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WHAT DOES SWAMI SIVANANDA
TEACH?
By
SRI N. ANANTHANARAYANAN
Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
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So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
ii
First Edition: 1987
Second Edition: 1994
(2,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Reprint : 1997
WWW site: http://www.rsl.ukans.edu/~pkanagar/divine/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. SHIVANANDANAGAR—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
iii
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
Sri N. Ananthanarayanan, a sincere devotee of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji
Maharaj, has written this book on the basis of the writings of the Master himself. The
quintessence of the teachings of the great saint has been brought together into a focus by
the learned author. The impulsion to bring out this work seems to be an ardent feeling of
love and devotion in the author’s mind, who decided to dedicate this valued offering at
the feet of the venerable Master on the occasion of the holy Centenary. As the author
himself mentioned in the prolegomena, the book is intended as a useful and handy
introduction to people who are not adequately acquainted with the life and teachings of
the Master. As the author says, “Its purpose is to arouse their interest in spiritual life in
general and the Divine Life chalked out by Swami Sivananda in particular”.
We do not know whether to call the sudden appearance of this interesting
publication as a windfall or a Godsend. Either way we are sure that here is something
which every spiritual seeker will relish and consider endearing.
12th August, 1987 -THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
iv
FOREWORD
Om Sri Sadguru Paramatmane Namah!
Salutations to holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivananda, the modern world teacher
and spiritual awakener of the twentieth century mankind. May his living memory and his
sacred spiritual message inspire us to live our life in a noble and divine manner, so that
we are a source of abundant good and benefit to our fellowman and to all life around us.
It gives me joy to write this brief foreword to the book, “What Does Swami
Sivananda Teach?”, written with much devotion by the well-known compiler of the
magnificent volume “Bliss Divine” and author of “From Man to God-man”, a beautiful
biography of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji with its many interesting illustrations. This
present little book is Sri N. Ananthanarayananji’s votive offering placed at Gurudev’s feet
on the auspicious occasion of the holy Master’s Birth Centenary on 8th September, 1987.
This is the form of Guru-dakshina which Gurudev would rejoice immensely to receive.
As such, the present handy brochure constitutes a most appropriate offering upon this
holy occasion. For this reason, it affords me special happiness to write this foreword.
Sri N. Ananthanarayanan, the author, is a direct disciple of Sri Gurudev
Sivanandaji, and as such, a Gurubhai of mine. He is a resident Sadhu of Sivanandashram.
He has successfully summed up Sri Gurudev’s message to the humanity of the present era
and his simple but inspiring and instructive teachings to the human society of yesterday,
today as well as tomorrow upto the future.
Covering this subject under twelve well-conceived topics, this book constitutes a
call to the life spiritual and serves as an introduction to Divine Life. I have no doubt that
it will be of invaluable help to numerous sincere souls who are seeking for a deeper
meaning and a higher purpose in their life. May this loving gift of the author to the global
human family serve to bring a new light into the life of its readers and to give an upward
and Godward direction to their living and striving.
May the choicest blessings of Gurudev be upon the author as well as all the
readers. Peace and joy to you all.
Sivananda Ashram, Swami Chidananda
2-8-1987
v
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
This small book, written specially for the memorable occasion of Swami
Sivananda’s Birth Centenary, is the outcome of an inner urge. It is meant to serve as an
introduction to those who are new to Swami Sivananda and his teachings. Its purpose is
to arouse their interest in spiritual life in general and in the Divine Life chalked out by
Swami Sivananda in particular.
While this handy book is not a substitute for one or more of the inspired volumes
of the holy Master, it does contain within its pages enough material to enable the reader to
start living the divine life straightaway.
This book, written in an absolutely simple style, is interspersed with quotations
from the Master and carries stories and anecdotes to sustain reader interest. With these
few words, I invite the reader to taste the book and derive pleasure and profit therefrom.
