A Pointing Finger Sri Swami Chidananda Worshipful homage to the eternal, Universal Spirit Divine, that Worshipful Cosmic Being who is our source, origin, support and strength, fulfilment and goal-ultimate. May His divine grace be upon you all! Loving adorations to our revered and beloved holy Master Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj in whose spiritual presence we are all assembled in this early morning spiritual fellowship in this Samadhi Hall of his holy Ashram on the banks of divine Mother Ganga. May his glance of grace, Gurukripa and his hand of benediction be upon you all sincere seeking souls. The bell rings and reminds by marking the arrival of a certain time for some specific purpose that time does not stand still, it passes. Therefore, beloved Sadhaks and Seekers, Jijnasus and Mumukshus, even as time is ever moving, we have to keep pace with it and also keep moving. Movement is the great law of evolution, nature. Movement is the secret of success. Movement is the one condition of progress. But movement does not merely mean motion. There may be continuous, unbroken motion without any movement. Movement in time and space indicates or symbolises a certain progression. Motion can be round and round and round, and it may be involved in a single location. It may be in the same place, take you nowhere as you say. Upward movement and forward movement, Godward movement, movement upon the path of evolution which constitutes the essence of evolution and progress, does not occur by itself. And this movement has to be initiated, maintained, directed and it has to be safeguarded also. Movement can come to an abrupt stop but it need not necessarily be of the same rate because there are ups and downs in life. All things do not remain the same, all conditions do not remain the same. A person keeps moving forward and a pace is of a certain rate, but it is buffeted by strong winds in the opposite direction. One has to struggle against the winds and the movement is naturally slowed down. As we had occasion to mention when your movement is in the direction of the flow of a stream or a river, the movement requires no special effort and it is rapid. But when you have to move against the stream and you have to swim against the current, then naturally the movement will be slower because it has to overcome opposition, overcome a contrary current. This is to be expected because we are in a world of diversity. Just as these facts are true about the outer physical universe of ours, they are also, to some extent, true about your inner psychological and spiritual universe within. Movements, progression in spiritual life means progress of our entire being, of our mind, our emotions, our sentiments, our thoughts, the quality of our thoughts, the direction of our thoughts, the motivations of our thoughts. They are all involved in contributing to the correctness, the rightness, wisdom of any inner movement of your real inner being, your vital being. Even so your higher vital being, the intelligence, the reason dictates, if it is clouded, if it is overcome by strong emotion, passion, sentiment, the reason may start working in a topsy-turvy way justifying that which is not to be justified, supporting that which is not to be supported. Then you create your own spiritual problem, you create your own spiritual situation, problematic situation, complicated situation. There should be a harmony between the higher vital being and the vital being upon the mental level of thoughts, emotions, sentiments, imaginations, memories. There should be harmony—that which harmonises the outer physical manifestations of these inner movements and the inner movements upon the vital mental level and the inner movements upon the higher vital, intellectual level. That which harmonises is your ideal and goal, your philosophy of life, your principles of life, and the living of your life, the principle of your conduct and character. We live by certain principles. We abide by certain time-honoured truths expounded in our scriptures. We live by certain goals and ideals and they have the power and efficacy, effectiveness of bringing about a unification, a harmony, a oneness in all levels of our being. Therein lies the importance of these factors, principles for living, and ideal for life and well-conceived goal for our day-to-day living of our life, our thoughts, words, emotions, moods, motivations, sentiments, actions. The harmony, the unification, integration of your personality depend upon your unified ideal and goal, your principles and your philosophy of life. You must be very very clear about what is ‘plus’ for you and what is ‘minus’ for you. And the source of our wisdom, the material for our deciding, choosing, selecting, rejecting and deciding is our heritage of wisdom we have inherited from our past. Saints, Sages, mystics, men of wisdom have not come and gone in vain. They have left something for posterity and that is our inheritance, our asset, our wealth. Their advent, their life, and even the manner of their passing is for us a permanent endowment, a light upon the path, a pointing finger, a certain directing ideal. If this background is recognised for its value and from time to time you compare your life with the ideals handed down to you, then you have a safe term of reference by which you can direct this movement forward towards the chosen goal which Spiritual Life constitutes both upon the outer plane as well as the vital plane of the mind and the higher vital plane of your reasoning, knowledge, intellect, Buddhi. Ideals co-ordinate them and harmonise them. Certain unswerving eternal principles, values—co-ordinate them, bring about a harmony in them. They integrate them, giving them great force and a shining idea! placed before you always. It becomes of extreme help in times of an inner conflict between the vital and the higher vital, between the wisdom of reason and the waywardness of the mind. In resolving

