RAJA YOGA MESSAGE 31

Raja Yoga, Message 31


Jada Samadhi and Chaitanya Samadhi 

Samadhi is of two kinds, jada (inert) samadhi and chaitanya (conscious) samadhi. There is a popular belief that samadhi means sitting in a state of absolute unconsciousness in the lotus pose, with perfect suspension of breath. The ordinary run of mankind thinks that the man who is established in samadhi should not have consciousness of his surroundings, and should be absolutely insensible even if a knife is thrust into his body. Such samadhis do certainly exist. They are all jada samadhis induced by hatha yoga exercises such as khechari mudra and retention of breath, etc. The prana is taken up and fixed in some chakra. The man is practically dead for the time being. The breathing and heart will entirely stop. This is something like a long, deep sleep. These samadhis are of no value. The past impressions and desires are not completely burnt. There is no perfect awareness. The man returns from this samadhi as the same man, with the same bundle of old samskaras and vasanas. He has no super-intuitional knowledge. This is a kind of acrobatic feat or internal gymnastics. Worldly people are deceived by such feats. Such samadhis cannot give liberation.

When the mind gets concentrated the breath will become less and less. It will come to 15, then 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 per minute, and so on, and the pulse beats may come to 30. When you enter into very deep silent meditation the breath will not come out of the nostrils. There may be occasional slow movement of the lungs and the abdomen. From the nature of the breathing you can infer the degree of concentration of an aspirant. Watch the breath very carefully. But, even if you do not feel any pulse in the sadhak when he is in meditation, even if his breathing stops, do not think that he is in nirvikalpa samadhi. He should return with super-sensual divine knowledge. Then only can it be said that he has attained real samadhi. The breathing and pulse may stop from various other causes also. If one abstains from food and drink and practises a little concentration or even sits on one asana steadily for some time, the breathing and pulse may stop. The sadhak must have perfect awareness in meditation. There is not much spiritual gain if he remains in a mere dull, inert state, even though he is insensible to external sounds. Once two sannyasins were deceived by another sadhu who used to sit in meditation without pulse and breathing for several hours. Later on he turned out to be a hypocrite and a hoax. He cheated them and ran away with some money. You will have to be very very careful in your judgement.

During meditation do not allow yourself to pass into an inert state. Do not mistake this state for merging in the Lord or communion. Remaining in a dull state for some hours is not desirable. It is like deep sleep. This will not help you in your spiritual evolution. If this time is spent in doing japa, kirtan, mantra-writing and study of sacred books you will have quick evolution. Be on the alert. Watch vigilantly. If there is real merging or real deep meditation you must have peace, bliss and divine knowledge; you must be free from doubts, fear, delusion, egoism, anger, passion and likes and dislikes. Some dull inexperienced aspirants, mistaking deep sleep or this jada state for nirvikalpa samadhi, get false contentment and stop their sadhana.

Sometimes cupidity will simulate a concentrated state. You are concentrated elsewhere but not on the object of meditation. Watch this and withdraw the mind.

In chaitanya samadhi the yogi has perfect awareness. He comes down with divine knowledge. He gives inspired talks and messages and those who hear him are much elevated. The subtle desires are destroyed by this samadhi and the yogi attains perfect freedom.

Savitarka Samadhi and Nirvitarka Samadhi

"There the concentration in which the options of word, meaning and understanding are confused, is called savitarka samadhi, or the samadhi with argumentation." (I-42)

Savitarka samadhi is samadhi with reasoning. It is a superficial attempt of the mind to grasp any object. Sound, meaning and knowledge are mixed up in this samadhi.

The aspirant can meditate on Lord Vishnu with four hands, or Lord Krishna with flute in hand, or any ordinary object. He will obtain the direct perception of all the peculiar features, the excellences and the defects of the object of meditation. He will have complete knowledge of the object. He will be endowed with all the unheard of and unthought of features of the object. He will obtain all these through savitarka samadhi. He meditates on the object again and again by isolating it from other objects.

The yoga student can meditate on the gross elements also. He will gain power over them through intense meditation. The elements will reveal their truths to him.

Just as the new archer first aims at big objects only and then at smaller ones gradually, so also the beginner in yoga concentrates on the gross objects — such as the five gross elements, or Lord Hari with four hands, etc. — and then on subtle ones. In this manner the grasp of the objects by the mind becomes subtle. A yogi directly perceives, by the force of his meditation, the real body of Lord Vishnu as He lies in Vaikuntha, although he remains at a great distance from the Lord.

"Nirvitarka samadhi is that in which the mind shines as the object alone on the disappearance of memory, and when the mind is, as it were, devoid of its own nature." (I-43)

In savitarka samadhi, concentration is practised on gross objects and their nature in relation to time and space. This is a gross form of samadhi. When the yogi meditates on the elements as they are, by taking them out of time and space, then it is called nirvitarka samadhi, or samadhi without questioning, reasoning or argumentation. This is a subtle form of samadhi.

In savitarka samadhi there is a fanciful notion of word, object and idea. There is no such notion in nirvitarka samadhi. There are three factors in the comprehension of a word, e.g. cow: (1) cow, the word; (2) cow, the object; and (3) cow, the idea in the mind. When the meditator imagines these three to be one and the same, it is an instance of fanciful notion of the word, object and idea.

Savichara Samadhi and Nirvichara Samadhi 

"By this (process) the meditation with deliberation and without deliberation with their objects as subtle, are also explained." (I-44) 

"The province of the subtle objects reaches up to (or ends with) mula prakriti (primordial matter)." (I-45)

If you meditate on the subtle tanmatra (rudimentary elements) and their nature in relation to time and space, it is savichara samadhi with deliberation or discrimination. This is subtler than savitarka and nirvitarka samadhis. The five gross elements are derived from the subtle elements, through the process of quintuplication or mixing. Meditation goes a step higher in this samadhi than in the previous one. The yogi will get knowledge of the subtle elements and will obtain control over them. He will get direct perception of the various subtle forms of the object, culminating in primordial matter.

There is a mysterious power in meditation. Although ordinary meditation is possible only in ways already heard and thought of, yet even such things as have not been heard or thought of may be directly cognised by the force of meditation.

"When the meditation without deliberation is purified, comes the spiritual internal peace of mind." (I-47) 

If you meditate on the subtle elements by taking them out of time and space, by thinking of them as they are, it will constitute nirvichara samadhi (without deliberation or discrimination). As there is pure sattva only in the mind owing to the eradication of rajas and tamas, the yogi enjoys internal peace or contentment and subjective luminosity. The mind is very steady.

The Purusha, who is all bliss, all knowledge and all purity, can only be realised when the mind is perfectly steady and is filled with purity. The yogi gets simultaneous knowledge of everything.

"This consciousness therein is full of Truth." (I-48) 

There is real knowledge free from doubt and perverted knowledge. There is knowledge by mere intuition. The real essence is revealed here. There is not even a trace of false knowledge. Worldly knowledge (knowledge from books) is only false knowledge.

"The range of intellect is different from those of revelation and inferential cognition." (I-49) 

In this state, knowledge of hidden things and distant objects is directly obtained. This knowledge is perfectly true and is absolutely free from errors. Knowledge of minute particulars is obtained.

Reason has got its own limitations. It is an imperfect instrument. It cannot solve many problems of life. It cannot answer the 'Why?' of the universe. It shines in light borrowed from the Purusha. It takes you to the threshold of intuition and leaves you there. Intuition transcends reason but does not contradict it. The yogi gets super-sensual knowledge and knowledge that lies beyond reason through intuition.