May the benign grace of the holy Master Swami Sivananda be upon all readers of the
book.
Shivananda Nagar, N. Ananthanarayanan
August 1, 1987.
vi
CONTENTS
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.......................................................................................................iii
FOREWORD .....................................................................................................................iv
AUTHOR’S PREFACFE.................................................................................................... v
1. THE HUMAN QUEST.................................................................................................. 1
2. GOD, MAN AND THE UNIVERSE.............................................................................4
3. HEALTH FIRST, GOD NEXT...................................................................................... 7
4. FUNDAMENTALS OF YOGA SADHANA .............................................................. 11
5. FOR WHOM IS DIVINE LIFE ?................................................................................. 16
6. GOOD LIFE AND GOD-LIFE .................................................................................... 19
7. THE ART OF KARMA YOGA................................................................................... 24
8. THE BHAKTI MARGA .............................................................................................. 28
9. PRACTICE OF MEDITATION................................................................................... 36
10. ON THE CULTIVATION OF BHAV....................................................................... 41
11. THE EGODECTOMY OPERATION........................................................................ 48
12. TO SUM UP............................................................................................................... 52
WHAT DOES SWAMI SIVANANDA TEACH?
1
1. THE HUMAN QUEST
Swami Sivananda does not preach from a podium. He comes down to the level of
the common man and asks him what he wants. Bang comes the reply: “Happiness!”
Happiness is what everyone is after. From cradle to grave, it is the one ceaseless human
quest. The new-born baby seeks comfort in its mother’s bosom. The dying man seeks
solace in a last look at his close relatives crowding round his cot. During their earthly
sojourn, different people look for happiness in different places, but their goal is common.
Some call it happiness. Others call it peace. Sivananda sees everyone striving for
it, each in his own way, but not getting it. Happiness, the most sought-after goal of all
human endeavours, is also the most elusive. Worldly happiness is like the will-o’-the-
wisp. Just as one seems to secure it, it eludes one’s grasp. Even when secured, it does
not last. It is fleeting. It is momentary. Not only that, it is invariably mixed with pain.
Lasting happiness thus becomes a never-ending chase.
Why is this so? Sivananda says that it is because man searches for happiness in
the wrong place. To illustrate his point, the Master tells a story:
“A simpleton was passing through a dark tunnel. A coin he was holding in his
hand slipped down on the ground. He came out of the tunnel and started vigorously
searching for it all over the place just outside the tunnel. People got curious. They
questioned him. He said, ‘I have lost my money. I am not able to find it, though I have
been searching for it all day’. ‘Where did you lose it?’ asked a bystander. ‘Inside that
tunnel’ came a reply. ‘And why are you searching for it here?’ asked the amazed friend.
‘Because it is dark inside the tunnel and bright here!’”
“Who will not laugh at such foolishness?” asks Sivananda, “And yet, such truly is
the case with numberless men and women today. They all want peace. They realise that
they have lost it. They are frantically searching for it. But where? Where they are able to
see. Not where it is, where they lost it!”
Peace lies in God. Happiness lies in God, from whom man has descended. When
man separated from God, he lost his happiness. He can regain that happiness only when
he returns to God. “Happiness comes when the individual merges in God,” says holy
Master Sivananda in his last sentence, dictated just three weeks before his Mahasamadhi.
Once man is merged in God, there is no coming back to this world of woes.
Scriptures call it Ananda. Ananda is bliss of the Spirit. It is unmixed with pain.
It is also eternal. What man really seeks and fails to obtain on this earth plane is this
Ananda only. This Ananda, this bliss can be had only in God who is all-bliss.
Instead of searching for this bliss in God, man looks around for it in the world
outside. And it is the wrong place in which to look for perpetual bliss. Because, the
WHAT DOES SWAMI SIVANANDA TEACH?
2
world is certainly not meant to be a place for enjoyment. It is meant to be a place for
gaining experience. It is a place for action and evolution.
