Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!

Namaste!

Dissemination of Knowledge
by Sri N. Ananthanarayanan

The habit of giving was ingrained in Sivananda. As a boy at Pattamadai, he shared with other children the sweets his mother gave him. At school and college, he went to help his classmates with their lessons. After he left the medical institute, he ran the Ambrosia, to earn no doubt, but equally to share his considerable knowledge of health problems with an ignorant public. Later, in Malaya, he put to maximum use his medical knowledge by treating the sick, by contributing useful articles to periodicals, and by training the ward boys in his hospital for better jobs elsewhere. When he gained wealth and influence, he utilised both for the benefit of people in distress, who needed money, a job, a place to stay.

This trait, this desire to share what he had with others, intensified after he became a Sannyasin. Around him sprang the Satya Sevashram Dispensary. Sivananda used his past savings to buy medicines for the sick Sadhus and pilgrims. When the Swargashram Kshettar gave him curd and Ghee for his consumption, he distributed them among convalescent Mahatmas in Lakshmanjhula. When the Yatris who came to have his Darshan made him offerings of sweets and fruits, he once again redistributed them. He gave his only blanket to a needy pilgrim, himself shivering in the cold.

When Sivananda advanced in his spiritual practices, began meditating for hours on end, underwent various experiences, tapped the mine of spiritual wisdom at greater and ever greater depths, he put down those experiences on paper and grew eager to share the new-found knowledge with others. Thus were born his early spiritual tracts.

Pilgrims who met Swamiji in Swargashram began to correspond with him when they returned home. Others who read his tracts began to write to him. Sivananda replied those letters and gave spiritual advice.

This Jnana Dan or gift of knowledge possessed a characteristic which other gifts failed to have. Sivananda reasoned it thus. "Give food to the hungry" he told himself, "After a while, they will again be hungry. Give clothes to the naked; after a while, they will again be so. Give money to the needy; and when they have spent it, they will again be in want. But give knowledge to all; and you would have given them the wherewithal to take care of themselves". His face brightened. The gift of knowledge, indeed, was the greatest gift.

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September 8th is the 131st Birthday Anniversary of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj.

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We are beginning to make available our ebooks in the epub and mobi file formats. This will enable you to read the books comfortably on your mobile device. For this week, we have posted Sri Swami Chidanandaji's biography of Swami Sivananda titled Light Fountain. You may click on the .epub or .mobi links to download the same.

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The following article on Gurudev has been posted at Sri Swami Krishnanandaji's site:

• Swami Sivananda, the Incomprehensible Godman

 

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

Swami Sivananda: His Life in Pictures

The unfathomable nature of heartfelt love and devotion seems only to arise through grace; this irresistible attraction is inherent as a wonderfully impersonal quality of that grace.

For Sri Alan Neachell, an artist from the U.K., that attraction was what brought him to Sivananda Ashram in the year 2000. That grace inspired Alanji to dedicate himself to a three-year project to present the life of Gurudev in words and pictures to be displayed in his Samadhi Mandir.

Numerous devotees have been very inspired by these beautiful paintings and lofty words, and many requests have come for the paintings to be reproduced in printed form. This small booklet is a response to this heartfelt desire. It is offered with the loving wish that it be a constant reminder of Swami Sivananda’s extraordinary life and an encouragement to devotees from around the world to follow in Gurudev’s footsteps.

For more information, please see: Swami Sivananda: His Life in Pictures

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SPECIAL ARADHANA CONCESSION

We are currently having a Special Aradhana Concession on all our publications from 1st July 2018 to 30th September 2018. The discount on publications is as follows:

20% on Orders Upto Rs. 300/-
30% on Orders Upto Rs. 1,000/-
35% on Orders Above Rs. 1,000/-
40% on Orders Above Rs. 25,000/-

40% Special Discount on the following Pictorial Volumes of Worshipful Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji and Worshipful Sri Swami Chidanandaji:

1. ES8 Glorious Vision                Rs. 650
2. ES4 Gurudev Sivananda        Rs. 250 
3. EC70 Ultimate Journey           Rs. 500
4. EC71 Divine Vision                 Rs. 300

Please visit our online bookstore for further details:
http://www.dlsbooks.org/

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Swamiji attached so much importance to this work of dissemination of spiritual knowledge that even when there was a financial crisis in the Ashram, he refused to slow down the tempo of work on the publication side. He was willing to shut down the kitchen, but, not the press. "We can all of us go to the Kshettar and live on alms" he would say, "but the Jnana Yajna must go on". In 1949, the budgetary position became too tight and some inmates had to be asked to leave. Still Swamiji would not economise on book production. "For me the printing of books is the greatest necessity" he said, "All other works have a secondary value". About money required for mailing the free copies, he remarked, "If there is no money for postage, we shall keep all the almirahs open and let visitors and pilgrims take whatever they want". – Sri N. Ananthanarayanan

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