A Unique Message Of Gurudev Swami Sivananda Sri Swami Chidananda What has Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj specially done to the world which the great saints and sages like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Ramatirtha, Sankaracharya, Ramanuja, Vallabha and others did not do? Gurudev has brought the message of all these people. What Jesus said and Buddha and Mohammed said—the quintessence of these teachings has been given to us by Sri Gurudev. Gurudev has given us the essence of all the messages contained in the Upanishads, the Gita and other holy scriptures. What is the uniqueness of Sri Gurudev? Has he done something distinctive? Every person is unique. Just because you have been eating rice, Chapati, Dal and vegetables all your life, if today these things come to you, will you say, “What is unique in this? I am eating them daily. I don’t want them.” You will not say that; because today’s food is unique for today. It is the need of the hour; all that you have eaten for so many years will not appease your hunger today. Today’s meal is unique for you. Similarly, from this angle in the context of each period and generation, in each century, the work of a saint, a sage or a messenger of God who comes in that particular framework of time, is of most important significance to that particular time. If you go into deeper analysis, you will find that it is exactly the prime need of the hour. So from that point of view Gurudev’s teaching was unique. Its value cannot be estimated at all. It is invaluable. In the context of what was going on in India and outside India, Sri Gurudev appeared to once again revive the fast fading loyalty or allegiance of Indian people to their own culture. The people then were under the impact of a flood of alien ideas and ideals. At that time Gurudev put before them the great value and the precious importance of the eternal ideal and goal. He proved that the spiritual ideal can never become old. It is ever new. And it will continue to be new even in the future; because it is eternal. Gurudev thus showed people the right path and then woke them up to their error. He said, “Don’t commit the error of getting fascinated by wrong ideals. Don’t commit the error of casting away diamonds for a piece of glass. A diamond is always a diamond even for thousands of years. Glass can never take its place.” Gurudev also put them into the pride of their religion; he put into them a desire to propagate it. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge was something very dear to Gurudev. He used to say, “It is no good for you not to know what your religion is. Know your religion. But don’t keep it to yourself. Share it. Share whatever is beneficial to all. See that others also are benefited by this knowledge.” Though other saints have also done this before, Gurudev did it in a very unique way. He said, “Religion is not confined either to the time you visit a temple or your Puja room morning and evening. It is something which pertains to every breath that you take. It is something which has an intimate connection with and is concerned with every moment of your entire life.” So he refused to make religion a part of people’s life. For him life itself was religion. What is religion? Man’s attempt to worship God and to move towards Him is religion. Life should be lived as worship to God; life should be lived as an upward ascent into God-experience and Bhagavad-Darshan, coming face to face with God. The whole life must be made divine. You must live life as a divine process and not as a material or worldly process. We must open our eyes to this new outlook. Gurudev said, “Here I give to you life that is not going to be in any part either materialistic or worldly or gross. All life is spiritual. All life is divine connecting you directly to God. Therefore, live life divine. If you are a doctor practising medicine, practise it in a divine way, seeing His Presence in your patients. If you are a lawyer, then be a divine lawyer. Practise your law in a divine spiritual way. If you are a businessman, do your business in a divine way. Make it spiritual and not earthly and corrupt. If you are a professor or a teacher or a principal, know that you must be so in a divine way. If you are an engineer then be a divine engineer.” Because, that which you are doing is extraneous to yourself. It is ‘you’ who are doing it, so it does not matter what you are engaged in, ‘you’ must be divine while you are engaged in it. Then you will bring the quality of divinity in whatever you are engaging yourself in. In your engineering activity, in your medical activity and your academic activity, or any activity for the matter of that, bring the divinity which is your essential nature and can never be contradicted by anything in this world, no matter what anyone may say about it. You are essentially a divine being. Your earth personality is like an overcoat which you have taken upon yourself. But it cannot change what you are. Because this overcoat is temporary, it is Asat, unreal. And that which is unchangeable, eternal, beginningless and endless is your native state; that Vedanta calls Sat, the Truth. So all that is extraneous to you is Asat, unreal. That which is the essence of yourself is Sat. The essence of you is the immortal Atman. You are eternal Spirit, Atman, unborn, deathless. And therefore, in that essence of your being you are divine; because spirit is divinity. Divinity means all-Love, all-Truth, all-Auspiciousness and Blessedness. Therefore, in being divine, your entire life has to be divine.