Practice of Meditation Sri Swami Sivananda Meditation is doubtless difficult. It will be very difficult, nay indeed impossible for a beginner to take to subtle meditation all at once. There must be graduated practices and the mind must be rendered very subtle for higher practices of concentration and meditation. Just as the archer first aims at gross things, target, etc., and then takes to subtle points, so also the student of Yoga should do gross concentration to start with and then take to subtle concentration practices. There must be gradual ascent in the successive stages of Yoga. But, Yoga Bhrashtas like Jnana Deva or Sadasiva Brahman of Karur, Trichinopoly, Trilinga Swami and others can at once take to higher stages. Such persons are very, very rare indeed. The object of meditation in the beginning must be Personal God, the body of Virat, or the four-armed Maha Vishnu, or the flute-bearer Lord Krishna or Rama or any other object. Later on, meditation can be practised on Impersonal God. In Savitarka meditation you will have a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the objects, their excellence and defects, all the features, present, past and future, and also those near and remote, even those unheard of or unthought of. The whole knowledge of the objects and elements will be revealed to you. The name Sampatti is given to the four experiences collectively, Savitarka, Savichara, Sananda and Asmita. Sasmita Samadhi culminates in Dharmamega Samadhi. Then comes absolute dispassion for him. This brings him Asamprajnata Samadhi. Why do you read many books? It is of no use. The great book is within your heart. Open the pages of this inexhaustible book, the Source for all knowledge. You will know everything. What is that knowledge of Brahman or the Source or Self? Close your eyes. Withdraw the senses. Merge deep in the Supreme Soul, the Light of lights, the Sun of suns. Complete knowledge will be revealed to you. You will have direct intuitional knowledge and divine wisdom by direct perception. All doubts will vanish now. All mental torments will disappear. All hot discussions, heated debates will terminate. Forget the body. Forget the surroundings. Forget friends and relatives. Forgetting these is the highest Sadhana. It helps meditation a great deal. By remembering God you can forget all these things. Merge within by practising deep, silent meditation. Taste the spiritual consciousness by withdrawing the mind from the sensual objects and fixing it on the object of meditation. This will lead you to Samadhi, the highest goal of Yogis. You will have to note carefully whether you remain stationary in the spiritual path even after many years of meditation or whether you are progressing. Sometimes you may even retrograde or fall downwards also if you are not vigilant and careful, if your Vairagya wanes and if you are slack in meditation. Reaction may set in. Some practise meditation for a period of 15 years and yet they have not made any spiritual progress. Why? This is due to the lack of earnestness, Vairagya, keen longing for liberation and intense constant Sadhana. Just as water leaks out into the rat holes in the agricultural fields, so also energy is wasted in wrong channels through Raga and undercurrent, lurking, subtle desire. Suppressed desires also will manifest and harass you. Unconsciously you will become a victim to those desires. When you advance in the spiritual practice, it will be very difficult for you to do both meditation and office work at the same time daily because the mind will undergo a double strain. It works in different grooves and channels with different Samskaras during Dhyana. It find it to adjust itself to different kinds of uncongenial activity, as soon as it comes down from a higher plane of sublime thinking. The mind has to move in a diametrically opposite direction. It gropes in the darkness. It gets bewildered, confused and puzzled. You might have noticed how the mind gets puzzled even in ordinary daily affairs of life when you go to a new place in matters of food, bath, rest and answering the calls of nature. When you again sit for meditation in the evening you will have to struggle hard to wipe out the new worldly Sarnskaras you have gathered during the course of the day, and to get a calm, one-pointed mind again. This struggle, sometimes, brings on headache. The Prana which moves inwards in different grooves and channels during worldly activities becomes very gross during work. During meditation the Prana is taken up to the head. Serve. Love. Meditate. Realise.

