Books Tagged → Yoga

Radha’s prem

Beloved of God!

Salutations. Heartiest greetings for a spiritually Glorious, prosperous, happy New Year.

To you, who are leading the Divine Life, the New Year brings a really new year, something very different from the old year! It marks another milestone on the road to God. Feel, realise that on this New Year’s Day you have had a rebirth into the Divine.

You are the Beloved of God. For, you love God. This Love of God is the fruit of many, many lives of Tapasya that you have lived. Kindly guard it zealously through Japa, Kirtan, Swadhyaya, Dhyana, Charity, and Introspection.

The Lord is ever with you. He is everywhere. He surrounds you and fills your being. See God and God alone in all faces. Feel that He is the Indweller of all beings. Love all. Serve all. Then, He, through everyone, will make you happy.

May Lord bless you and your family with health, long life, prosperity and devotion.

Thy own Self,

Swami Sivananda

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Practice of Brahmacharya

Instincts and appetites form a part of all life on earth. Sense impulses and biological urges are common to animal and man alike. Sex is one of the prominent, most important and absolutely essential aspects of human, animal as well as plant life. Sex is an integral part of life–human, animal and plant. While this aspect of life is regulated by nature in plants and by instinct in animals, in man it is left to his common-sense, intelligence and his developed reason to control and regulate the same. The vast and ancient scriptures of the world offer human society specific rules and regulations in this respect. With regard to India, as a nation, our forefathers followed the do’s and don’ts of the Dharma Sastras in meticulous detail and this, in large measure, contributed to their health, longevity and spiritual welfare.

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Practical lessons in Yoga

The object with which this book is published is twofold. Year in and year out large numbers of Europeans and Americans, men and women, came out to India to learn Yoga under an Adept and practice the same in India itself. In the course of their endless wanderings and searches for such Adepts in Yoga, these people had no other alternative but to resort to the Himalayan Ashram of Swami Sivananda. But unfortunately owing to several causes these travellers could not remain long in this country. They went back home learning something here and something there, in bits, but nothing from one Yogi only, which alone could be said to be of some solid and practical utility to them.

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Philosophy of dreams

Though Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is an Advaita Vedantin of Sri Sankara’s School, he is unique in that in his life and teachings he synthesises the highest idealism and dynamic practical life. His “Divine Life” is ideal life, ideal and divine only because it is possible to live it here and now.

The sage, therefore, has directed the beam of his divine light on all problems that face man. Not confining himself to the exposition of philosophy and Yoga, he has enriched our literature in other fields, too, e.g., medicine, health and hygiene and even “How to Become Rich.”

And now we have from his divine pen his inspiring and enlightened thoughts on one of the most interesting phenomena viz., dreams. He has viewed dreams from several angles and thrown such a flood of light on it as to expose not only its unreality, but also the unreality of the waking state. Thus the sage leads us to the Supreme Reality that alone exists.

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The philosophy and significance of idol worship

Worship is the effort on the part of the Upasaka (he who does Upasana or worship to reach the proximity or presence of God or the Supreme Self. Upasana literally means ‘sitting near’ God. Upasana is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it in accordance with the teachings of the Sastras and the Guru and dwelling steadily in the current of that one thought, like a thread of oil poured from one vessel to another (Tailadharavat). It consists of all those observances and practices–physical and mental–by which the aspirant or Jijnasu makes a steady progress in the realm of spirituality and eventually realises in himself, in his own heart, the presence of Godhead.

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Parables of Sivananda

Truth is simple. Simple are the words of God-realised saint. How simply our Gurudev,Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, states the subtlest of spiritual truths, so that evenlaymen can understand! The Sage’s compassion is such that he wants the truths of thescriptures to be made available to all, to whatever intellectual level they may belong.Therefore, he has literally exhausted all the methods of stating the truth. He has writtencommentaries on ancient texts; he has presented learned theses on metaphysical questions;he has narrated them in the form of interesting stories; he has given laconic expressionto them in aphorisms; he has vividly dramatised them in his plays; he has sung them insongs and woven them into sublime poems; and now comes another potent method ofinstruction-the Parable. The story is interesting; the mind readily grasps it. Thespiritual truth which is the other side of the story automatically gets inerasably lodgedin the mind. The truth becomes not only clear, but indelible.

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Mind – It’s mysteries and control

Beloved Dheerender!
Fear not. The mind is no doubt extremely turbulent. Through repeated attempts youcan perfectly subdue it.
You are the master of the mind. By Abhyasa and Vairagya assert your mastery. Feelthe power, bliss and splendour that result from perfect self-conquest.
Curb the mind ruthlessly. Annihilate desire. When desire dies mind is your slave.Become desireless and be victorious.
May you rest in your pristine freedom!
Sivananda

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Lord Shiva and his worship

This is a most valuable and instructive book for the aspirants, particularly for the devotees of Lord Siva. It contains fifteen chapters. It is full of instructions on practical Sadhana for attaining Siva-Tattva or God-realisation. The chapters will speak for themselves. The secrets of Siva-Tandava, Sakti-Yoga, Siva-Tattva, etc., are very nicely presented. The translation of the Saiva Upanishads is a beautiful addition. The lives of Siva Acharyas, the Bhaktas and the Nayanars are inspiring and soul-stirring. A study of their lives will make one’s life sublime and holy.

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Lord Shanmukha and his worship

The Advent of Lord Skanda or Karttikeya, the purpose of His incarnation as an Avatara and its significance should be of great importance and of immense value to seekers after Truth. Lord Skanda, also known as Shanmukha, is adored and worshipped with intense faith and devotion throughout South India and Sri Lanka. And naturally it will be of great interest to all His devotees, in particular, to know more about Him, the significance of His birth and His life and career as a victorious General.

Sri Swami Sivanandaji, the author of this book, graphically describes the above-mentioned subjects in his usual style,–inspiring and direct, instructive and illuminating, soul-elevating and at once impressive. It is needless to introduce him to the readers, who is so very well-known as a versatile genius in all the spiritual subjects and as an author of many an immortal and monumental work that breathes the spirit of ancient wisdom and of direct and intuitive realisation of the Supreme.

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