The Richest Treasure on Earth Sri Swami Chidananda The eternal message of the ancient sages and saints constitutes the common spiritual heritage of all mankind, and it is a universal inheritance that belongs to one and all. All of us have the right to receive this heritage, but we have not claimed it up until now. However, now the time has come to claim it. This common spiritual heritage of mankind is the richest treasure on earth. All other types of wealth can be taken away from you, devalued or destroyed, but once you acquire the spiritual wealth, it will never be diminished, and it will never leave you. There is enough sorrow and suffering in this world. Let us not add more. On the contrary, let us bring more happiness into this world. Make yourselves centres of joy, and as you go along this highway of life, scatter this joy and blessedness on all sides. Remember the simple prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. Try to make your life a dynamic manifestation of this simple prayer. This prayer is the essence of all religion and spirituality, just as the message of divine life was the message of the worshipful Master Swami Sivananda. The St. Francis prayer goes like this: Oh Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.Where there is hatred, let me bring love.Where there is injury, let me bring pardon.Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.Where there is despair, let me bring hope.Where there is discord, let me bring harmony.Where there is conflict, let me bring unity.Where there is darkness, let me bring light.Where there is sorrow, let me bring joy. Divine Master, I do not seek so much to be consoled, but rather to console. I do not seek so much to be understood, but rather to understand. I do not seek so much to be loved, but to love. For it is in giving that one receives; for it is in consoling that one is consoled; for it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, and it is in dying to this little self that one attains everlasting light. This simple prayer provides a mould for us in which to cast our life’s conduct and character. It provides a blueprint upon which to pattern our thoughts, speech and actions in our day-to-day relationship with all life around us. There must be a certain amount of renunciation of our own views and desires, and in our own small way we must be able to say, “Not my will, dear Lord, but Thy will be done.” We have to forego self-satisfaction if we wish to exercise the subtle virtues of forgiveness, sympathy, understanding and helpfulness. Everything in this world of man has a price on it. The greater the value of what we wish to have, the greater the price that must be paid. When the thing that you wish to have is the Greatest, suffice it to say that no price for that supreme attainment should be considered too much to pay. Jesus referred to it as “the pearl of surpassing price.” Once you truly know its worth, you will act like the man in the parable. In modern terms he did the equivalent of selling his house, car, TV, radio, property, stocks, business and maybe even his wife’s jewellery, because he wanted to possess that which is priceless. He thought no sacrifice was too great. When the rich young man in the Bible wished to follow Him, Jesus said, “Go and sell all that you have and distribute it among the poor, and then come and follow me.” Jesus invited the young man to share a life where one has no home or property, and there is not even a stone on which to lay one’s head. You are not being asked here to do such a drastic thing, although in classical spiritual history that was what was demanded. The spiritual masters of the present century understand the problems of man in the context of the changed situation that prevails today, so they do not ask for such an extreme change in a seeker’s life. They do say however  that a certain amount of self-denial, sacrifice and submission to the dictates of the Higher Will are indispensable. We have to be happy ourselves, and we need to live to make others happy. This we can do, and this we must do. We have to start doing this from this very moment. Sorrow is not natural to you—joy is natural to you. To smile and laugh is natural to you—not weeping and wailing. You have come here for happiness and joy, because you have come here from a great universal source of light, which we refer to as universal soul or God. You are rooted in the divine Reality, and your origin is the eternal truth. Though different religions give various names to the Supreme Being, It is beyond all these names and forms. It is that one, non-dual Being Who is glorified in all scriptures of the world. That is your divine abode. Your abidance in this physical universe is only temporary. Even while you physically and mentally abide on this earthly plane, in truth, even at this moment, you are abiding in the divine. This Supreme Reality is pure bliss. You have come out of this bliss, you abide in this bliss, and this bliss is your ultimate goal. How can you avoid bringing this bliss out of yourself and manifesting it in this life? You are the children of light and bliss; yet, if you experience sorrow, it means that your life is not real life. It is the contradiction of the Reality and a negation of the truth. When you negate truth, your life becomes a living falsehood, and then all the miseries of life will start. The sufferings, conflict and grief of the world are the direct result of negating the truth. Once you stop engaging in this unnatural

