Swami SivanandaHis autobiography and his teaching on the Guru
PREFACE
(Sri N.C. Ghosh)
The Yoga-Vedanta Forest University, Shivanandanagar, has done India a signal service in giving us this fine autobiography of a great savant. Being an original product of Swamiji’s genius, the book combines a searching analysis of his experiences with a depth of sincerity that at once carries conviction. The whole book is instinct with the prophetic vision of a seer, a man of Self-realisation, and the expression is so lucid and poetical that quite a new life has been breathed into the dry bones of philosophical discussion, and that too on the most abstruse subject ever known.
India’s Spiritual Culture Enriched
Now the cultural heritage of India is glorified with the presentation of the inspiring life-story of Paramahamsa Swami Sivananda. It will do incalculable good to the whole world as it has in its characteristics many things unprecedented in other biographies. The Master’s pen gives us an insight into his own personality, hints on practical spirituality, and an idea of the great spiritual heritage of India. It also provides us with a basis for universal understanding and sympathy, and a fascinating story of the foundation of the Divine Life Society, its subsequent development and the activities of this divine mission.
Amid the din and bustle of this atomic era, a spiritual institution like the Divine Life Society is almost a paradox. Its expression of the infinite Spirit through a limited medium of philanthropic work and aesthetic culture is putting a stop to the downhill trend of many features of modern civilisation. It is not easy for the general public to have sufficient opportunities to get first-hand knowledge of the diverse activities of this institution and its illustrious Founder-President. In these circumstances this book will be found extremely handy and valuable. Within its short compass, the learned author has compressed much useful information on divine life and opened up a perspective that grips the attention of the reader to the end. He has described from his direct experience some incidents and events of his own life which are at once miraculous and instructive. Readers of a religious bent of mind all over the world will derive immense delight from the book, as it is a treasure of practical lessons for spiritual uplift.
The author brings out the essential features of India’s spiritual culture for the common run of readers who, being steeped in worldliness but yet aspiring to walk the way of divine life, are unable or have no time to dive into the profundities of the great books like the Vedas. In a word, the book is a portrayal, however partial, of the Divinity whom the devotee should love and worship and cherish in his purified heart, and as such it is destined to awaken an aspiration for spiritual Sadhana in the reader.
An Ideal Personality
For the benefit of mankind Swamiji has tried to make the book helpful to all aspirants, giving a lot of information on the practical side of Sadhana. This autobiography gives a vivid picture of how his great heart bled for the suffering millions in India and abroad, and also what his plan was for the uplift of his motherland and the restoration of her past glory. If our young men wish to win the respect and admiration of the world let them draw inspiration from the wonderful life of Swami Sivanandaji, who is not only a seer and the greatest torch-bearer of Vedanta in the East, but the very personification of all that is great and noble in life. The magic personality of Swamiji, his vitality and endurance are wonderfully portrayed here. Written in chaste English and replete with soul-stirring incidents, this autobiography is sure to captivate the mind of the reader.
His novel and revolutionary methods of training his disciples which are depicted in this book shed a flood of light on our spiritual life also. Christ once said: “He that followeth me shall walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life.” The contemplative saint who has written this book throws light—well-focussed and going to manifold transformations—on the various aspects of Truth, which is unity. We are full of admiration for Swamiji. He is riding on the surging waves of popularity because the deepest truths of the profoundest philosophy have been so well blended with a stimulating story and written in such sweet and simple style that even the beginner can assimilate the lessons. The devotee, the Jnani, the Karma Yogi and others will immensely enjoy this book which is a mine of gold to introduce them to a new world of delight and ecstasy. They will have the one thing that is needful.
Sivananda—A World-Force
When Sivananda speaks, the world listens. His resplendent personality and pristine perspective, brilliant intellect and all-compassionate disposition coupled with his impetuous fervour to uplift mankind have made him a veritable God-man.
Swamiji says: “To raise the fallen, to lead the blind, to share what I have with others, to bring solace to the afflicted, to cheer up the suffering, to love my neighbour as my own Self, to protect cows, animals, women and children—these are my aims and ideals. I will help you and guide you. I live to serve you all. I live to make you all happy. This body is meant for service.”
This is his thrilling message to the people of this atomic age Swamiji has, by years of arduous work, created a new world—“Ananda Kutir” or the “abode of bliss”—for the quick spiritual progress of all types of seekers after Truth, suitable to various tastes, temperaments and stages of evolution. Spiritual truth is eternal, but it has to be restated and redemonstrated in a human life in order that it may be a living and shining example before all of us. Swamiji’s life is one of long stillness of prayer perfectly blended with dynamic activity through selfless service. The story is one of strenuous spiritual endeavour and service in the cause of suffering humanity often in the face of great trials. The supreme devotion and efficient organising capacity of his worthy disciples on whom has descended the Grace of the Master have amazed everyone who has paid a visit to Swamiji’s Ashram. It may be said without any hesitation that Swamiji’s mission is well on its way to becoming a world-force.
The story of Paramahamsa Sivananda’s life is a study of religion in practice. Swamiji has astonished the world by the versatility of his genius, by the many-sidedness of his faculties and by the contributions, innumerable and diverse in character, which he has made to the world. Having attained realisation he has striven to impart the benefit of the citadel of Truth. The Siddha Jnanis, of whom there are great examples in human history, are personages like Lord Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and others. Swami Sivananda himself, judging from the work he is doing, exemplifies the ideal type of Siddha Jnani.
