Science of Relaxation By Sri Swami Sivananda Life has become very complex in these days. The struggle for existence is very acute and keen. There is very keen competition in every walk of life. The bread problem has become very difficult to be solved. There is unemployment everywhere. Even brilliant young men with extraordinary qualification and recommendations hardly get job in these days. Therefore, a great deal of continuous mental and physical strain is imposed on modern humanity by its deadening daily work and unhealthy mode of life. Action produces movement; movement causes habits. Man has acquired many artificial habits. He has allowed nature’s original habits to lapse. He has brought tension in many muscles and nerves through incorrect habit-positions. He has forgotten the first principles of relaxation. He will have to learn lessons from the cat, dog and the infant in the Science of Relaxation. If you practise relaxation, no energy will be wasted. You will be very active, and energetic. During relaxation the muscles and nerves are at rest. The Prana or energy is stored up and conserved. The vast majority of persons who have no comprehensive understanding of this beautiful science of relaxation simply waste their energy by creating unnecessary movements of muscles and by putting the muscles and nerves under great strain. Some persons shake their legs unnecessarily while sitting. Some play Mridang or Tabala (drum) with their fingers on the table when their minds are idle or vacant. Some whistle. Some shake their heads. Some tap their chests or abdomen with their fingers. Energy is thus dissipated or depleted through unnecessary movements of the parts of the body on account of lack of knowledge of the elementary principles of the science of relaxation. Do not mistake laziness for relaxation. The lazy man is inactive. He has no inclination to work. He is full of lethargy and inertia. He is dull. Whereas a man who practises relaxation takes only rest. He has vigour, strength, vitality and endurance. He never allows even, a small amount of energy to trickle away. He accomplishes wonderful work gracefully in a minimum space of time. When you wish to contract a muscle in order to perform an action an impulse is transmitted from the brain through the nerve to the muscle. Energy or Prana travels through the motor nerves, reaches the muscle and causes it to draw its ends together. When the muscle contracts it pulls the limb which you wish to move. Now you can perform the action with ease. First there is thought. Thought takes form in action through contraction of muscles. Suppose you wish to lift up a chair. The desire creates an impulse in the brain. The impulse is transmitted to the muscles of the arms from the brain through the motor nerves. A current of prana or energy is transmitted along the nerves from the brain. The muscles contract and you perform the action of lifting up the chair. Similarly all other conscious or unconscious actions are performed by you. If the muscles are overworked more energy is spent and you get fatigue. There is much wear and tear in the muscles through overwork, strain and tension on account of heavy expenditure of Prana or energy. When you perform an action consciously message is given to the mind and the mind immediately obeys by sending a current of energy to the desired part. An unconscious act is done instinctively or mechanically. The mind does not wait for orders. When the scorpion stings you in a finger, the finger is at once withdrawn. You do not argue here. This is an instinctive or mechanical movement. A man of easily irritable nature cannot enjoy peace of mind. His brain, nerves and muscles are always under high tension. He is wasting every minute abundant muscular and nerve energy and brain-power. He is a very weak man though he is endowed with physical strength, because he loses his balance of mind very easily. If you really want to enjoy unruffled peace and abiding joy, you must try to possess a calm, controlled and balanced mind by eradicating worry, anxieties, fear, anger, and impulses. You do not gain anything by worrying yourself unnecessarily and manifesting anger for nothing at all. Anger belongs to brutal nature. Anger does positive injury to brain, blood and nerves. You are not profited a bit by exhibiting anger. By repeating an action, a habit is formed in the mind. If you worry yourself frequently, a worrying habit is developed. Your vitality and energy are simply drained by worry, anger, fear. Why should you be afraid of anything at all, when everything is nothing but your own self? Fear, anger and worry are the products of ignorance. The muscles and nerves of a victim of anger and worry are always under contraction and high tension. The action of one set of muscles can be checked by the operation of another set of muscles. One impulse may try to put one set of muscles in motion and by sending another repressive impulse through another set of muscles you can counteract the action of the first set of muscles. If a man abuses you, you may jump at once to beat him. An impulse has already put one set of muscles in motion. You may check the impulse through discrimination and reflection: “I do not gain anything by beating him. He is an ignorant man. He does not know how to behave. Let me forgive him now.” A repressive impulse will check at once the operation of the first set of muscles by another set of muscles. Raising of impulses and counter-impulses or repressing or inhibitive impulses cause high tension in nerves, muscles and brain. Vast majority of persons are slaves of impulses; hence they do not enjoy peace of mind. They are tossed hither and thither. The science of relaxation is an exact science. It can be learnt very easily. Relaxation of muscles is as much important

