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Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya!
Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya!

Namaste!

Role of Restraint in Sadhana
by Sri Swami Sivananda

About one hundred and fifty miles above the Sannyasins’ colony of Rishikesh, in the Himalayan interior there is an outpost, Chamauli by name. Here they have built a sort of dam or barrage across the flow of the mountain Ganga. One fine day something happened there and the water was likely to get out of hand and burst out in an excessive flow. At once wires began to hum. A telegram was given to all the lower regions, warning them of a likely flood in the Ganga and asking them to shift higher up from the Ganga bank.

Now Ganga water is the very life and the soul for the people living by the side of the Ganga bank. But what is this strange phenomenon—people are now fleeting away from its life-giving waters. What is the reason for this? So long as its flow was within the limits, so long as its volume was restrained to a safe margin, it was most beneficial and very desirable. When the self-same natural and legitimate function of the dam (of supplying waters) exceeded, these waters became dangerous and terrible. Thus excess rendered a blessing into a menace. Now consider a similar state of things in the life of man.

The average man is the slave of his senses. Usually his life is one constant whirl amidst the numerous varieties of Vishayas that hem in upon his day-to-day life. His appetites goad him on to do two things, viz., they go out towards certain external pleasing and attractive things and they also desire to draw in certain things inward themselves. Thus man’s slavery to his senses takes these two forms of going out towards certain things and drawing in certain things. At times in the case of certain types of objects both these processes are present combined together, viz., indulgence and consumption. It will not be wrong to say that both these are but the two aspects of the quality of sensuality.

Now sensuality is a broad, general term. It includes all and every variety of indulgence through the avenue of the senses. However it is not all indulgence that is totally unethical, immoral or criminal. Certain forms of indulgence like drunkenness, debauchery, adultery etc., are manifestly immoral and criminal. They are ruthlessly condemned. Some others, though not actually criminal, are yet extremely harmful either physically or mentally or both to the individual and at times to others near him as well. Tobacco chewing, snuffing or smoking, betting, gambling etc., come under this class. Such practices are strictly forbidden and stigmatised in unequivocal terms. Thirdly, there are still others (and it is with this class we are particularly concerned) that are of a natural character and within limits are even tolerated and legalised by convention. Consuming food and drink and indulging in sleep, rest and proper apparel for covering the body—these and the allied routine physical necessities are of this last mentioned category. They are to some extent amoral. There is basically nothing unethical in doing these actions, but when they are overdone they immediately assume the nature of moral issues. They lose their neutral nature and become directly or indirectly (at times directly and indirectly both) immoral. Thus for instance, to sleep is normal to all creatures on earth. Animal and man, sinner and saint alike do it. But then there is a limit within which it is a desirable and beneficial necessity. Too much sleeping makes a man lazy, lethargic, dull and ultimately, useless to both society and himself. To the Sadhaka it is one of the most dangerous habits. To him it is a vice to be eradicated. Habitual oversleep increases Tamas and makes Sadhana nullified and retards his progress.

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• Wanting Only One Thing

Yours in the service of Gurudev,

Pannirselvam

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Sadhana
By Swami Sivananda

To inspire, to awaken and to guide the seekers after Truth and God-realisation, has been the unique life-work of the great sage, Swami Sivananda. He has given us certain working methods, in as much as practical ways and means are more to be attended to, rather than mere theory. The spiritual life is to be built upon and sustained by three important supports, i.e., a well-conceived ideal, a definite programme of life and a background of thought.

For any of us, to proceed upon the spiritual life, the first requisite naturally goes without saying is that the individual should have an ideal. He should want something definite, he should aim at getting something concrete.

The second requisite is a well-laid and well-regulated plan of procedure or programme. After having conceived of the ideal which the aspirant wants to reach, as haphazard procedure will not only take him nowhere but will also mean a fruitless waste of his precious energies, he should chalk out a definite and well-marked programme.

A well-conceived ideal and a definite programme of life and then a concrete background of thought to sustain him in his struggle to work out that programme—these are the three requisites which Swami Sivananda has advocated.

To sum up, in order to tread the path of spiritual life: (1) let the aspirant conceive of an ideal; (2) let him put up a general programme of life; (3) let him have Abhyasa and Vairagya (practice and dispassion) and (4) let him take to a background of thought into which he can take refuge at times of external stress. And for all this, the help of this book is most invaluable; it is in fact, the greatest boon that we could offer to the aspirant-world. There is no aspect of Sadhana which has not been dealt with, no path which has not been presented, and no point of guidance that the aspirant’s peculiar difficulties need, which has not been elaborately dealt with.

For more information, please see: Sadhana

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PRACTISE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY: A visitor said to the Master, “I was practising Sirshasana, but since one month I have discontinued it because I felt very tired after two or three minutes of practice. Should I continue to practise this Asana?”

“You need not practise Sirshasana. You can do some ordinary exercise. You can play tennis also.”

The visitor again asked, “Can I practise Sirshasana later on?”

“When you feel you are sufficiently strong, you can begin the Asana. When there is a conflict in your mind as to whether the Asana will do you good or not, you need not practise it. Yoga should be practised whole-heartedly and not half-heartedly or with pessimism.”

“Whatever you want in the world, you will find in God. That is the only thing that must be clear to the mind. Doubt will come, 'If I call God, the world will run away from me.' The world will not run away. It will come with you.” – Swami Krishnananda

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