A Practical Visionary And Sage

Swami Sivananda upheld ethical and spiritual values. In his words, these are to serve, love, give, purify, meditate and realise – a synthesis of the upanishadic principle of oneness of reality, ‘Ekam eva advitityam Brahmn’. Absolute reality, Brahmn, manifests as trinity of individual self, world and Iswara -- jiva, jagat and jagdish. The one and non-dual reality is perceived as substratum in and through these threefold manifestations to become one with humankind, nature and Iswara.
Unity based on eternal unity of the Self, according to Sivananda, is a logical synthesis and outcome. He proposed unity in all spheres of activity, the yoga of synthesis based on four main spiritual paths for God realisation – karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga and jnana yoga for harmonious and integral development of body, heart, mind and intellect that constitute the composite human being. “Excel in service, expand in love, advance in knowledge and realise the Self.” Swami Sivananda hailed unity of religions and the ideal of brotherhood.
He embraced allopathy, homoeopathy and ayurveda in his life. He studied modern medicine at Thanjavur Medical College. He edited the health magazine ‘Ambrosia’ and served poor farm hands of Malaya (now Malaysia) with compassion in selfless service. Like Hahnemann, he could see the limitations of even modern systems of medicine, albeit differently, as it does not offer ultimate solution to our problems and higher goals. While Hahnemann established the science of homoeopathy, Sivananda, earlier known as Kuppuswami, took to monastic life, practiced intense austerities and shone as a yogi, saint, sage and jivanmukta. Nonetheless, his subtler vision endeared him to homeopathy and as representative of Indian culture he also propagated ayurveda in his books on health and hygiene.
Sivananda synthesised western and eastern philosophies, religion and spirituality, social and spiritual practices, yoga and vedanta, poetry and prose, English and Sanskrit, art and science, object and subject, theory and practice in his life and creations. He was a practical vedantin, The Sivananda Ashram grew around him at Rishikesh in 1932 and subsequently, the Divine Life Society and later, the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy were established.
He summarised his teachings in a trio of universal prayer, twenty spiritual instructions and science of seven cultures -- health, energy, ethics, will, heart, psychic and spiritual. His universal prayer “Let us behold thee in all these names and forms; Let us serve thee in all these names and forms” reflects his innate spiritual vision of oneness and service dedicated to the non-dual divine spirit. He would say, recognise the presence of divinity within and without and attain divine consciousness through divine living. And toward this end, one has to start right from the beginning, in childhood.
His unique message is practical spirituality -- the threefold essence of spiritual practice lies in cultivation of virtues and eradication of vices, continuous remembrance of God’s name and spiritualisation of all activity. With the objectivity of a scientist, intuition of a clinician and compassion of a saint, Sivananda communed with one and all, to show the way to divine life and attainment of Self-realisation, the highest goal of human life. Swami Sivananda is remembered as an ideal sage than as an ideal medical professional. This is because life in eternity is more subtle, pervasive and blissful than worldly, secular life.

July 31 was the 50th maha samadhi anniversary of Swami Sivananda. The author is a board member of The Divine Life Society.