All the scriptures portray the world as an abode of misery. Krishna calls it
“ephemeral, unhappy”. Sivananda sees it as a ball of fire. To him the whole world
appears as a huge furnace wherein all living creatures are being roasted. This is not a
matter for argument. This is a fact of experience. We see every day people all around
suffering in a million ways. There is physical pain. There is mental anguish. There is
emotional turmoil. No one is truly happy.
The poor man thinks of the rich man, with his wealth, bungalows and cars is
happy. The millionaire thinks that the poor man is happy, since he has nothing in the
world to worry about, no iron-safe to guard, no wealth to insure. But, in truth, real peace
eludes both. It is neither in affluence nor in poverty. True happiness is hidden in Him.
What goes by the name of happiness in this world is a sensory feeling. Sivananda
characterizes it as nervous titillation. “Worldly pleasures are like scratching for itching,”
he says. And quite often, what man calls happiness is nothing but the removal of want, of
misery. Man suffers from hunger. He eats and feels satisfied for the moment. It is but
the removal of the misery of hunger. There is no positive happiness there. Man suffers
from disease. The doctor cures him and there is a sigh of relief, of apparent happiness.
But that happiness is nothing positive, nothing gainful. Examples can be multiplied.
Sivananda concedes that there is a grain of pleasure in sense objects, but hastens
to point out that the pain mixed with it is of the size of a mountain. “Pleasure that is
mixed with pain, fear and worry is no pleasure at all,” he says.
Unmixed happiness cannot be had in this world, because this is a world of
Dwandwas or pairs of opposites. The world we live in is a world of pleasure and pain,
heat and cold, smiles and tears, darkness and light, day and night. It is a world of black
man and white man, of capitalist and communist, of rise and fall of civilizations, of war
and peace. This two-sidedness is the very nature of the world we live in and there is no
escape from it. It is only those who have no proper understanding of the nature of the
world who expect pure joy from earthly objects.
Pure joy, pure bliss is to be had only in God. God is Dwandwatita. He is beyond
the pairs of opposites. He is beyond pleasure and pain, gain and loss, good and bad,
beauty and ugliness. He is Anandaghana. He is a mass of bliss. It is by attaining Him,
and by attaining Him alone, that man can get everlasting bliss. He cannot get it in this
world.
One may ask, “If happiness cannot be gained in this world, can we not perform
the prescribed rituals and go to heaven and enjoy the rhythmic dance of Rambha and the
melodious music of Menaka?”. Yes, it is possible. Celestial enjoyment is superior to
earthly enjoyment. It is so much more subtle. But there is one difficulty. Enjoyment in
WHAT DOES SWAMI SIVANANDA TEACH?
3
heaven cannot go on for ever. Heaven is only a Bhoga Bhumi. So is hell. Heaven and
hell are just planes of enjoyment. They are planes where man is rewarded or punished for
his actions done on earth. For Punya or merit, man is rewarded in heaven. For Papa or
sin, he is punished in hell. Once the Punya or Papa is exhausted by enjoyment or
suffering in heaven or hell, the Jiva is automatically returned to the earth. There is no
such thing as eternal enjoyment in heaven or eternal damnation in hell. So, going to
heaven is no permanent solution to man’s problem of finding lasting happiness. Lasting
happiness can be found only in God and God can be reached only from the earth. Earth
only is the Karma Bhumi where man can do Sadhana, where man can do Tapasya that
will take him to God and eternal bliss. He cannot do Sadhana in heaven. He can only
enjoy in heaven for meritorious deeds already performed on earth.
So, the first thing that Sivananda would want us to remember is the fact that
human birth is a most precious acquisition. It is a priceless gift of God, because it is only
as a human being that one can strive for God-realisation. And having been born as a
human being in this world, one should not lose that rarest of rare chances to work one’s
way onward, forward and Godward.
This life is precious. Time is precious. Life is nothing but energy spent in time.