The Difficulty of Progress in Sadhana Swami Sivananda The workings of Maya are very extremely subtle, so very difficult to overcome and human nature is fundamentally so Asuric and unregenerate that real spiritual development and progress in Sadhana are indeed very hard to obtain. To achieve success in any measure in the spiritual life is the most difficult and an up-hill task that truly it is Divine Grace alone that can raise the aspirant from darkness to Light. So vehement, self-assertive and rebellious is the egoistic self of man that it refuses to be changed from its vicious state to a state of virtue, goodness and saintliness. It is a great blunder to think that the mere act of renunciation is sufficient achievement in spiritual life. If renunciation makes you feel that you have at once become quite superior to the rest of mankind and has bestowed on you the right to preach and to dictate to others, then the very purpose of renunciation gets blasted. You destroy the very foundation of spiritual life by this egoistic assumption. The eradication of egoism in all its numerous aggressive forms comprises the very core of spirituality and all spiritual Sadhana. Right from the very beginning of your spiritual life, you must understand clearly that in true humility, sincere desire to root out gradually pride, egoism and jealousy, earnest and unceasing introspection to find out one’s own defects and improve oneself lies your hope of progress. Without this basis, any Sadhana becomes a delusion and waste. It makes the aspirant puffed up, more proud and egoistic. When this happens, all good advices and instructions fall flat upon him. Higher influences cease to have any effect as the aspirant becomes deliberately and obstinately non-respective to them. Eternal vigilance should be exercised by every aspirant if he is to avoid falling into this dangerous state. Spiritual life is not a light matter. To grow in Yoga is not an easy joke. Sadhakas must take to the path sincerely. Always feel that you are just a beginner and strive diligently to acquire the primary virtues of kindness, charitability, patience, forbearance. With boldness, manliness and self-reliance, combine humility, softness of speech and behaviour and self-denial. Be ready to serve others and put up with provocation and abuse without retaliation. Remove all harshness and rudeness from your nature. Courtesy and politeness must become part of your very nature. Then alone the hardened heart gets softened and good sentiments and spiritual emotions arise in it. Concentration, meditation and Samadhi are still far from him who has not purified himself and got rid of his evil traits. Sinning and evil has become so much a habit with man that he never feels that he is committing them even though day and night he is doing so constantly. And the greatest harm is done by the fact that even while in this unregenerate state, the aspirant becomes deluded by Maya into thinking that he has already progressed considerably in spirituality. He deceives himself with the thought that as far as he is concerned he is pretty advanced in Sadhana. He thinks he has acquired that Nirlipta (unattached) attitude where he can commit any sort of act and yet remain unaffected by it. This self-deception puts a bar to all progress. Under this grave delusion he allows himself to be unrestrained and runs wild, intolerant of criticism, resentful of the least opposition, utterly disregardful of others feelings and absolutely unamenable to advice and correction. All senses of discrimination, sane judgment and introspection vanish from him. Even the common courtesy and culture possessed by an ordinary worldly man take leave of the aspirant on account of his presumption of spiritual advancement and growth of wisdom. He becomes disposed to attack even venerable and elderly persons and spiritually superior souls. O aspirants! Beware of these dangers in your spiritual life. Be vigilant always. Always regard yourself as a beginner just commencing Sadhana. Never underestimate the importance of Yama, Niyama, of ethical culture and Sadhana-Chatushtaya. They are everything. Japa, Kirtan, Svadhyaya, Upasana should all be done side by side with this ethical training and character-building. Without the latter, Sadhana becomes fruitless as filling a vessel which is full of holes in the bottom. Without the eager and earnest desire to obey the Guru and improve oneself, without service, humility, sincerity, simplicity and eagerness to learn and improve oneself, Sadhana is useless like rowing a boat which is firmly anchored to the river-bed or like sowing seeds upon the rock. Spirituality means growing into the form of the Divine Ideal. It is the transformation of your nature from the human to the Divine. You can hope to achieve perfection only when you effect this transformation. It is purification and change of heart alone that makes Dharana and Dhyana possible. To grow in Sattva, you must entirely destroy the Asuric side of your nature. Never imagine for a moment that you are anywhere near the Goal unless and until you strive with earnestness and diligence to rid yourself of evil tendencies, get established in a pure Sattvic ethical character. Remember this point clearly. Constantly reflect upon this. Meditate upon this. Know what true spirituality is. Fully realise the importance of becoming a changed man ethically and morally, before you can claim to be a Sadhaka. Carefully avoid the dangers of self-deception by constant vigilance and introspection. Do Sadhana regularly and pray for His grace. Imagine not that you have scaled the heights of spirituality. Patiently wait for the result. When your nature is changed, purified and prepared, Grace will flow down of itself, illumination will flash by itself, in the firmament of your pure heart. Bliss and Ananda will spontaneously flow in and fill you when you have emptied yourself of all harshness, egoism, pride and passion. Perfection and Immortality will be yours. Where there is kindness, humility and purity, there spirituality springs up, saintliness shines, divinity descends and perfection manifests itself.