Sandilya-Vidya By SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA Sandilya, the great Rishi, had this revelation of the Supreme Being. Vidya is a meditation, an art of thinking on the Supreme goal. This meditation begins with the proclamation of the all-Comprehensiveness of Brahman, “sarvam khalvidam brahma–All this is verily Brahman”. This vidya is contained in section 14 of chapter III of the Upanishad. 1. Sarvam khalvidam brahma, tajjalaniti santa upasita, atha khalu kratumayah puruso yatha-kratur-asmin-loke puruso bhavati, tathetah pretya bhavati, sa kratum kurvita. This is a very famous passage in the Upanishad. This is how we have to meditate, calmly, quietly and peacefully, We have to meditate that everything comes from That, everything is sustained in That and everything returns to That. That which is the origination, the sustenance and the dissolution of all things is this Brahman. Inasmuch as it is the cause of all things, naturally, every effect in the form of this creation is contained there. We too are effects of creation. So we too are contained in it. There is a great justification in the assertion that everything is the Supreme Being. Logically and naturally, when the effects are all contained in the cause, one should be able to appreciate the all-comprehensiveness of the ultimate cause. This cause only is, inasmuch as no effect can be separated from the cause. There is an undifferentiated relationship between the effect and the cause. There is no gap between the one and the other. We are, therefore, not isolated from the cause. There is no vital cut or gulf between this universe of effect and its cause which is Brahman. This means to say that even now we are vitally connected with the Absolute. We are maintaining even at this moment an organic relationship. The difficult part of this meditation is that we ourselves, as thinkers, are associated vitally and organically with the Supreme Being on whom we have to meditate. We cannot think like this. For, the mind refuses to think. We can think something outside us and we can think of the universe practically, but we cannot think something in which we ourselves are involved. Because, there it is that the mind finds itself incapable of functioning. There is no such thing as mind thinking itself. Aristotle said that God is thought thinking itself. It is very difficult to understand what it means. How can thought think itself? It always thinks something else. So, Brahman cannot be thought by the mind, and yet this is the injunction of the Upanishad. The highest kind of meditation is sarvam khalvidam brahma. All this manifestation which you see in the form of individuality, whether organic or inorganic, visible or invisible, wherever it be, is That. Nothing but That is. Again to reiterate, the most difficult thing to swallow here is that we ourselves are a part of That. The meditator is part of that which is meditated on. How is one to even think? It requires a tremendous psychological preparation and an extraordinary type of purity of mind to appreciate what this instruction is. This is not an ordinary type of meditation. It is most extraordinary in the sense that you are contemplating yourself, as it were, and not something or somebody else. That is implied in the statement that everything is included in That, not excluding oneself who meditates. Thus should you meditate: “sarvam khalvidam brahma,–all this verily is the Supreme Absolute Brahman.” How do you contemplate Brahman? The whole universe–you can imagine what the universe could be–has come from That. It has not come from That as something different from That. The very substance of this creation is the substance of the Absolute. That is one aspect of the matter. The other aspect is that there is no disconneetion between the effect and the cause. So you can imagine how hard it is to entertain this thought. Everything is That because of the effect being non-disassociated from the cause. It is connected with the cause. It is sustained, even now at the time of the apparent creation, in That only and it will go back to That. So there is no place for anything to exist except that. Also there is nothing other to That. Thus, one should meditate. The word kratuh has several meanings. It means an effort of the will, an action of the mind, a determination of the understanding and a meditation that you practise. All this meaning is comprehended by the word kratuh. The whole of one’s life is nothing but a determination or willing in this manner. Throughout our life we will in some way or other. The individual is an embodiment of action performed through his will. And whatever we will, that we become because of the intensity of the will. As we affirm, so we experience and that we become. Our experiences are nothing but our affirmations through will. We have affirmed something very intensely in our previous lives, and the reward of those affirmations is the present series of experiences we are passing through here. So this is a caution, again administered to us. Inasmuch as whatever we think intensely and