Swami Sivananda: That Wonderful, Noble-Souled Man You may not have known much about Swami Sivananda, but in a few words I will tell you about him. He was a noble-souled man filled with wonderful love, whose chief aim in life was to make other people happy. He was himself a very happy person who loved to laugh and make others laugh! He radiated cheerfulness and made people forget all their sorrows. He had no sense of difference between East or West, this country or that country, this religion or that religion. 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 the world and simply showered his love upon all. It was a very strange thing to observe how even people who did not speak his language at all immediately felt a sense of oneness the moment they came before him. He became a person beloved by countless people all over the world. The essential aspect of Gurudev’s life was first of all that he was a person of transparent simplicity. Many scholars, statesmen and other public figures came and offered their homage and respect to him, but he never felt himself to be in any way extraordinary. Natural simplicity, deep wisdom, compassion, understanding and sympathy were all there in his heart. He was a very unusual blend of deepest wisdom and vast knowledge, and at the same time he had this unassuming simplicity that one doesn’t usually associate with this type of knowledge and wisdom. He was as simple as a child and yet the wisest of sages. He was totally without self-consciousness; he never had the idea that he was something special. Another aspect that struck me, in contrast to all my negative qualities, was that in my entire 35 years of associating with the Master, I have never seen him get angry, speak angry words, or at any time raise his voice no matter what the situation was. This is something very distinctive. It is not ordinary with human beings, and it is such a contrast to me who was and still is excitable. I could get excited in an argument and raise my voice, but then, I don’t know how hard Master had to work with himself on this or whether he was born with this nature right from the very beginning. These are wonderful traits–this type of serenity, peace and absolute absence of anger. He was totally incapable of seeing anything bad or negative in people. I found that he always focused only upon things that were praiseworthy in people. He fixed himself only on the positive and just brushed aside anything that was negative. He was not ready to see anything bad, and there were many instances to attest to this positive quality of absolute sincerity. He was meticulous in anything he did, and there was a clockwork regularity in his daily life. For us as spiritual seekers, the most important aspect was that to him the spiritual purpose of life was the most important factor. He came to proclaim to the whole world a spiritual meaning of life, and he hammered on this theme again and again. He was himself one hundred per cent spiritual in his outlook toward everything. He had attained this nature through years of great penance and prayer, but he had some elements of this nature even from an early age. His teachings went directly to the heart of life. He always tended to emphasise the essentials of his message, and he didn’t bother going into too much detail. He was precise, to the point and simple. His teachings were the soul of simplicity, so much so, that some people who are more intellectually and rationally oriented take him to be one who is not much of a philosopher. God knows what depths of philosophy he had in his head, but so far as his teachings were concerned, he gave them in a manner that even a layman could understand and easily adopt. The teachings were very simple–going to the heart of the matter, not beating around the bush, and not caring so much about non-essential matters. His teachings always emphasised unity, and he always wanted to bring people, religions and countries together; hence, he always took care to mention only things that offered common ground where people could meet and be one. Above all, his teachings were practical. He did not so much write about things that you should know as much as about things you should do. Much of his teachings were practical instructions on living life and practising yogic sadhana. If you were to open any page of one of his books, you’d find him directly talking to you, and as a result, his works have great power. As a young man, he became a doctor and travelled to Malaya where he did medical service with great love for ten or twelve years. He served the poor and the suffering people without any expectation of gain or reward. The pains and sufferings of these poor people moved him; his large-hearted nature went out to them in great sympathy and he grew in compassion. He became a brother to all and was something like a Good Samaritan. He saw no difference between day and night in his work, and his door was open to all people at all times. Whenever a suffering man called him, immediately he went to his side. Sometimes, because they were very poor, he went and treated them for free, and he even left them some money from his own pocket. At the same time, this contact with sorrow, pain and suffering brought about an inner awakening in him. He found that life on earth need not be a beautiful experience–as it was full of disease and death–and this awakened a religious consciousness in him. He felt that life here is painful, the human body is an abode

