Sri Gurudev

By

Sri Swami Chidananda

This article is from the book Walk in This Light.

Because of the presence of this power and light and because of the uplifting spiritual force within you in the form of this knowledge and what it implies, he is present in you. Sivananda is present in you in Ahimsa, Satyam, Brahmacharya and in service, devotion, daily meditation and aspiration for God-Realisation. Swami Sivananda is present in you in his concept of Divine Life and as “Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate, enquire who am I, know thyself.” To Swami Sivananda in the form of this illumined, elevating, powerful spiritual teaching, I offer my obeisance, my salutations and my adorations.

Almighty Lord, Father of humanity, beloved God of grace, compassion and love. At this moment of our prayerful gathering here in the presence of beloved and worshipful Holy Master, this servant prays that Your divine grace may shower upon all those who are assembled here at this moment. To Thou Who art known as the transcendental Brahman, to Thee we bow in reverence and offer thanks for the gift of life and that we may know its worth. May we fully esteem the limitless scope and opportunity that life offers to us to make it a glorious pilgrimage into everlasting life. May we know well our great good fortune and understand well God’s plan for us.

Blessed spiritual radiance, worshipful Gurudev! We bow in devotion, faith and simplicity before you and accept with eagerness and earnestness this gift of your presence and this gift of proximity to you in this sanctified Samadhi Shrine. In this holy Ashram on the banks of the Divine Mother Ganga, we come to you with eagerness once again in this early dawn to sit in spiritual fellowship and to contemplate the ever-pure, ever-perfect, all-full Paramatman. We come to contemplate, to sit in prayerfulness, to try to bless ourselves by this fellowship, and to begin the day in the ideal way so that as each minute of this day advances, we shall have made it full, holy and happy.

Thanks to Gurudev’s enlightening teachings, ours is a life that flows in that direction which liberates us from darkness and from this ceaseless wheel of ever-recurring births and deaths. Ours is a life that is an ascent unto Divinity. This drawing close to the presence of this great awakening force which is Gurudev means to us a daily renewal of the awareness that we are dedicated to the effort to be awake and that we never cease until we emerge into a consciousness of the supreme Reality.

The Light of Lights beyond all darkness abides within us as our own Self. There is no darkness within. All darkness exists only in the mind; darkness does not touch the Self. The Self which we are is beyond the mind. This is the great teaching that is to be grasped. In terse modern language Gurudev has stated the quintessence of Vedanta. “Nothing exists, nothing belongs to me. I am neither mind nor body, immortal Self am I.” “Nothing exists” means that nothing exists except Brahman. Any idea that something exists other than Brahman is ignorance and delusion. There must be dedicated, one-pointed concentration upon this ideal, again and again. Gurudev says, “The whole of spiritual life is nothing but concentration; the whole of Yoga is nothing but concentration.” Concentration means a total one-pointed focusing of one’s entire attention and energies towards this single objective in life.

From ancient times when the great illumined seers and sages knew Brahman to be the one great Reality beyond all temporary changing appearances, from that time onward there have continuously been divine messengers coming into this world to awaken mankind and call it back to its divine status. In this long, unbroken line of messengers, one of the great teachers of mankind in this Twentieth Century was sent to us—Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji. He has come as an awakener, an inspirer, a guide and helper of humanity.

Gurudev has called humanity to know that in the midst of life and death the Eternal Being is there. Gurudev ever reminded humanity that life is a precious gift, a golden opportunity, a rare chance to attain supreme blessedness and that it should be known as such, seen as such and lived as such. For this boundless and limitless grace, we have no means of thanking him, except that we too come to see our life as an ascent unto Divinity and perfection.