continuously, that we are going to become, what should we think throughout our life if we want to become Brahman? We want to become the Absolute itself. What should be the kind of thought that we should entertain? What should be the type of affirmation that we should make? How should our will work? This need not be explained further, because it is obvious. Therefore, my dear readers, spend your time in absorption of your thought in Brahman. This should be your meditation throughout your life. The Upanishad gives some further details as to how we should conduct this meditation in our life.2. Mano-mayah, prana-sariro bha-rupah satya-samkalpa akasatma sarva-karma sarva-kamah sarva-gandhah sarva-rasah sarvam idam abhyatto’vakyanadarah.The whole mental world is permeated by this Being. The light of the mind, the light of understanding, the light of intelligence is the light of Brahman. It appears to be embodied through these pranas and the body. They are a vehicle,

The Role of Spiritual Institutions and the Functions of the Divine Life Society The spiritual institution is a place of training for suitably equipped temperaments and mature minds towards the acquisition of the higher knowledge of human life. This specialised knowledge is not like one of the sciences or the arts taught in modern colleges or universities, among which a student can prefer anyone to the exclusion of others, but it is the central art and science which enables one to recognise the true meaning of life in general. Spiritual life is not one of the ways of living or even one of the stages of life, but that general background of motive and understanding which vitalises all stages and gives life and meaning to every way of thinking and mode of activity. One cannot live wisely and successfully in the world without adopting the spiritual perspective of the Universe. Spirituality is not worship of the deity in a temple, performance of rituals, following any code of behaviour or conduct, or even the practice of any cult, creed or religion. It is not even faith in God merely, for it rises above even this concept. Spirituality is that comprehensive understanding and envisagement of values, by which the Universe is taken in its totality–not in bits or parts–by which its unity is recognised. Not merely this; the aim of spiritual life is the recognition and realisation of this totality of the Universe as a single omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent Self, or Atman. Obviously, this is a solution to all human ills, and all problems in creation. The spiritual philosophy makes one the best of any kind,–a farmer becomes the best farmer, a gardener the best gardener, a driver the best driver, a clerk the best clerk, an official the best official, a teacher the best teacher, and so on. The noblest element in a person is brought out by the technique of spiritual living. It is, thus, not a question of option left to people or a theme to be discussed as to whether it is necessary or unnecessary, for it is the only meaning of all existence. The Institutions that teach this science and art of life are the spiritual organisations of the world and their existence is naturally a ‘must’ for the benefit and the peace, plenty and prosperity of mankind. Anyone devoted to the ideals of truth, non-violence and purity can become a member of the Divine Life Society which is a non-sectarian Institution, embodying in its wide perspective the common fundamental principles of all the religions of the world, and of spiritual life in general. The Society accords equal place of honour to all faiths and religious traditions, and its members recognise no distinction or disruptive sentiment on account of each other’s different traditional background, or religious affiliation, all which the principles and the philosophy and teachings of the Society do integrate. Through the pages of the various books and journals of the Society, what is endeavoured is to reveal the secret of spiritual action, namely that it lies in the Knowledge of the true Self and in the effacement and transcendence of the ego; and to present Sri Swami Sivananda’s profound teachings that each soul is potentially divine and that everyone’s goal is to strive to manifest this divinity within by controlling the internal and external nature by ‘being good and doing good’. Anyone with the above ideals is welcome to become a member of the Divine Life Society. The Divine Life Society has been a pioneer in advocating and popularising health, culture and physical fitness through daily practice of yoga asanas and surya-namaskara among the students and youth of India. This health-building work it has been doing through the length and breadth of India, from Rishikesh to Kanyakumari, and from Assam to the Punjab, since the past about forty years. The Founder Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj had commenced this valuable yoga work even before. His world-wide yoga practice movement was one of the earliest movements in this direction. The organisation and spiritual work of this Society being entirely non-sectarian, non-denominational and fully tolerant in its nature, it has been a cementing factor amongst the people of this country. The Ashram has drawn its residents from all provinces in India. Its Branch Centres are to be found throughout the country and their spiritual work fosters tolerance and encourages national unity. The Institution propagates unity of religions