A Message To Mothers — 1945 Swami Sivananda Today you have all assembled in shrines and temples devoted to the great Goddess, the Divine Mother, for celebrating the Dussera. This function is celebrated in various parts of India in different styles. But the one basic aim of this celebration is to propitiate Sakti to bestow upon you all wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity, Vidya and all other potent powers. Whatever be the particular or special request that every one of you may put before the Goddess, whatever boon you may ask of Her, the one thing behind all these motives is propitiation, worship and linking oneself with Her. There is no other aim. This is being effected consciously or unconsciously. Everyone is blessed with Her loving mercy and is protected by Her. This unique aim is yours not only in this particular occasion but every moment of your life. There is incessant struggle within you. The inner self struggles to escape from the clutches of the various senses, being sheathed and suppressed by them. It constantly warns you to identify this self with the major Self. It reminds you that you are on return journey unto the place whence you started. Whether it is your will or not, there is no second course or second destination left or reserved for you. You have to retrace your path. And on no spot can you dwell longer than the wink of an eye. Any amount of retardation on your part will not arrest this onward course. The more the momentum you gain, the sooner you will return to the destination or the goal. Therefore, equip yourself with proper contrivance and speed up. Do not waste a single minute. The leading of your life and the various aspects of it may differ from others, as the boon you ask of the Mother is different from your neighbour’s. But the view of both is the same and the views of different lives too. Every one yearns for liberation. Throw a ball on the floor. It rebounds. It attempts to reach the same point wherefrom it was thrown. But there is a difference in the return of one ball from the other. A ball with a thick cover, air fully inflated rebounds quickly whereas a Japan ball takes a longer time. Why? There is no sufficient stuff in the latter ball. As soon as it reaches the ground it loses its spherical shape. It gets deformed. The impact is too heavy for it. It has lost everything. It has to attain slowly its momentum. We are all like Japan balls. We must cover ourselves with Vairagya, inflate with Bhakti and devotion. Kirtans and prayer are double piston air pumps. Meditation is the space of travel. Jnana is the acceleration which takes the ball to its original position. This overcomes Avidya, the down-pulling gravitation. Selfless duty removes all the dust particles adhering to us in the form of egoism and vices. These are the equipment. These can be manufactured by one’s own self as the outcome of various experiences in life. But it is better that it is acquired from parents. You can save much time. Parents are the well-wishers of the children. They should not allow their children to cultivate bad habits. They must not sing cinema songs and other meaningless blabberings to lull their babes. Only Kirtans glorifying the various forms of the Lord should be used. Sing “Hari Hari Bol, Bol Hari Bol, Mukunda Madhava Kesava Bol.” This tune is very melodious. It is a sweet lullaby. At the same time it leaves deep imprints in the mind of the babe. You do not know what the mind of a child is. You are not capable of understanding its language. A child is full of divine qualities. It is only due to your bad company the child is spoiled. You nurse the child too much. You train the child with toilets and luxuries. You make these articles indispensable for him in later life. “As is the father, so is the son.” What habits you have acquired in the circle of your movement creep into him also. If you play at cards, your son too will do so stealthily if not openly before you. If you smoke, your son is sure to smoke. First correct yourself. The moment you realise that a son will be born to you, eradicate all the evil habits. Grains will grow perfectly only if the weeds are removed. The birth of a child is an A.R.P siren. It is a danger signal for you to be cautious. The mud pot is useful only as long as the seed or the bulbous plant grows roots. Afterwards it should not be kept in the pot. If it is kept not only the plant will suffer undergrowth but the pot will be broken. It must be immediately transplanted in a fertile field. The child must be kept in the house only as long as it is not in a position to discriminate between good and bad. The day the child shows a tendency to like or dislike, it must be taken to a tutor and entrusted to him. It is no more a child. Now he is a boy fit to receive instructions. Any parent, who ignorant of this fact, keeps the boy at home virtually stifles and snuffs out the moral, ethical and cultural life-growth in the boy. Only such tutors who feel it their responsibility to make an ideal man of the boy entrusted to them are to take up the training. Here comes the duty of the tutor. The tutor is not merely to cram certain portions from the prescribed text-books and lecture them to the boys. He is to teach and not to lecture. He must live what he teaches and transform by shining example. He must carefully watch the individual progress and satisfy himself as to the mental and ethical growth of every boy. More than teaching subjects