Message for Guru Poornima Sri Swami Sivananda The full moon day in the month of Ashadha is the extremely auspicious and holy day of Guru Poornima. On this Ashadha Poornima Day, sacred to the memory of the great sage, Sri Vyasa Bhagavan or Sri Krishna Dwaipayana, Sannyasins settle at some place to study, do Vedantic Vichar and discourse on the thrice-blessed Brahma Sutras composed by Maharishi Vyasa. Sri Veda Vyasa has done unforgettable service to all humanity for all times by editing the four Vedas. Writing the eighteen Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata. We can attempt to repay this deep debt of gratitude we owe Him only by constant study of His works and practise of His teachings imparted for the regeneration of humanity in this Iron Age or Kali Yuga. In honour of this Divine personage all Sadhakas and devotees perform Vyasa Pooja on this day, aspirants worship their Guru, Mahatmas and Sadhus are honoured and entertained and acts of charity done by all Grihasthis with deep faith and sincerity. Mark fully the deep significance of this great day. Ashadha Poornima heralds the Chaturmas or the setting in of the eagerly awaited rains. The water drawn up and stored as clouds in the hot summer now manifests in plentiful showers that usher in the advent of fresh life everywhere. Even so, do you all begin seriously to put into actual working all the theory and philosophy that you have stored up in you through patient study. Commence practical spiritual Sadhana right from this day. Generate fresh waves of spirituality. Let all that you have read, heard, seen and learnt become, through Sadhana, transformed into a continuous outpouring of Universal Love, ceaseless loving service, and continuous prayer and worship of the Lord seated in all beings. As the day of Guru Pooja or worship of one’s preceptor, this is a day of pure joy to the sincere aspirant. Thrilled by the expectation of offering his reverent homage to the beloved Guru, aspirants await this occasion with eagerness and devotion. It is the Guru alone that breaks the binding cords of attachment and releases the aspirant from the trammels of earthly existence. The Guru is God Himself. He guides and inspires you from the innermost core of your being. He is verily the Supreme Spirit. He is everywhere. Have a new angle of vision. Behold the entire Universe as Guru Swaroopa. See the guiding hand, the awakening voice, the illumining touch of the Guru in every object in this Creation. The whole world will now stand transformed before your changed vision. The Virat Guru will reveal all the precious secrets of life and bestow Wisdom. The Supreme Guru manifest in visible Nature will teach you the most valuable lessons of Life. Worship daily this Guru of Gurus, the Guru who taught even Avadhut Dattatreya. The silent all-enduring Earth with its lofty forbearance, the shady fruit bearing tree with its willing self-sacrifice, the mighty Pipal reposing with patience in the tiny seed, the dripping drops whose persistence wear away the rocks, the planets and the seasons with their order punctuality and regularity are Divine Gurus to him who will look, listen and receive. Become a personification of receptivity. Empty yourself of your petty ego-sense. All the treasures locked up in the bosom of Nature will become yours! You will have progress and perfection in an amazingly short time. Become pure and unattached as the mountain breeze. As the river flows continuously, steadily and constantly towards its goal, the Ocean, by moving every moment of your life towards the Supreme state of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, let all your thoughts, all your words, all your actions be directed only towards the Goal. The Moon shines by reflecting the dazzling light of the Sun. It is the Full-Moon of Poornima Day that reflects in full splendour the glorious light of the Sun. It glorifies the Sun. Purify yourself through the fire of Service and Sadhana and like the Full Moon reflect the Glorious Light of the ATMAN. Become the full reflectors of Brahmic splendour, the Light of Lights, Make this your goal, to become a living witness to Divinity, the brilliant Sun of Suns! This then is my message to you all on most sacred Guru-Poornima, learn to behold all creation as Guruswaroopa, become full moon of spiritual perfection! May you all cut asunder the knot of Avidya and shine as a blessed Jivanmukta shedding Peace, Joy and Light everywhere!