and goodwill among the communities. Almost all its annual Conferences, at State level as well as All-India level, feature one or two sessions as All-Religions-Meet or Sarva-Dharma-Sammelana. Thus, its work is intended to function as a constructive force promoting goodwill and harmony and peaceful relationship in India’s society. This Society’s spiritual teachers in foreign countries have been welcomed everywhere as the country’s cultural and spiritual ambassadors of goodwill, who have endeared themselves to countless people by their sincerity and their service in the field of yoga. The vast goodwill thus earned for India and its spiritual science (adhyatma-vidya) is an invisible and yet a tangible asset whose value cannot be easily estimated. This good work is spreading progressively all over the world. Even long before any of our present-day teachers had started to go abroad, Swami Sivananda’s spiritual teachings and yoga literature had made such a powerful impact in other countries during this recent era that it had raised the name and the prestige of our nation and its culture to very great heights in the eyes of the educated peoples of numerous foreign countries the world over. His books on yoga were very eagerly translated into French, German, Latvian, Estonian, Italian, Danish and Spanish languages, with the earnest objective of bringing about the widest possible spread of our country’s most precious spiritual heritage. The dignity and eagerness of the country’s cultural heritage has obviously risen high in the eyes of the peoples of other nations by this Institution’s work. A perusal of the spiritual teachings and a careful examination of the work of the Institution can make it evident that it has been propagating practices and indirectly working

Rays from the Light Fountain By Sri Swami Chidananda “Neither do men light a candle and put itunder a bush, but on a candle stick, andgiveith light until all …” – Message of Jesus Christ Success in all undertakings is attained as a result of effort; effort put forth in the firm conviction that sincere and earnest human endeavor never goes unfulfilled. Success is not achieved by never encountering failure. Failure is often a part of success. Failure is not final. Success is final. Failure is merely incidental. In our effort to attain perfection, failure may assail us many times. This doesn’t matter. Failure is not a sin. It is giving up effort that sinful. Failing is not a great fault. But wanting to sit down where one has fallen, refusing to rise up and struggle on, that, indeed is a bad fault. Ultimately, success is built over failure, won by persevering effort. There are many examples of this great quality of perseverance. You remember in what thrilling words Lord Buddha expressed his determination to attain enlightenment. After going to so many gurus, following so many paths, practicing so many austerities, becoming emaciated finally and losing his health, he decided to give up extreme austerities and physical tortures, self-inflicted, in the name (the false name) of penance. “Extremities,” he realized are not good. Penance is necessary, a certain degree of austerity, and mortification is necessary, but extremes are not in accordance with the law.” So saying, he took a little nourishment and sat down under the Bodhi Tree. “Now, no matter what happens,” he resolved, “come what may, I am determined to attain enlightenment. If this body has to shrivel up, if the skin has to wither and fall away, if the very bones of my body have to dry up and crumble away, yet Siddhartha will not leave this seat, until and unless illumination is attained. Let the body dry up, let the flesh wither and fall away, let the bones crumble and collapse. Until enlightenment comes, Siddhartha will not budge.” Then what a great inner struggle, what a storm and a hurricane he had to pass through! But Siddhartha did not move. Such should be one’s determination. Such should be one’s dedication to the life of lofty virtue, the path of light, the great goal of self-realization. Whatever one is engaged in, whatever type of life one is leading, inwardly one should be ever rising upward, God ward, divine ward, up, up to this great attainment. If there is this determination and dedication, there is such ceaseless striving and effort, ultimately realization must come. The grandeur of life is in dedicating it to a noble cause. If you do not win, it does not matter. It is a small mind that is always thinking of winning. Let the mind think greatly, grandly. Life should be lived nobly, based upon lofty sublime principles, with a wide vision. In the Upanishads, there is a naïve, but wonderful little story about a pair of birds who built a nest on the sea-shore, close to the waves. The birds were sand-pipers. They had three beautiful little eggs laid in their nest that where beginning to hatch, when, one day, while they were away getting soft things to line the nest, there came an extra big wave, rolling in from the sea, right up to the place where they had hidden the nest among the dunes. In one lap, it swallowed the nest and swept it out to sea: eggs, nest and all. The birds came back and could not find the nest. The reeds and the ruses were all wet, all white, all covered with foam. And the sea murmured. The birds flew up to the water’s edge, and demanded of the sea that their nest be restored to them. The sea continued to murmur and the waves to break. But there