"The impressions therefrom (from the samadhi previously described) obstruct other impressions." (I-50)

The impressions produced on the mind by this samadhi prevent other impressions from gaining ground on it. The mind has become absolutely pure now. This samadhi has the power to suppress all the old worldly samskaras. Samskaras are your real enemies. They constitute the destiny of man.

During concentration they all join together and attack you with great vehemence, but the samskara of this samadhi comes to your rescue. It destroys all the other vicious samskaras. It is a great asset for you. The mind is absolutely steady now. It can never run towards objects.

Sananda Samadhi or the Blissful Samadhi 

Sananda samadhi gives intense joy. In this samadhi the gross and the subtle elements are given up. The yogi meditates on the sattvic mind itself. He thinks of the mind which is devoid of rajas and tamas. Through this type of samadhi there arises in the yogi a peculiar perception in the form of intense joy.

Do not give up your practices, do not stop here. You will have to advance still further. This is a glimpse of Truth only. This is not the whole experience, the highest realisation. This is a new platform for you. Stand firmly now on this platform. Try to ascend further and reach the unconditioned state. Then you will be proof against temptations.

Sasmita Samadhi 

"These only, viz., savitarka, savichara, sananda and sasmita are sabija Samadhi (with seed [samskaras])." (I-46) 

In this samadhi the mind is the object of meditation. It bestows the knowledge of the subject of all experiences. The self knows the Self. Only the sattvic state of the ego remains. The yogi can think of himself now as without his gross body. He feels that he has a fine body. This samadhi takes the yogi to the root of experiences and shows the way to freedom.

The yogi feels, 'I am (asmi) other than the body'. He experiences that the gross, subtle and joyous samadhis are not the highest samadhis. He finds defects in them also, and gets disgusted with them (even though they are infinitely more blissful than the miserable mundane life), because even lower kinds of samadhi act as an obstacle on the path of the aspirant and prevent him from striving to reach the highest nirvikalpa samadhi. He proceeds further and practises sasmita samadhi. He experiences consciousness of the Self (sasmita). He experiences a feeling of 'enough' and develops dispassion in its highest form (para vairagya). This finally leads to the development of asamprajnata or nirvikalpa samadhi.

Raja Yoga Samadhi 

"Samprajnata samadhi or concrete meditation is that which is accompanied by argumentation, deliberation, happiness, egoism and form." (I-17) 

According to raja yoga, samadhi is mainly of two kinds — samprajnata and asamprajnata. In the former the seeds of samskaras are not destroyed. In the latter the samskaras are completely fried or annihilated. That is the reason why the former is also called sabija samadhi (with seed) and the latter as nirbija samadhi (without seed or samskaras). Samprajnata samadhi leads to asamprajnata samadhi.

Samprajnata samadhi is also known by the names savikalpa samadhi or salambana samadhi. This samadhi brings perfect knowledge of the object of meditation. The mind continuously, and to the exclusion of all other objects, assumes the nature of and becomes one with the subject of its contemplation. The yogi attains all the powers of controlling nature in this samadhi.

All the forms of samprajnata samadhi are salambana (with support) and sabija (with seed of samskara).

There are three states of samprajnata samadhi. In the first, the content of the mental modification (vritti) is existence, knowledge, bliss absolute. There is still a separate knower. You get real wisdom. In the second, every kind of veiling is removed. The third state is the state of peace in which the mind is destitute of all mental modifications. The knowledge that you get from testimony and inference is about objects of the world, but the knowledge that you attain from samadhi is divine knowledge. It is supersensual intuitive knowledge where reason, inference and testimony cannot go.

The various stages described in raja yoga — savitarka, nirvitarka, savichara, nirvichara, sananda and sasmita — all constitute samprajnata or sabija samadhi. All these samadhis have something to grasp.

There is argumentation or questioning. They give intense joy but they are not the best and finest forms of samadhi. They cover the gross or the subtle elements of nature and the organs of senses.

They give you the direct knowledge of the elements, objects and instruments of knowledge, and some freedom. You transcend time and space.

Savikalpa samadhi of a raja yogi who practises savitarka, savichara, nirvitarka, nirvichara, sananda and sasmita samadhis, leaves the impressions of enquiry, feeling of bliss and the feeling of 'aham asmi' — 'I exist'.

This is called the 'remainder of tendencies' and it corresponds to the lesha avidya (trace of ignorance) the sage experiences after he has attained the state of jivanmukta. On account of this he moves about, takes bath, answers calls of nature and takes food and drink. (The impressions of lesha avidya are like that of the garlic smell which the pot emanates even after it is washed several times.)

Camphor melts in the fire and assumes the form of fire. When salt is dissolved in water, it is no longer perceived separately; the water alone remains. Even so, the mind that has assumed the form of Brahman which is secondless, is no longer perceived. Brahman alone remains in its pristine glory.

"By the suppression of that samskara also (the samadhi samskara) due to the suppression of all samskaras, comes the nirbija samadhi." (I-51)

When the samskara caused by the experience of consciousness full of Truth is also restrained, all the other samskaras are also totally restrained. Now all the seeds are totally burnt up in the fire of asamprajnata samadhi. The mind, thus having nothing to rest upon, is destroyed by itself (mano-nasha). Purusha alone shines in perfect bliss, knowledge, peace and glory. The yogi is absolutely free. He realises his own immortal nature.

In asamprajnata, nirbija or nirvikalpa samadhi there is no ego-consciousness. Ego and mind melt and fuse in Brahman. The distinction of knower, knowledge and the object of knowing completely vanishes. The pure mind assumes the form of Brahman.

This is the highest form of samadhi. This comes after intuitional knowledge or the final discrimination between matter (prakriti) and spirit (Purusha). All the seeds or impressions are burnt by the fire of knowledge. This samadhi brings absolute independence. It is the culmination or climax of yoga and bestows supreme undying peace or knowledge. The yogi enjoys the transcendental glories of the Self and has perfect freedom from mental life. The sense of time is replaced by a sense of eternity.

In this samadhi there is neither seer, seen nor the act of seeing, nor support. This samadhi alone can destroy birth and death and bring highest knowledge and bliss. This is known as asti-bhati-priya or sat-cit-ananda. That which ever exists is asti (sat); that which ever shines is bhati, absolute consciousness (chit); that which gives happiness always is priya, unalloyed bliss (ananda). This state is indescribable.

In vedanta they call it arupa manonasha and sarupa manonasha. Manonasha is destruction of the mind. In sarupa manonasha, rajas and tamas are completely destroyed and sattva alone remains. Sarupa manonasha is for the jivanmukta. Jivanmuktas have the form of the mind for the purpose of serving the world. Arupa manonasha comes in videhamukti, where the whole mind is destroyed.

There are two kinds of asamprajnata or nirvikalpa samadhi. In the first the jnani, by resting in Brahman, sees the whole world within himself as a movement of ideas, as a mode of being or a mode of his own existence, like Brahman. Brahman sees the world within Himself as His own imagination (sankalpa). So also does a jnani. This is the highest state of realisation as in the case of Lord Krishna,
Lord Dattatreya, Sri Sankara, Jnana Dev and others.

In the second variety the world vanishes from view and the jnani rests on pure attributeless Brahman.

When you get full success or perfection in raja yoga by entering into nirvikalpa samadhi, the five afflictions of ignorance, egoism, love, hatred and clinging to life are destroyed, and the bonds of karma are annihilated. This samadhi brings the highest good and exaltation. It gives deliverance from the wheel of birth and death. There is no imagination (vikalpa) of any sort in this condition. There is no functioning of mind or intellect. All vrittis totally cease and there is only pure consciousness or awareness.