Skanda Shashti Message (1945) Sri Swami Sivananda Hindu festivals and celebrations have more in them than meets the eye. In fact, Hinduism, the cradle of all the religions of the world, presents us with a Divine Kaleidoscope: Spiritual Truths, ideas and ideals are expressed in an impressive, easily assimilable and striking manner, capable of being looked at from different angles according to the differences in temperament and taste between man and man, affording withal equal opportunities of drawing inspiration from it to one and all. In the eyes of the Lord, even the oldest amongst us is but a child. What is a hundred years or even more for one who is Eternity itself, for whom thousands of human years would pass in a mere winking of the eye? Yet, look at His compassion for us! He directs the Drama of Life here in such a way that everything that happens all about us has, besides the momentary entertainment that it offers us, bears in its bosom great lessons which would be invaluable aids in our march to Immortality. I have in mind the Puranas specially, when I say this. All the stories related therein are true. They are inspiring, elevating and interesting; they contain object lessons for us to learn and profit by. Read them again and again with zeal, faith and an open mind; you will soon cross this Samsara. The Skanda Purana describes the glorious deeds of Lord Subrahmanya. The Lord is an Avatara of Lord Siva necessitated by the miserable plight in which the Devas found themselves in their encounter with the Asuras. Lord Murugan assumed the role of the Commanding General of the Deva Army and easily conquered the Demons with the help of His Vel. The Puranic demons are mere nobodies in strength and valour when compared to the anti-Adhyatmic ones which an aspirant has to encounter every day and every second of his spiritual life. Who but he who has resorted to the Lord for succour and who has surrendered himself at His Lotus-Feet can conquer passion, anger, greed and their diabolic comrades? Lord Skanda’s grace is easily obtained. Saint Arunagiri says in his soul-stirring Tiruppugazh songs that even if the word MURUGA is uttered but once with Bhava, the Lord’s Grace descends on the devotee. Once the aspirant obtains the Lord’s Grace, the Demons take to their heels; and he is at once admitted into the realms of Immortality and Eternal Bliss. Pray to Him fervently with faith and devotion. You will very soon cross this vast ocean of Samsara. Subrahmanya is the Pratyaksha Devata (visible God) of this Kali Yuga. Worship of Him bestows instant fruits on the devotee. It is a very rare privilege to take part in the Laksharchana celebrations. The Lord’s Names are very, very powerful. Their utterance or listening to them will destroy sins committed in all one’s countless births. May the Grace of Lord Skanda be upon you all!

Man And His Mind Sri Swami Chidananda Radiant Atman! Man is man because he has a mind. Thinking, reasoning, feeling, that alone makes man. If he has no mind he is an animal. But mind can make a man a beast also. Mind can make a man a demon. Because if the mind is not made sattvic, if it is not governed by an awakened, discriminating, ever alert, vigilant and keenly enquiring intellect, then mind becomes the greatest problem; it becomes the greatest trap, the greatest enemy, the greatest complication, the greatest source of all types of troubles to the aspirant, to the seeker. One can become helpless, mercilessly tormented by the mind. It takes charge of one’s life, and one is ruled by emotions, sentiments, passions and error. Because the nature of the mind is to always create confusion and constant restlessness, constant activity, constant thinking of sense-objects, constant going outside, constant involving and entangling itself in things. It is a bundle of desires, cravings and imaginations. It is a companion with whom you should deal with great caution. It is there; you cannot help it. You cannot get rid of it; you have to live with it. But you must know that it is your problem, it is your trouble-maker. You should not think it is your friend. But it is the mind, the manas, that is your problem, not the antahkarana. The antahkarana (inner being) also contains your great helper. It contains your greatest asset, which can make you divine. Because the antahkarana contains not the mind only, it contains the buddhi (intellect). And it contains the chitta (sub-conscious mind), Pandora’s box, which contains all that is wonderful and beautiful and also all that is ugly and not so wonderful. You have no control over the chitta. If you want to get the best out of it, you have to transform it where it is. Even without being able to control it, you