The time at the disposal of man is limited. Similarly, the energy at his disposal is limited.
Waste of time is waste of life. Waste of energy is waste of life. At the same time, neither
energy nor time is useful in itself. The energetic man who does not work and the weak
man who cannot work are both as good as dead. An intelligent man should therefore
conserve and utilize his time and energy in such a manner as would yield him the
maximum spiritual benefit. Acute and constant awareness that with every passing breath
our life is getting shortened, and thereby the opportunity given to us to realise God is
getting more and more limited, is the key to speedy progress on the spiritual path.
Most people do not recognize the value of time till they hear the gates of death.
The Master warns us that death exists side by side with birth. A baby is born. A moment
passes; two moments pass; three, four. With each passing moment, the baby ages; its life
is cut short and it is brought nearer its death. The march towards death begins with birth.
Life is a relentless march from birth to death. It is relentless because time does not stop,
the clock does not cease to tick. Time consumes life. No one can escape it. The period
of time vouchsafed to us in this life is preordained as a result of our actions in previous
births. It is impossible for anyone to alter the life span of an individual by so much as a
split second. He who recognizes this fact is a wise man. For, he will so order his life that
not a moment is wasted and every moment is well spent in Sadhana, is spiritual striving,
in a thrust towards God.
WHAT DOES SWAMI SIVANANDA TEACH?
4
2. GOD, MAN AND THE UNIVERSE
All right, but who is God? God is the very essence of man. He is the core of
man. He is the innermost life-principle in man. The God in man is called Atman by the
Hindu scriptures. So, anyone who wants lasting happiness should seek it within himself,
in the Atman. Anyone who wants bliss should concentrate his mind on the God within,
not on the world without.
Further questions arise. If bliss can be had only in God, what is this world? And
then, if the core of man is God, what is man? What differentiates man and the world
from God? The answer, says Sivananda, is simple. God only is. And man is God in
disguise. This world is God in disguise. This world is only an appearance. Man is only
an appearance. The whole creation is an appearance only, an appearance of God.
Whereas, God is the reality. He is the only reality. He is the only truth. God alone is,
everywhere and at all times.
But then, man, this world and all that we see in this seemingly limitless universe
... do they exist or not? Gaudapada would have us believe that they do not exist at all.
That answer may be the ultimate truth from the standpoint of the realised sage. But to the
layman, it can be maddening. Holy Master Sivananda is more considerate. He does not
thrust high philosophy on us, all of a sudden. He does not want us to leap a jump beyond
our capacity and break our legs. Rather, he would like us to climb the spiritual ladder
step by step, stage by stage. Sivananda does not believe in spiritual revolution; he
advocates spiritual evolution. So he says that this world is real to you as long as you live
and move in it, as long as your feet are firmly planted on it. As long as your hunger has
to be appeased and your thirst quenched, this world is very much real to you and you
cannot afford to ignore it. If you ignore it, you will do so at your own peril.
Having said so much, the Master goes a step further and throws more light on the
subject. He says that this world is not non-existent like the horns of a hare or the child of
a barren woman. It is there for you to see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Something is
there. But then, when you merge in God, when your mind ceases to be, when your
individuality is lost, when you transcend world consciousness, when you reach the
Samadhi state, then, for you, the world vanishes. Then, in that state, your eyes may be
open, your ears may be open, you may be like any other person to all external
appearances, but the world, including your body and your mind, no longer exists for you.
You are gone and only the God in you remains. When you yourself are not there, how
can there be the world? The world also is gone so far as you are concerned.
Sivananda gives an example. To the person who dreams in his bed, the lakes and
the castles, the men and the women, and all the objects he sees in his dream are very
much real as long as the dream lasts. If a small boy sees a tiger in his dream, he shivers
and sweats. The tiger is very much real to him. You lose your purse in dream and feel
miserable. You wake up and suddenly feel comforted that it was, after all, a dream. So,
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