"Then comes the removal of all coverings of impurities due to the infinity of knowledge, and the knowable becomes very little." (IV-31) 

Knowledge that ordinary men get from worldly experiences becomes very very insignificant. The knowledge of the yogis is like a sun. The knowledge of objects is like the light of a glow-worm.

In this samadhi the yogi sees without eyes, tastes without tongue, hears without ears, smells without nose and touches without skin. His thought-force can work miracles. He simply wills and everything comes into being. This state is described in the Taittiriya Aranyaka thus: "The blind man pierced the pearl, the fingerless put a thread into it, the neckless wore it and the tongueless praised it." (I-II-5).

Eventually he realises his own native state of divine glory, isolation or absolute independence (kaivalya). He has completely disconnected himself from nature and its effects. He feels his absolute freedom and attains kaivalya, the highest goal of raja yoga. All karmas are destroyed.

"Then the succession of the modifications of gunas comes to an end, having fulfilled their part." (IV-32) 

The gunas having fulfilled their objects of enjoyment, now entirely cease to act. He has simultaneous knowledge. The past and the future are blended into the present. Everything is 'now', everything is 'here'.

May you all attain success in raja yoga and enter into nirvikalpa samadhi or the blissful union with the Lord by controlling the senses and the mind, and practising regular and constant meditation!

Jnana Yoga Samadhi 

Jnana yoga samadhi is also of two kinds — savikalpa and nirvikalpa. Savikalpa samadhi is a means (sadhana). Nirvikalpa samadhi is the fruit or the result.

Though there is a perception of duality in savikalpa samadhi, in as much as there is distinct recognition of subject and object, yet the duality only helps to know Brahman, One without a second.

In the same way as in an earthen jar there is a perception of earth though there be an appearance of a jar, so too is there the perception of the secondless Brahman alone, even though there be an appearance of duality.

Savikalpa samadhi is of two kinds — drishyanuvidha when it is connected with an object, and shabdanuvidha when it is connected with a sound such as 'I am Brahman — aham Brahma asmi'. When it is not associated even with the sound of 'Aham Brahma asmi', it is nirvikalpa. When you meditate on the consciousness as the witness of the modifications of the mind (such as desires, etc.) which are to be regarded as perceivable objects, it is inner antar drishyanuvidha savikalpa samadhi.

When you meditate and actually feel: 'I am unattached, existence, knowledge, bliss absolute, self-luminous and non-dual,' it is antah shabdanuvidha savikalpa samadhi.

When you see only Brahman in the external objects by separating the names and forms, it is termed bahir drishyanuvidha savikalpa samadhi. That constant reflection that the unlimited substance of existence, knowledge, bliss absolute (which is always of one nature) is Brahman, is the middle kind of samadhi or bahir shabdanuvidha savikalpa samadhi. By the practice and experience of these two kinds of samadhi, that steady state of the mind produced owing to the realisation of bliss (like the ocean without waves) is called the third kind of samadhi or bahir nirvikalpa samadhi.

That steady state of mind like the unflickering flame of a light in a place free from wind, wherein one gets indifferent to both objects and sounds owing to his total merging in the realisation of his own real Self (Brahman), is termed antar nirvikalpa samadhi. One should always spend his time in these kinds of samadhi. By these samadhis the identification with the body vanishes, the highest Self is realised and the mind is always in samadhi wherever (or in whatever place) and to whatever object it is directed (or runs to).

According to vedanta, annihilation of ignorance leads to samadhi. According to Patanjali Maharishi, the aspirant attains samadhi by removing the hold of the world by practice and discipline.
The vedantin enjoys the eternal bliss and natural ease of sahaja samadhi. He remains as a silent witness. He does not make any serious attempt to control the psychic stream or thought current. He raises the thought of Brahman alone by meditation on the significance of Tat-tvam-asi mahavakya.

The subconscious (chitta) is modified in the form of the thought of Brahman alone. All other modifications are withdrawn. This thought (vritti) annihilates the ignorance and dies by itself, and Brahman shines out as the aspirant realises his identity. When this vritti is continuous, the highest form of samadhi, i.e., nirvikalpa samadhi, is attained. When it is intermittent the sage attains savikalpa samadhi.

Samadhi in the jnani is effortless and spontaneous. Wherever the mind goes, there it experiences samadhi. He rests in samadhi always. There is no 'in samadhi' and 'out of samadhi' for a sage. He experiences samadhi always, without any effort. Hence, it is called sahajavastha or sahaja samadhi.

He enjoys freedom, bliss and peace in all moments of his life. He drinks the nectar of immortality in this very life.

Bhakti Yoga Samadhi

In bhakti yoga there is absence of the least tinge of pride and self-assertion. The devotee does total unreserved self-surrender to the Lord. He resigns himself completely to the Lord and obtains His grace. Grace is a mighty spiritual force. It transforms the entire being of a devotee. It infuses in him inspiration and a new divine life. Self-surrender makes the devotee feel the reality of divine grace and the Lord's readiness to bestow help on him at all times. It is through grace alone that the devotee's whole being is galvanized and rejuvenated. Through divine grace there is inflow of divine energy into the entire being of a devotee and his whole being is properly moulded for divine realisation and divine instrumentality.

Liberation (moksha) is loss of one's personality in the divine. It is deliverance from delusion of personality. There is no annihilation by the melting of this little false personality. Just as the river becomes the ocean itself, the individual soul becomes the mighty supreme Soul with higher consciousness and transcendental bliss and knowledge.

There are nine modes or rungs in navavidha bhakti. They are sravana, kirtana, smarana, padasevana, archana, vandana, dasya, sakhya and Atmanivedana. Sravana is hearing His lilas (stories of God and His divine play), kirtana is singing His names, smarana is remembrance, padasevana is service of His feet, archana is offering of flowers to the Lord, vandana is prostrations, dasya is servant attitude towards the Lord, sakhya is friendship with the Lord and Atmanivedana is self-surrender.

Admiration, faith, devotion, taste for repetition and singing of the Lord's name, firm devoutness, intense attachment to the Lord, steadiness in God-love and transcendental God-love (absorption) are the eight steps in the ladder of prema or bhakti yoga. Salokya, samipya, sarupya and sayujya (remaining in the world of God, staying near God, assuming the form of God and remaining absorbed in Him) are the four kinds of mukti (liberation) of the devotees.

Surrender draws down grace. The individual becomes one with the cosmic Will through surrender. Grace makes surrender complete. Without grace perfect union is not possible. Surrender and grace are inter-related. Grace removes all obstacles, snares and pit-falls in the spiritual path.

The samadhi experienced by a bhakta is bhava samadhi. The devotee attains the state through bhava and maha bhava. A bhakta who meditates on the form of Lord Sri Krishna will see Krishna and Krishna only everywhere when he is established in samadhi. He will see himself as Sri Krishna. The gopis of Brindavan and Gouranga and Ekanath had this experience. Those who meditate on the all-pervading Krishna will have another kind of experience — the consciousness of Virat (the Lord in His form as the manifested universe).

The bhakta enjoys the warm embrace of the divine. He attains divine auspiciousness. All the spiritual wealth of the Lord belongs to him. He is endowed with divine vision, lustrous subtle body and divine senses. He does not like to have complete absorption or merging in the Lord, but wants to remain himself separate in front of Him and taste the divine honey of God-love. The absorption in the Lord comes to him temporarily in the intensity of his love and experience in the beginning, though he does not like it. He then attains similarity with God. He is God-like. Eventually he attains sayujya or oneness but does not lose his separate identity as a devotee.