was no answer. Then the birds decided, “The sea has no business to take what does not belong to it. The sea shall give up what is not its own. We shall empty the sea. We shall regain our own.” Then the father bird flew back to a clump of grass, and plucked one tiny blade, few out to sea, scooped up a few drops of water, flew back to the sands, shook the drops of water to the shore, and returned to the sea. This process, back and forth, flying out to sea, dipping and scooping, flying back to land, shaking water on the shore, again, and again he repeated. Then, exhausted with hunger, he gave the blade of grass to the mother bird and foraged for food while she continued the process. The birds didn’t look at the sea. They didn’t try to calculate its depth or its magnitude. They concentrated fully upon the task at hand. Day’s passed. They poured themselves into their work. Then a great sage who was wandering past, saw the two little birds shuttling back and forth between shore and wave, and paused to watch them, puzzled. Then he addressed them, “Little ones, what your engaged in?” And the father bird replied, “Oh sage, I seek to empty the ocean.” The sage’s eyes widened. The little bird narrated the story of the wave, and the capture of his nest and eggs. He spoke of his determination to regain them. So saying, he sought the sage’s blessings and flew out to sea. The sage was astounded at the greatness of the spirit of this little bird. And he addressed it, (for he was a man of great realization, established in cosmic consciousness and at one with nature). He demanded that the ocean restore that which the wave had taken. And the ocean brought back the nest and the eggs, and laid them at the sage’s feet. And the birds were satisfied. The master who narrated this incident to the disciples said, “Such should be your determination, my child, such indeed should be your spirit,

The Qualifications for a Student of Yoga By Sri Swami Sivananda Life is the greatest of all teachers and this earth is its school. Truly, the world is the best school. All its lessons are taught through the book of nature. Nature everywhere abounds with such lofty lessons which alone are quite sufficient to bestow the highest wisdom to man. Each day is a valuable page in this book and each thing and natural phenomena embodies a lesson to one who observes and reflects. And if you carefully analyse and reflect upon every phenomenon of nature, you will find that they all speak of the glory of God, the grandeur of the inner spiritual life; a life of unalloyed peace, bliss and perennial happiness,–yes, it urges you to launch upon the actual Sadhana to make you happy and to free you from grief, affliction and sorrow. All the ancient saints and seers–the men of God who have had intuition–have been declaring to all the mankind the great bliss, the vast power and knowledge that can be experienced if only man would turn from sensual, the sinful life and strive for the higher divine life. Yet we see today that man is as much immersed–if not more–in worldliness as he was centuries ago and the state of mankind is as apathetic and lethargic towards these questions of a ‘life’ in the Spirit as it was in the beginning of creation. Why is it that in spite of the clarion call of very many great seers, of the confident assurance of the scriptures, of the repeated experience of man himself in failing miserably to attain happiness amidst external physical world, you are again and again being deceived? Why is it that man has not yet learnt to take to Sadhana? Because he does not have a deep and abiding faith in the admonitions of saints, in the scriptures, in the words of those who have trodden the path and attained the goal. If only man did really believe in these great ones, he would certainly be induced to act up to their words. It is this basic lack of faith in man that is at the root of his failure to do Sadhana. Thus, if only man has faith in spiritual course of action, he will act up to it. If a man has to take up Sadhana, if he really wants to obtain this bliss which is not mixed with pain, he will certainly have to repose in faith. The entire social structure and order upon which mankind smoothly runs is based upon faith in mankind which is but a passing phenomenon, why should you not put faith upon the very Creator of these things? Thus you see that the first quality you have to acquire is faith. Now comes the question that having first of all full faith in the words of the seers and realised the necessity of Sadhana, what is the procedure, what is to be done? You may have faith, but if you do not put them into practice–if you do not begin to translate them into action, they will ever remain plans in the blueprint stage. So, after the faith in Sadhana comes practice. You must set about doing. No question of believing. A belief must become on act. Having reposed faith in the words of sages and scriptures, you begin doing Sadhana. Once you commence Sadhana, the next important thing you should bear in mind is that you should not give it up. Perseverance is of the utmost importance. All process in this universe are gradual. They have got stages. If you want to go through all the stages of Sadhana and attain the goal, you must have patience and perseverance. Therefore, you should have to always persevere, exert and plod on till the goal is reached. There is another important point that in spiritual Sadhana you should not merely