happiness. It is not a control and denial for its own sake. You know, because this is the way to the attainment of true happiness. Thus, the goal is joy, the goal is happiness, the goal is peace and perfection. This is the way, and this is Divine Life.
* * *