can transform it. You can gradually lessen and eliminate all its unfavourable tendencies and subtle impressions by a constant process of deep innermost transformation, purification. The power of the Name of God can reach where you cannot reach. It does not need to see. You are blind; you have to grope in darkness when you try to enter the mind, when you try to turn the gaze within and do introspection, analyse yourself, study yourself. The Name of God does not require by light to see, because it itself is the Light. The moment it goes, it goes on its own light. It goes deepest into the mind and through its power it gradually brings about a total transformation, a revolutionary transformation. It makes the mind no mind, fills it with sattva. It brings light into the darkness of the mind, and it is able to rid the chitta of all its negativity. Because chitta is necessary. That which is in the chitta is not entirely valueless, though it is a constant source of thought, desire, craving and imagination. Nevertheless, it contains precious gems, all the nine gems. Because anything you hear or read, anything sublime, elevating, noble, inspiring, is stored in the chitta. You must know how to take it out. Anything ugly, dirty, indecent—that too is stored in the chitta. Whatever you perceive, whatever you see, whatever you hear, immediately gets lodged in the chitta. So you must know the necessity of being selective, closing the windows of the senses, not allowing wrong things to get into the chitta. Allow only that which is valuable, which can be a wealth, an asset to you. That alone should be given entry. That which has got in from previous births you cannot help. That you have to transform through japa, meditation, prayer, satsanga, svadhyaya, nishkama-karma-yoga. That you must do. It is a gradual process. But what gets into the chitta now and in the future—that you can help. That is under your control. That is why they say you must have samyama, self-control. That is why they say you must be discriminative, you must have pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) when you go amidst sense-objects, when you go amidst people. Some people will talk sense; some people will talk nonsense. Some will talk wisdom. You must know what to take in and what not to take in, what to ignore, bypass. Even in satsang everything that is said cannot be meant for everyone. You must know what is meant for you, take what is helpful or required and leave the rest. A listener is supposed to be a viveki. And when you go out, you must know what to open the sense to and what to close them to. You must be determined to keep your chitta pure. You should not allow impurity to enter through bad company or wrong perceptions, unnecessarily absorbing through the senses things which are likely to create problems. So you must be wise, you must be alert. You must live and move through each day of your life wakefully, wisely. That is the hallmark of a sadhak—wisdom,wakefulness, alertness, discrimination, selection and rejection. Yes, this is the great necessity; otherwise, mind can bring about a downfall. Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandhamokshayoh—mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation of human beings. Buddhi isthe balancing factor. Buddhi is the redeeming feature of the antahkarana. Mind is the mischief-maker, buddhi is the redeeming factor. Buddhi should be cultivated, enriched by satsang and svadhyaya, constant reflection, manana, also. Then buddhi becomes a valuable friend; it is constantly present to help you. Aspiration too should be constantly kept up. It does not blaze by itself. The fire of aspiration has to be stoked time and again, day after day. It has to be fanned. Then alone it will always be fully blazing. Any fire if neglected gradually becomes embers and then covered with ash. And this fire of aspiration also can die out, God forbid. If further neglecting it, one dampens it with water or some contrary element, it will die out; you will have ashes only—neither useful to you, nor to anyone. Then no use weeping and putting those ashes on your body, no use. It is futile. And it will be no one’s fault but your own. Therefore, man is man because he has a mind. The hallmark of a sadhak is not merely activity of the mind and

Affirm Truth Reject Untruth Sri Swami Chidananda Radiant Atman! This week we will observe the jayanti of Adi Sankaracharya, one of the greatest of Self-realised souls and philosophers this world of ours has produced. Leaving home, in a spirit of renunciation and aspiration to realise the Reality, at the tender age of eight years, he completed an unbelievable mission in the span of just a few years, passing away in his 32nd year. During that period he did what is known as digvijaya (conquest of the quarters), carrying the banner of Advaita Vedanta, the supreme philosophy of absolute monism, into the four corners of India and overcoming all lesser schools of philosophy through his convincing, irrefutable arguments. His incredible work remains dynamically living, active and ever progressive