Uniqueness of the Gospel of Gurudev Sri Swami Chidananda The soul-elevating and life-transforming gospel of Sri Gurudev, now diffused nearly all over the modern world, have brought about among large sections of people a remarkable awakening to the lofty spiritual purpose of life, while pointing out to them the fundamentals of noble idealism, and the ways and means of their realization in and through the world. Long, long ago, in the dim and distant past, nearly four thousand years before, in what is called the Vedic age, were implanted the seeds of spiritual culture of this holy land. The great Vedic call of enlightened sages, like Vyasa, Vasishtha and others, was then sounded, and in this call constituted the basic elements in the structure of our culture, righteousness being the way of life, and God-realization its ultimate goal. Through the corridors of centuries, many changes have taken place in our country, as in the rest of the world. Various external influences and indigenous factors have contributed to the shaping of the different phases of the Indian culture, such as the advent of the Buddha, the inroads of foreign occupations, and it has undergone many transformations, though all the while retaining its basic outlook. During the last nine hundred years or so, Indian culture had to pass through a number of crises, it absorbed so many strains that were alien to it, and had to build up so many barricades within its framework so as to protect itself from obliteration through strong influences from outside. What are considered as many of the negative aspects of our culture today had their genesis in this period, at least quite a few of them. There were, of course, occasional flashes of brilliance, and spurts of religious enthusiasm and awareness, but the spiritual element in the life of the people, generally speaking, steadily corroded, and the voice of our ancient saints and seers began to sound faint and distant, and were often confused with interpolations that were born of frustration and bigotry. Therefore it was as though our ancient seers, the immortal souls of our culture, out of their compassion for us, desired that their call might once again be rung out, that the same note, the same call to humanity, to partake of the glorious spiritual experience of divine realization, be once again voiced forth. As though as an answer to their heart’s wish, God has sent amidst us a unique spiritual messenger in the person of Gurudev, who treasures within himself the voice of the Divine, the voice of the enlightened seers of the Upanishadic age, and who is eminently capable of understanding the trends of the modern times, and reinterpret the ancient teachings according to the needs and the spirit of our era. We find in Sri Gurudev’s gospel the voice of the Upanishads, the Gita, the Brahmasutras, once again resounding clear and urgent in our ears, so that we could regain what we have lost through the stresses of past centuries, reshape our lives according to the ideals of divine realization, and raise ourselves from the level of instinctive, animal life that we commonly lead, to that of what is really human and rationalistic, to that of what is ultimately divine and spiritual. The gospel of Gurudev, commented upon by many writers have come at a time, when more than ever we are in need of it, when we are rushing headlong towards the abyss of materialism, so that our aspirations would be turned towards a noble, spiritual objective, towards Dharma and godliness, so that we might save ourselves from the folly of misdirecting the powers of modern science and technology, rather than dictating and harnessing them for universal good. It is not only the reinterpretation of the voice of the Upanishads, the Bramha-sutras and the Gita that marks out Gurudev as a unique spiritual teacher, but it is his realization of the supreme truth, embodied in them, through practical experience. Our divine Master is unique in another respect as a teacher of the masses all over the world. He has delved deep into the teachings of all the great saints and sages belonging to different religions and times and climes, in order to bring about a beautiful synthesis of their essential points. His teachings are, therefore, universal in scope. In India there are a number of spiritual traditions, and, though within the fold of Hinduism, they have not so far substantially coalesced with one another. There are traditions of the great Tamil saints–the Nayanars and Alwars–the saints of Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Sindh, Punjab and so on, each group of them eliciting the allegiance of their respective linguistic regions. There has been little of intermingling of the traditions of these regions, and the saints of one region, though by their names known in another, did not reach out to