Fulfilment of India’s Spiritual Mission
It is the job of India to change the way of the world through her spirituality. India’s true mission is to deliver her spiritual message to the world. The times need a change of heart. We wanted freedom because we thought that we had certain truths to preach, certain messages which were good not only for India, but for the whole world. India should achieve her true and noble mission by disseminating this message. In that mission, God-intoxicated men like Swami Sivananda are giving us the real lead. If India in bondage needed a Gandhi to lead her to freedom, resurgent India needs a Sivananda to make her conscious of her precious heritage and resume her spiritual mission.
Never was a man like him needed more urgently than today when the world, armed to the teeth with atomic weapons, hovers over the brink of a suicidal war. He is, as it were, a link between heaven and earth, and if anybody can contribute substantially to the peace and spiritual uplift of mankind, it is certainly Sivananda.
Even though there is poverty and misery in India, Indians are happy because they still have illustrious living saints like Swami Sivananda who in his clarion call asks us to seek the happiness of the soul and not material enjoyment. He is a saint of international outlook and is one of the pioneers who have brought the Yoga practices from the seclusion of the monastery within the reach of the common man. He is not lost in meditative contemplation to see the Unknown. He is a saint for the masses and has come down amongst us with a mission to show the truth in falsehood, to throw light on darkness and to establish immortality in this mortal world. In a word, he is the modern world-prophet. Just go to the Sivananda Ashram and get a thorough physical, mental and spiritual overhaul—the picturesque Ashram in Rishikesh at the foot of the majestic Himalayas with the Ganga in the foreground and the Visvanath Mandir in the background, flanking the colony of saints who, under the divine leadership of Sadguru Sivananda Maharaj, live and work for the welfare of humanity.
Sivananda’s Achievements
The Divine Life Society was established by His Holiness in 1936 and it exists today to serve mankind by the dissemination of spiritual knowledge and by training spiritual aspirants in Yoga and Vedanta in the Yoga-Vedanta Forest University. I humbly draw the attention of the world to this living saint and sage who is ever ready to extend his helping hand to every sincere seeker after Truth. His is a unique institution in that it is the great gift of a divine being who, paradoxically, combines in himself the cosmic consciousness of a sage, the dynamism of an enterprising industrialist, the daring of an adventurer, and a novel and refreshingly new approach to religious life. Therefore, it beautifully blends the essentials of the different ways of viewing and approaching God.
The two epoch-making events in Swami Sivanandaji’s life are his All-India Ceylon Tour in 1950, and the Parliament of Religions convened by him in 1953. The warm reception that His Holiness received everywhere during his tour is not at all surprising. He held discourses at several universities and learned bodies, speaking mainly on universal peace and the message of Hindu philosophy. He won the respect of everyone who heard him because of his vast knowledge and his thought-provoking remarks.
A new chapter opened at Sivananda Ashram on April 3rd, 1953, a blessed day for India, when the Parliament of Religions was inaugurated. Indeed, it was for the first time in the history of this country that such a congregation of distinguished men and women from different parts of the world took place on the soil of India. This Parliament will, no doubt, be appraised by the world’s philosophers and other intellectuals as one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century.
Magnetic Influence of Sivananda’s Life
Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensory perception. The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of modern knowledge the borderline between the natural and the supernatural is ever shifting. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were half a century ago. The words of Swami Sivananda have already exerted a tremendous influence in the land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of universal truth. But these words are not the product of intellectual cogitation; they are rooted in direct experience. Hence, to students of religion, psychology and physical science, these experiences of the Master are of immense value for an understanding of religious phenomena in general.
In the spiritual firmament Swami Sivananda is a waxing crescent. He is a living embodiment of godliness and his message has spread across land and sea. There already exists a network of the branches of the Divine Life Society throughout India and abroad. Thousands have found solace in his teachings and experienced the miraculous powers of Swamiji ward off evils on their material and spiritual paths. The lofty ideals of peace and harmony which His Holiness exemplifies in his life have today become the watchwords of a world institution like the United Nations Organisation. He is being recognized as a compeer of Krishna, Buddha and Christ.
Service of humanity has been his one burning passion and this he has sought to fulfil by every means possible. The world-renowned Yoga-Vedanta Forest University has published over two hundred of his books on various subjects of absorbing interest but this book is their monumental epic, dwarfing all previous publications. It is indeed a true picture of Indian culture, tradition and dignity. In their breadth and depth they are unique. Great spiritual truths are here described in simple words and vivid stories, and the conflicts of religions are here solved in the light of direct experience. In those pages every man, whatever his religious creed, will find courage, faith, hope and illumination. Swamiji’s life is a laboratory of religious experiment and his message is a silent force animating the national life of India. It is the precursor of a new age of light and understanding for the whole world.
Attracted by his irresistible spiritual power, hosts of people—men and women, young and old, educated and illiterate, agnostic and orthodox—have flocked to him. All have felt the radiation of his spirit and are uplifted in his presence. His love knows no barriers of race, colour or creed, and he gives without stint to all who seek him.
I am sure all pilgrims on earth will find the necessary “elixir divine” in the following pages at a time when it is so much needed in this materialism-ridden world. This book carries a message of inspiration for every day in the year and each message will leave a lasting impression on the reader’s mind and may be a turning point in his life.