be contented with the positive forces. There are active forces that oppose the Sadhak, that actually assail him and pull him down. Herein comes the necessity of the fourth important weapon–that is fortitude. While persevering man has to have a little courage, not to be easily shaken by the obstacles that assail him. He will have to brave the storm and proceed in spite of the difficulties and adverse conditions, trying to cow him down, to push him off from the path of Sadhana. It is with this fortitude he refuses to be discouraged and relying upon the inner Self he proceeds with the Sadhana, and ultimately he attains the ideal for which he has taken this birth upon earth; and while going through the process he will have to see that he keeps in mind the necessity of giving minute attention to all the small details upon the path, because in every process all such small details of the process are to be attended to, very carefully. If any small detail is left out, thinking that it is a superfluous, he will find that ultimately he has lost his valuable time and labour. This delays progress. It is the conglomeration of small things that go to achieve high ideals. Therefore, with firm faith, practical application, perseverance, careful attention to even small details and fortitude in trials, you must set foot and proceed on the path of Sadhana. Raise aloft that banner of the Divine Life. Feel all humanity to be one and spread the message of man’s divinity, the message of brotherhood and cosmic love, to every home and broadcast them to all. Ever assert your divinity every moment of your life. Ever strive to live in the consciousness that you are essentially divine and you have been given this human birth only to recognise your essential divine nature.

Purity By SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA (Dictated on October 18th, 1998) Purity is achieved by freedom from desire, and desire should be distinguished from necessity. When one is hungry, one should eat, when one is thirsty one should drink, when one is fatigued, one should sleep. These absolute necessities cannot be called desires because without these necessities one cannot even survive. Desire is a destructive form of longing which innervates the whole system, longing for things which are not necessary for the maintenance of the body. Every kind of luxury should be considered as desire. One has to judge for oneself whether this particular thing is absolutely necessary, or one can be comfortable even without that. Each one is one’s own judge. If one can comfortably live happily without certain things, asking for those things once again is called desire. It will disturb the mind. There are levels of desire, of a lower category and a higher category, etc. You may feel like having a cup of tea, it is a minor desire, have it. You may like to go for a walk – go, go for a walk. Any object that brings about tumult in the emotion, that is an object of desire by which you either want it intensely or hate it intensely. Intense wanting and intense hating will affect the emotions. The test of good health is freedom from emotion, correct understanding without any kind of ebullition, burning desire of any kind. This is briefly the definition of desire. There are two kinds of desires, anabolic and catabolic. Anabolic desires are constructive, helpful and necessary for maintaining health and peace of mind. Catabolic desires are destructive in their nature. They throw the energy out. Any procedure by which we can conserve our energy is anabolic. Any process by which we deplete our energy and then become weak, that is catabolic. One must be able to very carefully distinguish between one and the other. Understanding is the judge, it is called Viveka-Shakti, capacity to distinguish between what is absolutely essential for living a normal life and what is irrelevant. This is a preliminary definition to the question “What is purity?”. So purity is not like an apple that falls from a tree, it has shades of definition. You will not find any such clear description of this subject in any book, each one has to use one’s common sense. It is necessary to save life. Suppose you find a snake is wriggling encircled by forest fire, you would like to save it but you do not go and catch hold of its neck. So even a good desire like wanting to save the snake should not be fulfilled in a reckless way. People generally take a long stick and throw it like this, etc. etc. There are desires of a different type, like sexual desire. It is neither good nor bad, like fire. Do you consider fire as a good thing or a bad thing? You cannot say anything about it. It can destroy or it can cook your food. So, likewise, sexual desire is a conservative process of maintaining a balance in the system, it is not capable of definition in a cut-and-dried manner. It is, as any desire is, relative to circumstance. But if it is a passion, you may distinguish between desire and passion. Passion is voluptuous, tumult-like, and makes one sick afterwards. Great discrimination has to be exercised here. There is a famous passage called Kama Gita in the Mahabharata. The desire says, “People try to conquer me, but they do not know that even the desire to conquer me is a desire, they don’t understand that, so I am behind all their attempts.” Desire for God sublimates all other mortal desires. The higher absorbs the lower, the lower should be transmuted to the higher by meditation.