the people outside their areas of influence through their teachings, because India is a multi-lingual country and the teachings of the regional saints are mostly in the languages of the regions. Gurudev has done a unique service to the people of India through making available to them a synthetic combination of the teachings of most of the great saints of this country, by the means of a common language, as also by inter-vernacular translation of his works, and has brought about a beautiful unification of the diverse teachings that are scattered over the various parts of this sub-continent. He has thus given a great common heritage to the India of the twentieth century, and passed it on to the rest of the world. Our Master’s gospel is neither Vaishnavite, nor Saivite, neither Vedantic nor Tantrik, neither Yogic nor Pauranik, in the exclusive sense. It represents a beautiful unification of all philosophical trends, religious cults and spiritual ecstasies, not only of this land, but of the whole world, in their essential perspectives. His gospel represents a combination of the spiritual approaches and experiences of all saints and seers. Gurudev has flooded the

Outstanding Features of Siva’s Personality I happened to meet an old Sannyasi who has a profound love and respect for Swami Sivanandaji. I asked him, being older than Swamiji and having himself embraced Sannyas even before Swamiji, why he had so much love and respect for him. The old Sannyasi told me that he took Sannyas because forty-nine years ago he had lost his wife and three children in a fortnight’s time. So, he said, his Sannyas was a Karana Sannyas. While Swami Sivanandaji, as Dr. Kuppuswami, could have led a most comfortable worldly life having had a lucrative practice with popularity which few could command. Renouncing all these worldly comforts and fame, he embraced Sannyas through real Vairagya. That, from the old Sannyasi’s point of view, was one of the outstanding features of Swamiji’s life which earned for him the love and respect of Sannyasins in general. My own experience about Swamiji has only been through his books and twenty minutes’ personal contact during his four-day stay in Bombay in October 1950. It is no exaggeration to mention that this short period was one of the happiest in my life. On all the four days I was in constant attendance at Swamiji’s camp. The most remarkable feature that I observed then was that whatever Swamiji received through one hand, he distributed through the other. Over and above that he gave away several books as gifts to the visitors. I then felt that our Hindu religious leaders should be brought before Swamiji and made to understand that, instead of the “one-way traffic” of receiving only, they should also learn “the other way traffic” of giving, too! I have read commentaries on Gita by different writers, but somehow or other Swamiji’s commentary appealed to me most. I, therefore, asked a Sanskrit scholar and a profound student of Gita the reason why Swamiji’s Gita appealed to me more than that of other writers. After perusing the book, he remarked that Swamiji’s Gita would naturally appeal to anybody as it has not been written with a view to showing his knowledge, but with a view to making a student understand it. This can be said about all the books that Swamiji has written. His, Mind, Its Mysteries and Control has been written in a simple language, easily understandable, though it is a difficult subject. One of the great characteristics of Swamiji’s teachings has been that he himself comes down to the level of the Sadhaka and then gradually takes him up to the higher level. The other Masters insist that the Sadhaka should himself come up to a certain level before they would direct him further. Thus we find among Swamiji’s followers people of all castes, creeds, religions, and of different stages of evolution. Swamiji is training a number of Sadhakas who will be able to spread the teachings of the wise throughout the country in course of time. A prominent Indian leader rightly said that, after Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivanandaji is the fittest person to tour the world for shedding the light of the Hindu Philosophy all over the world. Swamiji’s hurricane All-India Tour (1950) has made him known throughout the country and his contemplated Continental Tour will not only make him known throughout the world but will be of immense value for the forthcoming Parliament of Religions. In spite of his being engaged in all the activities of the Ashram and being in touch with the minutest details thereof, Swamiji is very easily approachable and gives prompt replies to all the letters addressed to him. There is a magnetic attraction in Swamiji which draws to him the millions. Whoever meets him, is convinced that he is real Satchidananda Swarupa.