Samadhi and Work

The state of samadhi is maintained even during work. The mind and body are used as perfect instruments in the service of the Atman that is seated in the hearts of all. Even during action Sri Sankara, Lord Krishna and Lord Rama did not move an inch from their being established in Brahman. Rajah Janaka enjoyed true samadhi even while ruling his kingdom. He never lost sight of Brahman even for a moment. When he was put to the test he said: "Even if the whole of Mithila (his kingdom) is burnt, nothing is lost for me. I have the inexhaustible imperishable wealth of the Atman".

He who is established in samadhi keeps his mind and body in perfect balance and utilises them in the service of humanity with the feeling that everything is Atman. He is ever fixed in Brahman. He is always in samadhi. There is no tossing of mind for him, under any condition. He stands adamantine on account of his knowledge of the Self. Real samadhi should be kept up as much in action as in meditation. This is the real test of one's inner strength and realisation. This is real chaitanya samadhi.

A samadhi that one enters into in mountain-caves and forests with closed eyes, but that is broken or shattered during work, is not the ultimate samadhi.

As long as you are established in a samadhi, there is only Brahman or the Absolute. Continuous unbroken (nirantara) samadhi does not mean sitting blind-folded, but the renunciation of attachment to the body, regarding the individual soul and supreme Soul as one, and knowing that the practitioner himself is the supreme Soul and acting upon this knowledge. Samadhi means the annihilation or absorption of the mind. Wherever he goes he beholds the one Self everywhere.

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NOTE: Thus ends the series ‘Raja Yoga’ by Swami Sivananda.

WAVES OF GANGA

Waves of Ganga


Experience is never possible without consciousness. Anything that is eternal must be infinite and unlimited. Consciousness is unlimited; the consciousness of limitation shows that consciousness is greater than limitation. Perfection is the attainment of immortal life or pure consciousness. The enquiry of "Who am I?" leads to Self-realisation (Brahma jnana). Divine wisdom can be attained only by those who are endowed with purity. Tear the veil. Realise the reality.

Pain is the effect of not having what is wanted, or having what is not wanted. Brahman is secondless. There is no pain or want in Brahman. Therefore pain is impossible in the Absolute. Contact is the mother of pain. The Absolute can have no contacts and therefore no pain. Brahman is free from all wants and desires because it includes everything in itself. Therefore it is an embodiment of bliss.

Bliss is not an attribute. It is the very constitutive essence of the Self, or Atman. As the Self is absolute in nature, its bliss is also absolute. This is the same as Brahman.

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Annihilate the ego. Reach the goal here and now. Take the inner essence and attain perfection. Relax not the keen vigilance against your most subtle foes - egoism and desire. Where can you see the Lord? I found the Lord where 'I' did not exist.

Where there is no sense of 'I', there is liberation. It is bondage to have the sense of 'I' and 'mine'. Identify with the all-pervading soul (Atman). You will attain immortality. This is the secret of eternal life.

With the growth and expansion of your inmost being, you attain greater perfection and fulfilment of yourself, and bliss is the result thereof. Purge yourself from self-seeking and egoism. Escape from space time limitations. Lose all sense of separateness. Unite with Brahman or the Absolute. The practice of the presence of God will cause the ego veil to dissolve.

Divine love will now manifest and eternal bliss will flow in. The Lord's grace is ever upon sincere, selfless souls.

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ON VRITTI

On Vritti 

The mind-stuff is chitta. It is a mental substance. Vritti or thought wave is a modification of the mind stuff. It is a process. Just as waves and bubbles arise from the surface of the ocean, so also these vrittis arise on the surface of the mind ocean. Just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun, so also these mental rays (modifications of the vritti), emanate from the mind sun. Just as the sun merges itself into the horizon at sunset, by collecting all its rays, so also you have to merge in the sun of suns, absolute consciousness, eternal peace, by collecting all the dissipated mental rays and dissolving the mind itself.

The function of the vritti in the mind is to cause the removal of the cause of ignorance covering objects. Gross ignorance is enveloping all objects. When it is removed, then perception of objects becomes possible.

Through its own effort the mind assumes the shape of any object, and concentrates upon itself. When the mind thinks of Brahman, the sole ultimate thought of Brahman is formed. Be vigilant. Watch the mind and its activities. The object does not bind you - it is the vritti, the identification with the vritti, that causes attachment and bondage.

If you become one with the mind, body and vrittis you get various sorts of miseries and sufferings.

The whole universe is created by the vrittis alone. If these mental thought waves subside you can attain the absolute state of highest peace and bliss. Just as soap cleanses the physical body, even so japa (repetition) of any mantra, dhyana (meditation) and kirtan (chanting), together with the practice of yama and niyama (discipline), cleanse the mind of all impurities. Just as you nourish the physical body with food, even so you will have to give food for the mind and spiritual food for the soul.

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Only when the modifications cease do you enter the silence. Realise this. Close the eyes, draw in the senses, still the mind, silence the thoughts, sharpen the intellect, purify the chitta, meditate on Om and chant it with feeling. Enter the silence. Silence is Atman, the centre - it is in the heart cave. When the mind runs from one object to another, the state in the interval, wherein you become mindless, is
Brahman.

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HOW TO CULTIVATE RIGHT THINKING

How to Cultivate Right Thinking

Every thought has an image, form, dimension, weight, shape, colour, etc. Thought is as much matter as a piece of stone. A table is a mental image plus some external something. Whatever you see outside has a counterpart in the mind. The pupil is a small round thing in the eye and the retina is another small structure in the eye. How is it that the image of a big mountain, seen through that small aperture, is cast onto the mind? How does the big form of the mountain enter a tiny hole in the eye? This is a marvel of marvels. The image of the mountain already exists in the mind. The mind is like a big, vast sheet of canvas cloth that contains all the pictures of the objects seen outside.

Thought moves and passes from one man to another. Thought readily influences people. A man with strong thoughts can readily influence people with weak thought. Telepathy is a branch of occult science wherein the yogi can transmit messages to any man in any part of the world.

A thought of anger or hatred sends arrows from the mental factory towards the person aimed at. It harms the individual, sets up discord and disharmony in the thought world and comes back again to the sender and harms him also. If one can understand the effect and power of thought, he will be more careful in the manufacture of his thoughts in his mental laboratory.

Develop the faculty of producing only satvic (pure) thoughts by protracted mental discipline, dietetic adjustments, repetition of good hymns with meaning, good company, the study of divine books, japa (repetition of God's name), meditation, pranayama (yoga breathing), prayer, etc. A good man can help his friend, even though he lives a long way away, by good thoughts alone. Do not allow evil thoughts to enter your mental factory. Always watch your thoughts. Avoid useless thinking. Conserve your mental energy.

To cultivate sublime thoughts always keep yourself occupied in doing virtuous deeds and in the study of religious books. Destroy random thinking. Think of only one subject and its different aspects. When you do this never allow any other thought to enter the conscious mind. Again and again withdraw the mind to the subject on hand. Then take up another thought when you have exhausted the previous one.

By this practice you will develop organised thinking. The mental images will gain intense strength and force; they will become clear cut and well defined. In ordinary persons the mental images are undefined.