even to this day, more than 1200 years after he propounded his doctrine. The quintessence of Advaita Vedanta is to affirm the truth and reality of your essential, eternal, divine identity and to resolutely reject the error of thinking of yourself as a finite human creature having a name and form, beginning and end, and subject to changes such as birth, death, old age, disease, decay, pain, sorrow, suffering, etc. Resolutely rejecting this error and simultaneously affirming your eternal, unchangeable divine identity is the centre of Advaita Vedanta sadhana. They call it affirming and rejecting, pushtikarana and nirakarana—neti, neti. Sankara’s most popular work, Vivekachudamani, is a call to discrimination between the Self and non-Self–atma-anatma viveka. Atma is sat (existence absolute). Anatma is appearance only, temporary in time, limited in space, perishable; it is kshara purusha (perishable being). Atma is akshara purusha (imperishable being)–ajo nityah sasvato’yam purano na hanyate hanyamane sarire (Unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, the Self is not killed when the body is killed). Thus the Vivekachudamani is a discourse, a treatise and a sadhana on discrimination between the Self and the non-Self. And a second work of his, Atma Bodha, is a light upon what the Self is. As you discriminate between the Self and the non-Self, you get a good knowledge of what the non-Self is, so you can reject it; you will not be deluded by it. You can free yourself from the veil of delusion by knowing the nature of anatman. And then, to be rooted in the Reality, to be fixed in it firmly, to be able to think, reflect and meditate upon it and to awaken the correct awareness within your consciousness, a thorough study of what the Self is is of great importance and value. To that end, Atma Bodha can be the way that God can gradually answer your prayer, “tamasoma jyotir gamaya” and “dhiyo yo nah prachodayat” (“From darkness lead me unto light” and “May He illumine our intellects”). To avoid that which is wrong, we have to get a knowledge of what wrong is; and to pursue and practice that which is right, we have the need to have a knowledge and a grasp of what right is, of what Reality and Truth is. Thus both the negative and positive and positive aspects of Vedantic admonition are of equal importance in making the mind aware of its error and to make the intellect grasp the truth. When Brahman is the reality to be attained, why unnecessarily know about the world, prapancha, samsara? The answer is that because you want to free yourself from the delusion of the world, you must know the tricks of this deluding appearance. Indeed, you must know everything about it, because it comes in numerous subtle ways. We think the world is outside us, but, by and large, the world or prapancha or samsara is within us. We have to understand that. What is it within us that makes us regard prapancha to be real and makes us move towards it, get attached to it, get bound by it? What is it within us? That has to be rooted out, eradicated first. Thus the study of avidya or maya within is the key to freeing ourselves from delusion and rising from darkness to light. Gurudev again and again reiterated: “Thou art immortal Soul. Thou art not this body nor this mind. They are upadhis, limiting adjuncts temporarily added on to you. They are there as part of your lesser personality, your earth consciousness, but you are also there far beyond them, transcending them, a divine personality, a supra-human spiritual reality, untouched by time and space, not bothered by pain, sorrow and suffering.” This, then, is to be heard, reflected upon and meditated upon. May you direct all your attention to the practice of this truth which shall make you free. For it is this truth that arouses in us our kinship with the eternal, universal Reality, paramatman. May the grace of the Lord grant you success in this sadhana of being what you really are and of resisting the pull of the lower mind to make you imagine that you are something other than this Reality. Constantly you have to reject the attempts of the mind and its age-old, inveterate tendencies to keep itself tied down to a lower level of ignorance and mistaken identity. It should be given no quarter. By the strength of your will power, your positive, awakened consciousness and your resolute and determined sankalpa to attain realisation in this very body, you must keep this process up. You must shine with an effulgent inner awareness of your own essential, immortal and imperishable divine identity. Your interior should be a mass of effulgence, of jnana prakasa. There should be a state of jnana bodha within, a state of wakefulness within–no slumber. For this you must pray, and for this you must practise. May this week be permeated by the spirit of Jagat Guru Adi Sankaracharya, the Advaita Acharya, and may it have the effect of successfully lifting up your consciousness from the present, ordinary, humdrum human level of earth consciousness into a lofty, sublime higher spiritual level of a divine spiritual consciousness!