Is Liberation Possible In This Very Birth? Sri Swami Chidananda Recently, I was in Delhi, and around midnight a phone call came from my host’s daughter. She is a well-educated person with a good position. She wanted her parents to ask me a question, but, as I was up, I said, “Let me speak to her myself.” She said: “Swamiji, I can see that there is no real happiness to be found anywhere in this world. Please Swamiji, tell me, is it really possible to attain liberation in this very birth?” I answered her: “It is possible if the intense desire to attain God, to attain liberation, occupies your heart as the first and foremost of all desires, all wishes, all that you long for, all that you yearn after. “If God, if liberation, is your top priority, and it fills your heart, mind and intellect—your entire being, and you are consumed by that great longing and yearning—all other wishes come after it, they are secondary, not primary—then nothing in this universe can prevent you from attaining liberation in this very life. This is for sure! “Let us be practical. Does this mean that one should cease wishing or working for anything else? It is not absolutely necessary, and it is not absolutely possible either. As long as you are in this body, in this earth plane, you have to work for food, clothing and shelter, for the body has its hard demands. You have to keep yourself in reasonable comfort so that your body will not have a breakdown in health and become an obstacle on the path. Because through the body alone you have to live and work out your liberation. “So, taking care of the body’s minimal wants and providing for its shelter—a place to do your sadhana, pursue your spiritual practices—is a minimal requirement which no one can afford to totally deny or ignore. If you inwardly give up everything, yet on the outer plane exert to attain what is essential to survive and work out your liberation, then the body does not become an obstacle. Rather, it becomes the boat to cross the ocean of transmigration. It becomes the chariot to take you to your destination along the right road of a divinely lived life. It becomes your instrument for liberation. “Therefore, view it from this angle. Even the secular can be made part of the spiritual. The outer worldly life becomes a supplementary process to the inner spiritual life. It becomes an inevitable part of it; it becomes one with it. “So, no part of your life is left outside the purview of your spiritual life. One hundred per cent of your life, twenty-four hours of the day, becomes spiritual if viewed in the right way and lived in the right manner. It becomes an integral part of a comprehensive movement towards God, an ascent towards liberation. “That’s the way Gurudev taught. Have no dichotomy. Make no separation. Feel that all your life is only meant for sadhana, for liberation, for an upward ascent towards illumination. If thus, with all your heart, mind and soul, you long for it, let me assure you that liberation is one hundred per cent certain. No power on earth can prevent you from receiving what you deserve, what you have earned. For, by such a longing, you have earned it.” A great Teacher, when He was asked what was the greatest commandment of all, answered: “Love the Supreme Being with all your heart, with your entire being. Set aside your little ‘I’, thinking not about yourself, but thinking of and loving Him alone with all your mind and all your heart.” Then God does not sit in judgment of what you have been. He says, “Here is one who is longing for Me with his entire being.” Then He becomes for you the divine, celestial wish-yielding tree. You go beneath the tree, wish for anything and instantaneously you have it. God is all this and more, and it is such a God that you are worshipping. He is not a judging, punishing, angry, displeased God. He is the Supreme Reality and He says: “What you wish and long for with all your heart, that is yours. If you ask for Me, I am yours.” This is the real situation between the sincere seeking soul and its maker, support and fulfilment.