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THE MIND BECOMES THE BODY

The Mind Becomes the Body 

The body with its organs, is no other than the mind. The physical body is the outward manifestation of the mind. Mind is the subtle form of the physical body. The mind, contemplating on the body, becomes the body itself. Then, enmeshed in it, is afflicted by it. All bodies have their seat in the mind. Should the mind be paralysed, the body will not evince any intelligence.

The mind performs all actions very speedily in the linga sharira (subtle body) and fluctuates thereby. But the gross body knows not anything and is inert. Should this gross body be dissolved, the mind quickly assumes a fresh body. This physical body is the mould, as it were, of the mind. It is made by the mind for the outpouring of its own energy, for its own enjoyment. Thereby it gains different experiences of this world through the organs of knowledge or perception.

The body is really our thoughts, moods, convictions and emotions objectivised, made visible to the naked eye. Every cell in our body suffers or grows, receives a life impulse or a death impulse, from every thought that enters the mind. You tend to grow into the image of the thing you think about most. When the mind dwells on a particular thought, a definite vibration of matter is set up. This tends to repeat itself, to become a habit.

The body follows the mind and imitates the changes. Every change in thought makes a vibration in your mental body and this, when transmitted to the physical body, causes activity in the nervous matter of the brain. And this activity in the brain and nerve cells causes electrical and chemical changes in the body.

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Vedanta also adds: "See and feel Brahman everywhere. Ignore the names and forms." This teaches you to develop atma bhava (feeling that the Self is all) or Brahma bhava (feeling that Brahman is all) by vichara (enquiry) and right thinking and meditation.

When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, a mental state or bhava, corresponding to the nature of the idea comes in. Think of your enemy - the inimical bhava will manifest. Think of mercy and universal love - prema (love) bhava or karuna (compassion) bhava will manifest. Think of universal service - seva (service) bhava will manifest. Think of Lord Krishna and his lilas - Krishna prema bhava will manifest. Feeling always accompanies thinking; it is like fire and heat - inseparable.

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MIND AND MATTER

Mind and Matter 

Mind is not a gross thing, visible and tangible; its existence is nowhere seen; its magnitude cannot be measured; it does not require space in which to exist. Mind and matter are two aspects, or subject and object of one and the same all full Brahman - who is itself neither and yet includes both.

Mind precedes matter; this is the vedantic theory. Matter precedes mind; this is the scientific theory. Mind is immaterial only in the sense that it has not the characteristics of ponderable matter. It is not immaterial in the sense that Brahman - pure spirit - is.

Mind is the subtle form of matter. Hence it is the prompter of the body. Mind is made of subtle, pure (satvic), atomic matter. Mind is all electricity. It is formed of the subtlest portion of food.

The soul is the only source of intelligence; it is self-evident; it shines with its own light.

The organs or mind and senses derive their principle of activity and life from the soul. By themselves they are lifeless. Hence the soul is always the subject and never the object. Mind is the object of the soul.

It is a cardinal principle of vedanta that that which is an object for a subject is non-intelligent. Even the principle of self-consciousness is non-intelligence - it does not exist by its own light; it is the object of apperception to the soul.

Mind is composed of coarse or fine matter, according to the needs of the more or less unfolded consciousness connected with it. In the educated it is active and well defined. In the undeveloped it is cloudy and ill-defined.

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Absolute consciousness is common to all. It is one. All the workings of the mind are presented to the one common consciousness which is the witness of the mental vrittis. It is the mind that limits man, who is in reality, identical with Brahman.

This identity is realised when the veil of ignorance is removed. For Brahman, the mind is an object of perception. Atman directly cognises all the phenomena of the mind - desires, imagination, doubt, belief, shame, intellect, fear, etc., - and yet remains quite unattached and unaffected.

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SIVANANDA GITA - 1

Sivananda Gita - 1 

I was born of P.S. Vengu Aiyar and Parvathiammal on 8th September 1887 at Pattamadai, Tirunelvely District, S. India, in the line of Appayya Dixit. My star is Bharani.

I was extremely mischievous in my boyhood. I studied in the S.P.G. College, Trichy. I was a Doctor in Malaya States for 10 years. I took sanyasa in 1924 in Rishikesh.

I did tapas and meditation for 15 years. I went on lecturing tours for 10 years. I founded the Divine Life Society in 1936 and the All­-World Religions Federation in 1945.

I am child­like in my svabhava. So I mix with all. I become one with all. 

I am ever happy and joyful and make others also happy and joyful.

I am full of educative humour. I radiate joy through humour.

I respect all. I do salutations to all first.

I always speak sweetly. I walk quickly.

I do japa and meditation while walking and while at work also. I am ever hard­working. I have intense application to work. I never leave a work till it is finished. I never procrastinate any work. I finish it then and there. I am very quick in doing things.

I cannot suppress the spirit of service in me. I cannot live without service. I take immense delight in service. Service has elevated me. Service has purified me.

I know well how to extract work from others. I extract work through kindness, service, respect and love.

I am very regular in doing asanas and exercises. I even now do sirshasan, sarvangasan and other asanas. I do pranayama also regularly. These give me wonderful health and energy. I run round the bhajan hall daily.

I cannot deliver fiery lectures sitting on a special seat. Special seat pricks me. I stand up or throw the seat away and then begin to speak. I never sat on a special seat when I presided over spiritual conferences.

I rejoice in giving. I always give.

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THE PHILOSOPHY AND TEACHING OF SWAMI SIVANANDA by Swami Krishnananda

The Philosophy and Teaching of Swami Sivananda

by Swami Krishnananda

(Spoken on July 8, 1972)

The history of The Divine Life Society can be divided into several chapters. The first chapter is the conception of The Divine Life Society. ‘Conception’ means that it is like a baby which is still in the mother’s womb, not yet born. The period of conception of The Divine Life Society was from 1924 to 1936.

The years 1936 to 1948 may be regarded as the educational process of The Divine Life Society when the whole Society was being trained, disciplined, chastened and put to hard work. I was one of those who joined the Society during that period. We all had to work very hard, to labour and sweat without the facilities that we have today in the ashram. It was a period of intense Guru-seva, I may say, where whatever the Guru said was the gospel truth and the order from an irrevocable source of law and ordinance. That was the period until the year 1948.

We were very few in the ashram during that period, not even one-fourth the number of what we see today. But it was a period of intense moral and intellectual discipline for every inmate of the ashram. Sri Swamiji used to come and see us at least four times a day and give us various types of work, but it was work with great pleasure and satisfaction attached to it because it was a period of training specifically of the type of the Gurukula where the tutor, the head of the institution, was also a parent to the children who were under him for training and education. He was not merely a teacher, an instructor or an agent for training, but a well-wisher and a caretaker in every sense of the term.

Inasmuch as there was that deep affection underlying the discipline that Sri Gurudev imposed on people in the ashram, it should perhaps be regarded as the golden age of the Society when it was all work and at the same time all delight, joy and strength of an uncanny nature. Swami Sivananda himself was a hard worker, and he would also put others to the rack, and the training that he gave to people in those days was versatile. His motto was that every member of The Divine Life Society, at least at the headquarters, should be a versatile genius. He must be a good cook, a good sweeper, a good speaker, a good sadhaka, and he must be a man of ideal conduct and demeanour. He never tired of emphasising to his disciples this need for versatility of conduct and practice.