True Sannyasa Sri Swami Chidananda Beloved and worshipful Gurudev! Homage unto thy glorious and gracious spiritual presence, thou who art the light, the life and the soul of this Ashram that you have created upon this holy spot on the right bank of Divine Mother Ganga in sacred Uttarkhand! Fortunate are we to gather together in this sacred Samadhi Hall during this early morning hour of quietness and to enter into silent spiritual fellowship with souls whom you have drawn by the power of your inspiration and divine wisdom teachings. Most fortunate are those who visit this place. Most fortunate indeed are those who are able to spend some time doing anushthana japa, and most fortunate indeed are those thrice blessed souls who dwell with you and live the life divine. I bow to your presence and invoke thy glance of grace, kripa-kataksha, upon all those assembled here. I pray that thy guru-kripa and choicest blessings may enable them to lead the life sublime, to lead a life of tyaga and tapasya, nivritti and sannyasa, bhakti and bhajan, self-control and discipline, concentration and meditation, a life of active enquiry, discrimination and analysis, a life of introspection, reflection and contemplation, a divine life of truth, purity, compassion and kindness, a divine life of service, devotion, meditation and aspiration for Self-realisation. May this be your special gift on this day, June 1, the anniversary of your sannyasa, your renunciation. In 1924 you came here as a lone wanderer, not knowing the language of this part of the land, not knowing the customs prevailing here and unfamiliar with the experiences of extreme heat and extreme cold. You had but one thought, to be in seclusion, in silence, and to chant the Name of God, pray to Him and attain realisation. Blessed is that day, for out of that renunciation of yours, out of your embracing the monastic order, has sprung up a monastic family of effulgent tyagis, effulgent monks filled with a light of a higher awareness, a higher consciousness, benefiting others by this inner light that they have acquired by their contact with you. Blessed is that day, for it has given rise to this great, noble edifice of Divine Life, of Yoga-Vedanta, of practical spiritual sadhana, in this age of materialism, scepticism, atheism and hedonism. Blessed Immortal Atman! Beloved fellow seekers after the Eternal Reality! We were considering the need to awaken, unfold and activate the latent, dormant spiritual samskaras, the spiritual impressions and the latent tendencies, spiritual inclinations, vasanas, carried over from past births. Otherwise they will remain dormant without fructifying. A number of years back, in Egypt, when one of the tombs of a young pharaoh was opened, they discovered beside his mummy many seeds of grain left there by the ruler’s loyal subjects. The archaeologists were fired with an intense curiosity: “Will these seeds sprout? Are they still holding the life principle after lying here for thousands of years?” So, with great anticipation they planted them. And lo and behold when the seeds were watered and given the right conditions for germination, they soon sprouted forth and grew into shoots of grain. Civilisations had come and gone, kingdoms had risen and fallen, but in these seeds entombed with the young pharaoh, life remained dormant ready to sprout forth given the right conditions. Even so, we have considered how samskaras and vasanas, impressions and latent tendencies, will ever lie latent and dormant, without effectively making their appearance felt as part of our life, without becoming dynamically active, vigorously expressed and manifested in our own nature, until and unless they are made to sprout forth, awaken, put forth their fruits, by bringing to bear upon them a keen aspiration, a great desire, an intense longing, a fervent yearning for spiritual unfoldment, spiritual growth, spiritual realisation–subheccha, mumukshutva and jijnasa. Such was the intensity of aspiration that burned in the heart of young Dr. Kuppuswami when he turned his face north towards the Himalayas and the Ganga and walked the length of India, arriving here towards the end of 1923. He had an intense longing, an all-consuming desire in the heart, a desire implanted by God, which is part of God’s nature, vidya maya. Dharmaviruddho bhuteshu kamo’smi bharatarshabha (In all beings I am desire unopposed to dharma, O Arjuna). It is such desire that liberates. It is such desire that awakens. It is such desire that brings into dynamism latent tendencies and dormant spiritual samskaras. It is like a flame being applied to a combustible material which will otherwise ever remain dull and cold like any other thing around it. It is only when a flame is applied to it that it immediately bursts forth into a blaze full of radiance, full of heat, full of the power to consume, to reduce to ash anything that comes into contact with it. That power comes when it is awakened, made to manifest in an active way. That was what happened. Dr. Kuppuswami’s heart was afire for Self-realisation, for brahma-jnana, to become a jivanmukta, to have the peace that passeth understanding, to have the sukham-atyantikam yattad-buddhigrahyam-atindriyam (endless bliss beyond the senses that may only be grasped by the pure intellect), paramananda (supreme bliss) which gives nityatripti (eternal satisfaction). And he kept this longing ever clean, ever ablaze, ever fiery; he never allowed it to die down or become dull or become mediocre. It was kept to a high intensity of heat through his fervour through his zeal, through his enthusiasm, through his keen longing and eagerness. It was this that was the key to the Self-realisation, sainthood and sagehood of beloved and worshipful Guru Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji. This is the factor that causes a latent force, a spiritual force and power, to make itself actively manifest, to be dynamically expressed in our life as a transforming power, an uplifting force. If it is kept us to the very last, it takes us to the supreme state of blessedness and crowns our life with the glory of God-realisation. And Guru Maharaj was that awakening and sparking factor who ignited within you the dormant and latent spiritual tendencies through his wisdom teachings. It is when you opened a book of his and your eyes alighted upon some page. That is