May his choicest blessings enable us to understand the secret of Divine Life, of selflessness and of service. Why did Gurudev once write, “Karma Yoga is the best Yoga?” Why is it that he did not stop his medical activities even though he had left Malaysia and settled down in Swarg Ashram? Even amidst his deep meditation, intense austerity and unbroken spiritual practices he found time for carrying on service of the suffering and the sick. What deep insight had God given to him that he thought it worthwhile to serve the poor and the needy even when he was a Tapasvin and a Sannyasin? May we have the same inner understanding that he had, which allowed him to serve all.

Gurudev used to joke, “Sri Swami Chidananda Saraswati, M.A., PhD! What greater degree or honour can there be than to be a Sannyasin and a Swami?” Why would one want to add more meaningless letters after one’s name? Does the sublimity and the greatness of Sannyasa require these letters? He said, “Nothing needs to be added; the status of Sannyasa itself is so supreme that it does not require anything additional. You do not need to paint the rainbow.” And thus, he said, this life spiritual, this life of renunciation is supreme.

If from corner to corner of the world millions are grateful to him and millions of lives have been transformed and elevated to new heights, what is the reason? How was Swami Sivananda Maharaj able to achieve this? Many people have never had a glimpse of him, never met him, never spoken to him, never known him in the flesh—and yet thousands of those people are living a changed life, and every morning they are remembering him with much gratitude and love. Why? Because of the wisdom teachings that he shared with all and which he spread to every nook and corner of the world. It was with a great purpose that he did so; it was his salient mission on earth.

He was determined, and he spread his teachings by all means possible. He did this great dissemination of spiritual knowledge throughout his life, and he inspired all his disciples to do likewise. “Share knowledge; let everyone know.” This knowledge has entered into your life and hearts and has made you into Sadhakas and real devotees of God. It has made you into human beings with the ideal to be principled, disciplined human beings with noble values, ethics and spirituality.

Because of the presence of this power and light and because of the uplifting spiritual force within you in the form of this knowledge and what it implies, he is present in you. Sivananda is present in you in Ahimsa, Satyam and Brahmacharya and in service, devotion, daily meditation and aspiration for God-Realisation. Swami Sivananda is present in you in his concept of Divine Life. Sivananda is present in you as “Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate, enquire who am I, know thyself” Sivananda is present in you in the form of this dynamic spiritual awareness. To Swami Sivananda in the form of this illumined, elevating, powerful spiritual teaching, I offer my obeisance, my salutations and my adorations.

This great wisdom heritage is not meant only for the people of India, but for all living beings on earth. The great seers and sages of transcendental experience were not restricted by any narrow nationalistic vision. Their vision was for all beings. They wished the highest good for all the three worlds—for denizens of the lower worlds, inhabitants of this planet Earth and even for celestials in the heavenly worlds. They knew that even the almost perfect enjoyment of the celestials of the heavenly worlds would perish, as there is a beginning and an end to them. The message of the great seers was for every human being ever born, existing now and those who will come ever hereafter. Their message is one of eternal validity.

Considering with reverence this universal heritage of global mankind, we see that these great teachings are not merely meant for our spiritual well-being, but they are meant also for the all-round well-being of each individual. They are meant to be beneficial here and hereafter. They are meant for the practical secular life as well as for the inner life of higher spiritual unfoldment. In varied ways the necessity of daily imbibing this scriptural wisdom and living in its light has been brought home to us. Study and practice—this path is one of understanding and practice, both.

By these means the great sages sought to bring home to us the truth that there is a vital, immediate relevance for our worldly life in all its aspects. With these ideas being shared with you, I seek to serve the sublime mission of the dissemination of knowledge of Gurudev. Ponder this again, again and yet again, and try to fully grasp what this message wants to say to you.

I seek to serve in a small way Gurudev’s great spiritual mission of bringing divine wisdom to all beings of the East and the West and for all times. God bless you to grasp the meaning of what you have heard. Gurudev’s benedictions be upon you to enable you to translate into action what you understand in this daily spiritual fellowship, which he has been gracious enough to bless us with day-after-day in his own presence in the sacred Samadhi Shrine of this holy Ashram. Hari Om.