Swamiji always disliked lop-sidedness of approach in any walk of life or any chosen ideal or path of yoga. If a person took to japa alone, he would take that person to task: “This method I do not like, rolling the beads from morning till evening without any kind of work.” But if a person was very rajasic, only running about and working, he would say, “I do not like this kind of rajasic nature. You must have one or two hours every day for meditation and study.” If a person took only to study and reading, becoming a bookworm and never coming out of his room, Swamiji would say, “This is not going to take you anywhere. You go to the National Library of Calcutta. This is not the place for you.” And if a person said “I am a Vedantin”, he would say, “You go to Kailash Ashram. Don’t stay in this place. It is not meant for you. Go to Uttarkashi.” So anything taken exclusively was not to his liking or to his satisfaction.

Nor did Swamiji wish any member of the ashram to make any kind of complaint. We should bear everything. Bear insult and injury, bear hardship. There should be no lop-sidedness, no one-sidedness of approach in anything. Wherever you are, you must be an all-round person. He used to say, “This is my disciple who says, ‘Do you want a cook? I am ready to cook your food. Do you want me to clean the place? I shall clean it. Do you want me to give a discourse? Yes, I shall give one. Do you want me to conduct a yoga asana class? Yes, I shall do it. Do you want me to sing a kirtan? I can sing it. There is nothing I cannot do.’” In one of his poems he gave a definition of his disciple: “My disciple is an all-round person. My disciple does not make complaints. My disciple does not ask anything from people. My disciple is always happy and never morose or melancholy.” You can see how many disciples are there of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj from the point of view of this definition.

I am giving you a very bare outline of what we had to undergo during the period from 1936 to 1948. I was not there from 1936; I came in 1944, towards the end of this period. This is what I heard and also what I saw to some extent during the later part of this period of discipline, training and education which the members of the ashram received from Swamiji directly till the year 1948 when, on the 3rd of July, a brainwave occurred to him. One fine evening he called a few of us—Swami Chidanandaji, myself, Swami Venkatesanandaji, and Harishanandaji Maharaj primarily—and said, “Tomorrow morning at 4:30 we shall have a special class, and I will sow the seed of what shall be called the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy.”

Then people said, “It cannot be an academy or a university. There are no students and no professors.” Swamiji said, “I don’t want professors, I don’t want students, I don’t want to call it a university, I don’t want even a place. We shall sit under a tree only. And students are plenty. I am the first student.” He called Swami Chidanandaji and myself, and said, “Chidanandaji, Krishnanandaji, you are the professors, and I shall be the first student.”

You see, when Sri Gurudev spoke like that it was difficult for a person to swallow these things, and we could not help being elated and overjoyed at the childlike affection which he showed towards us, together with the severe discipline. As he used to say, “I am Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra combined. I shall create work, create opportunity for progress and prosperity in every way like Brahma, and I shall take care of it like Vishnu, but I shall also be a very severe person like Rudra when the necessity for it arises.” And he was. Many of us found it very hard to live like that, and at least 75% or 80% of the people left the ashram because the discipline was too much, because, well, it does not matter if there was discipline, but there should be also some kind of facility and comfort. But that was not there. It was only hard work for no recompense, no visible effect whatsoever. One did not know where one stood. But God’s grace was there on some people, and a few had the blessing of being in his physical company for years and learning from his personal life and example rather than from teachings and books.

Gurudev was a great master, the like of which it is very difficult to see. As it is often said that the Bhagavadgita is the great gospel which Bhagavan Sri Krishna himself lived in his life, and that the life of Sri Krishna is a practical illustration and commentary on the gospel of the Bhagavadgita, so it may be very beautifully and aptly said that The Divine Life Society is the visible demonstration of the embodied personality of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, and he himself was the practical commentary on the ideal of divine life.

Thus, in the early morning of the 3rd of July, 1948, a few of us gathered, and for years our classes were at 4:30 in the morning. True to his word, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to get up first, before we got up, and he used to come and peep into my room and say, “Krishnanandaji, 4:30!” and I would shake my head and wake up. He would come and ring the bell first, and we would come afterwards. It was a shame upon all of us that he used to come and ring the bell; afterwards we made it a point to come earlier because it was painful to have him wake us up and then sit and wait for us. When we came, Swamiji was already there. We would all weep, really, that though he was not a young boy and we were all young at that time, he had to get us up.

Four swamis were requisitioned to give lessons on four subjects. I was to give lessons on philosophy or Jnana Yoga, Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj was to give lessons on the Raja Yoga of Patanjali, Swami Venkatesanandaji was to give lessons on Karma Yoga, and Swami Harishanandaji Maharaj, who is now in Barsana, was the professor of Bhakti Yoga. Gurudev really behaved like a student. Immediately after the lecture was over he would go to his room and jot down all the points, write four poems on the subject, and sometimes a few articles as well. It was a very educative period.

This went on from 1948 and, to digress, there was a new chapter of The Divine Life Society from 1948 till the year 1963. It was a period of expansion after this training that was given to inmates, expansion in every department of the Society. More and more people started coming, more disciples, more inmates, and more work was created. More departments were instituted, and the ashram grew economically, physically, socially, internationally, and also spiritually. In every respect, I should say, it went on improving until the chapter came to a close in 1963 when Swami Sivananda passed away. From 1963 onwards we can say there has been another chapter altogether.

The academy was called a university, but people said we should not call it a university because ‘university’ has a peculiar connotation and system of working which is impracticable here. Then Sri Gurudev changed the name to the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. Some said ‘academy’ also is not good, but Swamiji said, “It doesn’t matter. Some name has to be there.” And occasionally he himself used to give his message. It was not that every day he spoke, but on special occasions he took the opportunity to give us a message of what he meant by the Yoga Vedanta which was the subject of teaching.

The yoga and the Vedanta that Swamiji taught and lived, and expected others to practise, was and is, as he was wont to say, ‘the yoga of synthesis’. The yoga of synthesis is what he meant by the term ‘Yoga Vedanta’. As we have the colophon of the Bhagavadgita, brahmavidyāyāṁ yogaśāstre, signifying the scientific foundation of knowledge and the methodology of practice—Brahmavidya and Yogashastra—we have the terms ‘yoga’ and ‘Vedanta’ indicating practice and the scientific foundation of it.

Thought precedes action. Idea is always precedent to the implementation of a principle or a law. We think first, and only afterwards try to do something. This thinking is Vedanta, and the doing of it is yoga. To do something, we have to think first as to what is to be done. Before the government of a nation starts working, it frames a constitution, the principles on which it has to work. The background of law, rule and regulation is first laid down theoretically as the principle and the theorem which is the grounding of the various ramifications in the form of departmental activity, administration, etc. So is the case with spiritual practice. We cannot suddenly jump into doing something unless we are something, we understand something and are educated in a particular manner.

This fundamental process of theoretical, scientific education in principle is Brahmavidya, the Vedanta philosophy, and when we start living this philosophy we are said to be practising yoga. Here, yoga does not mean the sutras of the Yoga System of Patanjali, nor does Vedanta mean the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads or the system of Acharya Sankara. Yoga is a general term that was applied to give a comprehensive idea of the theory and the practice of spiritual life in its comprehensiveness.

Vedanta is not a textbook, nor is yoga a system of sutras. The Vedanta philosophy is a universal discipline of the human system, the process of comprehensive education of the human personality in its scientific spirit, and unless we are trained in this scientific manner to think correctly, we will not act correctly. One who cannot think rightly cannot act rightly. Most people are accustomed to the shibboleth, “Do, act, be very active in your daily life and be working out something or other” but the consequence of one’s action, deed or practice is entirely dependent on the extent of one’s understanding of the basis or the philosophy of this practice.

