Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Deepavali* by Sri Swami Sivananda DEEPAVALI or Diwali means "a row of lights". It falls on the last two days of the dark half of Kartik (October-November). For some it is a three-day festival. It commences with the Dhan-Teras, on the 13th day of the dark half of Kartik, followed the next day by the Narak Chaudas, the 14th day, and by Deepavali proper on the 15th day. There are various alleged origins ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Practical Instructions on Mind-Control* by Sri Swami Sivananda Why evil thoughts arise in the mind? How are they to be encountered? The very fact that evil thoughts give you mental suffering is a sign of spiritual progress; for many do not have that much of sensitiveness. To some it is very difficult to keep the mind unruffled and pure, the causes being deep-rooted worldly Samskaras, unfavourable surroundings ...Continue Reading

Om Sri Durgayai Namah! Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Strive For The Ideal -- 1954* by Sri Swami Sivananda The nine-day worship of the Divine Mother has just been celebrated by millions of Hindus. It is but meet that one should refresh one’s memory about the significance of this worship of the symbolic Power of the cosmic Consciousness, which we call variously as God, the Providence, the Immortal Spirit, and rededicate oneself for the realiz ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Namaste! *In True Bharatiya Tradition...* by Sri N. Ananthanarayanan It was a sunny winter afternoon in the Barabati Stadium grounds in Cuttack. Enjoying that sunshine and moving about in colourful groups were thousands of eager and enthusiastic men, women and children, high and low, rich and poor, literate and illiterate. They had come there not to attend a circus or a fun fair, nor to watch a game of cricket or football. The occasion which drew them in ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Namaste! Gurudev Swami Sivananda by Sri Swami Krishnananda We bring to our memories today the advent of a great soul which incarnated upon this Earth many, many years back. We bring to our memories the birth into this Earth-plane of the great Master, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. Usually such indefinable individuals are called supermen, or if we would like to be a little more philosophical, super-individuals. An extended form of an individual person—that is the meaning of super-individua ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Association with the Guru* by Sri Swami Krishnananda The presence of the Guru is a great influence upon the mind of the chela. Whatever we are today, in our own humble capacity, is entirely due to our personal association with Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, and not due to the books that we have studied or the texts that we have mastered or the lectures that we have heard. These are nothing; they are a husk. It is d ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Divine Messengers* by Sri Swami Chidananda It is Knowledge of Self which helps man to attain that state of eternal satisfaction or Nitya Tripti which is the Swarupa or Moksha. But for Self-knowledge Moksha will be impossible. And Self-knowledge itself will be impossible of attainment, but for those Divine Messengers who throw light on the path of our lives. It is impossible to weigh the deep debt of gratitude ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *The Movement of Vasanas in Sadhana* by Sri Swami Sivananda The aspirant is struggling on amidst the rough and tumble of the Vyavaharic world. Troubles and difficulties crop up at every step. Temptations, trials and tests assail him ever and anon. He strives and fights manfully against the heavy odds and at last thinks it high time that he segregated and tried to pursue his Sadhana away from these upsetting fact ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Nature of Consciousness* by Sri Swami Sivananda It is extremely difficult to define what consciousness means. Words and languages are imperfect. They cannot adequately express your thoughts and ideas. There are different kinds of consciousness. There are physical consciousness, astral consciousness, mental consciousness, supra-mental consciousness or lower Prakamya or Prajna consciousness, cosmic consciousness ...Continue Reading

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Chidanandaya! Om Namo Bhagavate Krishnanandaya! Namaste! *Be God-Oriented* by Sri Swami Chidananda Direct your entire being—mind, intellect, emotions, sentiments, towards that one and only Being, the sole Source in whom there is enduring, eternal, unalloyed, unmixed, total happiness that would not decrease or change. That is Brahman. That is God. Make all your activities God-oriented by spiritualising them. You may ask: ‘All said and done, how can I implement it? I a ...Continue Reading