The relation between theory and practice is not the relation between the means and the end. It is something much more. Or we may say, if at all we wish to use this concept of the relation between theory and practice, it is the relation between the foundation and the building. The building alone is visible. The foundation is not visible, it is underground, but we know the importance of the foundation for the building. Everything rests upon it. Similarly, all practice is founded upon the philosophical discipline which one has to undergo.

The whole of the system which Sri Swamiji Maharaj introduced into the aims and objects of The Divine Life Society is nothing but this Vedanta and yoga worked out in practice. There was no such thing as a world for Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. In a small biographical note that he wrote, which was published as “What Life has Taught Me”, we have his fundamental concept of life given in a nutshell: “There is no world before me. I see the Virat before me.” That was his philosophy; that was his Vedanta. It was not the Brahma Sutras, it was not the Upanishads, it was not the Rigveda, it was not any textbook. It was a simple precept. “There is no world for me. I see the Virat in front of me.” There can be no greater philosophy than this. There can be no scientific foundation for practice other than this visualisation of the Virat before the human eye, and this philosophy was what Swamiji lived, what he demonstrated in practice, and what he expected of his disciples. While the yoga of synthesis was the implementation of his philosophy, the philosophy was having the visualisation of the Virat in all bodies. He was fond of the Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda: sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ (P.S. 1). And his practice was simple, not a complicated network of disciplines as seen in the Yoga Shastras such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, etc. He was not fond of books. As a matter of fact, in the early days he was averse to the study or reading of any book.

There was one swamiji in the ashram. I am talking of the very early days when there were only a dozen people in the ashram, perhaps even less. Sri Swamiji Maharaj never encouraged the study of books or reading of any kind. He said, “Do what I say. This is your study.” One morning a swami happened to go to the Kailash Ashram without the knowledge of Swamiji, and he was asking, “Where is this swamiji? Where has he gone?”

We said, “He has gone to Kailash Ashram.”

“What for?” Swamiji asked. Nobody knew. So when he came back, Swamiji inquired from him where he had gone.

“I went to Kailash Ashram to study Viveka Chudamani,” he replied.

“Oh, I see. So two horns have grown,” said Swamiji, gesturing to show two horns. “Now you have got two horns. That means ahamkara, egoism, has started. You want to be a learned man, a Viveka Chudamani professor.” He went on haranguing on this theme, and from the next day onwards the swamiji stopped going to Kailash Ashram. He said, “It is not appreciated.”

The point was not that he should not read, but unless we are properly trained for the purpose behind the study of scriptural texts, the study becomes another horn to the one that already exists, as Swamiji said. That is, there is every likelihood of a sadhaka slipping into the rut of self-consciousness, self-complacency, self-sufficiency and an untutored, inadequate and immature notion that one has reached the pedestal in spiritual life. Nothing can be worse than this for a spiritual seeker. We study the Panchadasi and the Chhandogya Upanishad, and then we think that the only thing left for us is to uplift the world: “Now I shall go around uplifting the world.” These ideas will suddenly come up in the mind of almost every seeker who originally comes with a genuine aspiration for spiritual practice and God-realisation. Spiritual pride is the worst of prides. The pride of the worldly man is nowhere near the pride of the spiritual seeker because he thinks the world is nothing before him; and because this was well known to Sri Gurudev by sheer practice and observation, he was averse to any chance being given to sadhakas to develop egoism of any kind.

Swami Sivanandaji hated what he called the lip Vedanta of the Mandaleswars or the scholars. Lip Vedanta was also called dry Vedanta in the sense that it has no connection with life. I am quoting his own words and the way in which he used to put things: “You have read the Panchadasi and the Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads wholly, and you can expound the Brahma Sutras in an oratorical fashion, but you will be angry with your cook because he put a little less salt in the dahl or there is a little less sugar in your tea. ‘What an idiot you are!’ you will say to the cook, and throw the cup. This is not philosophy, this is not Vedanta, this is not the scientific foundation of yoga.” This was the practical instruction which Sri Gurudev used to give untiringly not only to disciples who came from outside but to everyone who was in the ashram.

Swamiji lived and taught the Brahmavidya, the perennial, perpetual undercurrent of thought that God-realisation is the goal of life. Every discourse, every speech that he gave started with: “God-realisation is the goal of life” or “The goal of life is God-realisation”. Many of his earlier books would begin with this sentence: “The goal of life is God-realisation”; and he would not tire of saying this. One can repeat this truth any number of times and it would not be a redundancy or tautology or repetition. The goal of life is God-realisation. This is the philosophical foundation of yoga practice.

I will give you a little exposition of this pithy sentence: “The goal of life is God-realisation.” What is God-realisation and where is God? The Virat was God for Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. “That God which is in the temple is not my God. That Brahman which is in the Brahma Sutras is not my Brahman. That God who is in Satyaloka is not my God.” His God was sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ. The visibility of the cosmos was itself enough demonstration of the existence of a super-sensible reality.

Sri Gurudev used to give a description of his own sadhana to Swami Devanandaji and people like us who used to spend some time in his kutir in later days. “Devanandaji, do you know my sadhana? Call Krishnananda Swamiji. Where is he? I will tell you what my sadhana is. I don’t know much of sadhana. It is my attempt to be good and do good. These high meditations are not for me. Perhaps I will take another birth.” He would say this also, in a joking manner. “But I will tell you what my sadhana is. When I get up in the morning, what do I see? Bhajan Singh comes.” There was a boy called Bhajan Singh who used to serve him, and also Vittal Singh. “When they come, what do I think? It is not that servants have come, but two heads of the Virat Purusha have come.”

It is not merely a theory that Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj spoke. It was not a joke that he made. It was a fact of life that he expressed. There cannot be a greater fact of life than that there is nothing else than the heads of the Virat Purusha. Sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tat sarvatokṣiśiromukham (Gita 13.13): Everywhere heads and everywhere eyes and everywhere feet. Two heads of the Virat Purusha came, and then the third head came: Sonlal came for cleaning the commode. These were the servants who used to see him first in the morning: a sweeper called Sonlal who is still here, and two others, one of whom has gone and the other is still here. “These are not servants. These are the heads of the Virat Purusha. I worship them mentally. And then I get down from my bed, put my foot on my stool, and lay my foot on the ground, I prostrate to Mother Earth: Pardon me, Mother Earth, I have to walk on your body, because for me there is no earth, no sky, no five elements. They are the Virat Purusha. So how can I walk on the earth without blasphemy, Mother Goddess? So pardon me for having kept my foot on your body, Mother Earth.” And if he had any flowers, he would throw the flowers on the heads of people, whether it was a sweeper or a servant or anyone.

There was a small boy who used to sweep his kutir. Swamiji’s bed was a little thick, half an inch thick at least. Every day that boy had to touch that bed, make it even, adjust his pillow, and sweep the ground under it. Somehow Swamiji felt that this boy had a desire to sit on that bed because he was a poor boy from the villages and had never seen such a bed; the question of this boy having such a bed never arose because he had never even seen one. How nice, how beautiful, how soft! Swamiji felt there was a desire in this boy to sleep on that bed. One day he lifted him and put him on the bed. “So jao, so jao,” [go to sleep] he said. The boy was flabbergasted. He got up and tried to run away, but Swamiji pressed him down. “Panch minute so jao, panch minute so jao,” [sleep for five minutes] because he did not want the boy to have that desire unfulfilled. When the boy got up, he didn’t know what was happening to him. “Accha hai,” [it is good] he said.

Nobody would do such things. Nobody would even have the time to think so minutely about such insignificant details of life. We are so busy about big things, and we consider these things as small, insignificant, and sometimes meaningless. To put that boy on the bed is a meaningless absurdity for big people, but Swamiji did not think he was too big to regard such things as absurdities. They are all wonderful opportunities for the recognition of a truth which usually eludes the grasp of human understanding.

So Swamiji said, “If there are flowers, I will throw the flowers on the head of Somlal, sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ, and prostrate to Mother Earth, asking her pardon for having set my foot on her. And then I go to the Ganga. I take three dips. One dip I take for the peace of all those who have left this world, another dip I take for the peace of all those who are now in this world, and the third dip I take for the salvation of this soul. This is my sadhana in a nutshell. How do you like it?” These are the jokes we used to have in his kutir. Those happy days have gone, and we feel like fatherless children now, having to stand on our own legs, bearing the weight of many responsibilities, with no person to cry before and nobody to complain to, with God alone before us. We feel it very badly, and we miss him very much.

Well, such was the great Master Swami Sivananandaji Maharaj, and he instituted this Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy to sow the seed, as he said. That was all he was wanting to do. “I am here only to sow the seed of divine life, to sow the seed of sannyasa, to sow the seed of vairagya, to sow the seed of renunciation, to sow the seed of spirituality, to sow the seed of that conviction and feeling that the goal of life is God-realisation.” He was satisfied in merely having sown the seed. “People will come after me to water it and manure it, and the tendrils and the plant will grow and become a huge tree one day.”

Sri Gurudev was a great believer in future prosperity. He used to give sannyasa to any Tom, Dick and Harry, and people used to say, “He’s a useless fellow. You should not have given him sannyasa.” And he would reply, “In the next birth he will be all right. In this birth he is a rogue, but in the next birth he will be a saint because this cloth that he is wearing every day, this cloth that he is daily seeing on his body will have some sort of an effect upon him, and in the next birth who knows where he will be born? Perhaps he will have a better opportunity for improving himself. That is my opinion. It doesn’t matter; let him be a sannyasin only in cloth, though he is a dacoit inside.” So charitable was his feeling and so vast was his conception. That was a wonderful philosophy, a practical philosophy, a living Vedanta, and that Vedanta was to be the yoga of daily life for his disciples and his students.

Well, this is the philosophy of Vedanta as Swamiji understood it. It was to be a living fountain of inspiration to people. Otherwise, it is not philosophy. A philosophy that cannot inspire your soul is not a philosophy. You do not study philosophy to get a degree or to become a professor in a college. You study philosophy to inspire your soul. If the soul has not grown even an inch by the study of philosophy, you have wasted your time in studying it.

The philosophy of Vedanta is a living, growing, prospering, all-encompassing fountain of inspiration for all humanity. When you take a bath in it, you come out refreshed as from the cool waters of the Ganga. Such is Vedanta, like nectar that you drink, so energising and enlivening and tasty. Once you taste it, you will not leave it, such is the Vedanta philosophy, which will fill you with immense satisfaction and delight. When that is lived, you spread an aura around you. You become an embodiment of peace and happiness, and there is joy in your face. You do not go with a melancholy look; you laugh and smile always. Why should you not smile when God is there? As a poet put it, “God is in heaven and all is well with the world.” If God is there, everything should be all right. To complain about the world is to complain about the discomfiture of God’s creation itself. We do not understand the mysteries of God and so we make complaints against the world, against creation, and sometimes curse even God Himself in our ignorance.

So the living of the Vedanta, the living of the philosophy which is yoga, is the spreading of an aura and lustre of spirituality wherever you are and wherever you go. To speak kindly, to speak sweetly, to speak moderately, to think rightly and to live wisely, this is yoga, this is Vedanta.

It is very difficult to understand the great purpose which Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj had in his mind, and the more we think of him, the more we admire him and the more we wish that he was here in this world today, at this moment. We never tired of his presence, and the more we were with him the more we wished to be with him. The more we think of him today and recall the glorious past of our having lived with him, the more we feel small before that magnificent towering stature of his personality and that grand philosophy and the grand practice and technique of living which he instituted and taught to mankind.

Swami Sivananda’s name shall ever remain immortal like that of Vyasa and Bhagavan Sri Krishna, and to be worthy disciples of such a great man and master and adept, we should follow meticulously that definition of his disciple which he himself gave us: “My disciple never complains. My disciple never weeps or cries. My disciple never asks. My disciple is satisfied with everything. My disciple is happy. My disciple gives, and does not take. He remembers always that God-realisation is the goal of life.” May we all be such disciples. May God bless us.

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OUTSTANDING FEATURES OF SIVA's PERSONALITY

This article is from the book Sivananda: His Mission and Message.

Outstanding Features of Siva’s Personality

By

Sri C. H. Divanji, Bombay

I happened to meet an old Sannyasi who has a profound love and respect for Swami Sivanandaji. I asked him, being older than Swamiji and having himself embraced Sannyas even before Swamiji, why he had so much love and respect for him. The old Sannyasi told me that he took Sannyas because forty-nine years ago he had lost his wife and three children in a fortnight’s time. So, he said, his Sannyas was a Karana Sannyas. While Swami Sivanandaji, as Dr. Kuppuswami, could have led a most comfortable worldly life having had a lucrative practice with popularity which few could command. Renouncing all these worldly comforts and fame, he embraced Sannyas through real Vairagya. That, from the old Sannyasi’s point of view, was one of the outstanding features of Swamiji’s life which earned for him the love and respect of Sannyasins in general.

My own experience about Swamiji has only been through his books and twenty minutes’ personal contact during his four-day stay in Bombay in October 1950. It is no exaggeration to mention that this short period was one of the happiest in my life. On all the four days I was in constant attendance at Swamiji’s camp.

The most remarkable feature that I observed then was that whatever Swamiji received through one hand, he distributed through the other. Over and above that he gave away several books as gifts to the visitors. I then felt that our Hindu religious leaders should be brought before Swamiji and made to understand that, instead of the "one-way traffic" of receiving only, they should also learn "the other way traffic" of giving, too!

I have read commentaries on Gita by different writers, but somehow or other Swamiji’s commentary appealed to me most. I, therefore, asked a Sanskrit scholar and a profound student of Gita the reason why Swamiji’s Gita appealed to me more than that of other writers. After perusing the book, he remarked that Swamiji’s Gita would naturally appeal to anybody as it has not been written with a view to showing his knowledge, but with a view to making a student understand it. This can be said about all the books that Swamiji has written. His, Mind, Its Mysteries and Control has been written in a simple language, easily understandable, though it is a difficult subject.

One of the great characteristics of Swamiji’s teachings has been that he himself comes down to the level of the Sadhaka and then gradually takes him up to the higher level. The other Masters insist that the Sadhaka should himself come up to a certain level before they would direct him further. Thus we find among Swamiji’s followers people of all castes, creeds, religions, and of different stages of evolution.

Swamiji is training a number of Sadhakas who will be able to spread the teachings of the wise throughout the country in course of time. A prominent Indian leader rightly said that, after Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivanandaji is the fittest person to tour the world for shedding the light of the Hindu Philosophy all over the world. Swamiji’s hurricane All-India Tour (1950) has made him known throughout the country and his contemplated Continental Tour will not only make him known throughout the world but will be of immense value for the forthcoming Parliament of Religions.

In spite of his being engaged in all the activities of the Ashram and being in touch with the minutest details thereof, Swamiji is very easily approachable and gives prompt replies to all the letters addressed to him. There is a magnetic attraction in Swamiji which draws to him the millions. Whoever meets him, is convinced that he is real Satchidananda Swarupa.