What was the life that Swami Sivananda lived? What were the expressions of his life which have become practical Vedanta?
The first one is seva; seva is service which is unconditional, without any expectation. When we work, there is expectation for the result, the outcome, the recognition, and for somebody to pat us on the back, ‘Yes, you have done good work.’ That is a position of selfishness, that is a position of self-gratification towards the work that we do. If we remove that desire of self-gratification through work, the work becomes selfless. That selfless work is known as seva, in which there is no expectation, no desire for a result, but only the expression of the best of human qualities. That is seva for Swami Sivananda.
The second point of the practical Vedanta was dharma. Dharma not in the sense of religion, but in the sense of righteous living. When you are able to live righteously, you are in tune with your own nature, with peace and with happiness. When you are unable to live righteously, there is ashanti, disturbance of peace and unhappiness. Dharma in the vedantic tradition represents righteous living. In this righteous living the body is flooded with peace, the mind is flooded with peace; the body is flooded with contentment and happiness, and the mind is flooded with contentment and happiness.
The third aspect is universal love. People speak of love and people want to learn how to love. My guru, Swami Satyananda, says, ‘Did you learn anger, hatred and jealousy in any school or in any ashram? They are a natural part of your behaviour and expression. Yet, you come to me to ask, how to learn to love and become compassionate, as you think that these things are separate to your expressions. No. Just as nobody taught you how to hate and be angry, nobody should have to teach you how to love, be kind and compassionate. It has to be a natural expression of life, which you gain when you live a selfless life, a righteous life.’
Today, we love our children but that love is sentimental, emotional, mental, with expectations. Even if these conditions are there, can you love a stranger in the same manner? No. So, why to speak of unconditional love, when you are unable to come out of your own shell of expectations and desires?
Universal love is a quality, just like the sun shines on everyone equally. The love which saints express is equal for everyone – there is no one more or less. That love does not mean patting on the back, hugging and kissing. That love is encouragement and inspiration to connect with the real source of inner strength, peace and positivity.
The fourth item is vairagya, dispassion and detachment. We are always attached, and our attachment changes from time to time. Today, the biggest attachment is the mobile. You can do without your family, without your wife, without your kids, but you cannot do without your mobile. The mobile is the biggest attachment. A person came many years ago to me and said, ‘Swamiji, I want to take sannyasa.’ I said, ‘Yes, good idea. You will have to renounce everything.’ He said, ‘Yes, I am ready to renounce everything. I have renounced my family to come here. I have renounced my profession and my friends to come here. I can be a sannyasin, because renunciation is very natural to me.’ I said, ‘Fine. What is in your possession?’ he said, ‘Oh, a few clothes, personal items, mobile.’ I said, ‘Put the mobile in our Safe Deposit.’ He said, ‘Swamiji, that I cannot do because in this I have all the phone numbers and my bank balances and accounts. So, I cannot give that up.’ I said, ‘Well, then find some other ashram which will accept you as a sannyasin; here I cannot.’
What is this hypocritical behaviour? You are telling me, ‘I have left my family, my home, my profession and everything,’ so why the attachment to your mobile, and to the numbers that are in there. What numbers are there? ‘Oh, they are of my parents and friends. I need to speak with them sometimes.’ I said, ‘Go and find some other guru and some other ashram. This place is not for you.’ Vairagya, detachment or dispassion, is a quality which allows us to disconnect with those things and conditionings which hold us grounded to this material awareness and self-awareness; not only material awareness, but also self-awareness.
Then comes tapas, which many people translate as austerity. They think that any hardship which the body goes through is tapas. Tapas is personal discipline, self-discipline. If there is self-discipline, you can do everything and if there is no self-discipline, you cannot even sit for five minutes quietly, without feeling the agitations of the senses and mind. Tapas is self-discipline, and it was the nature and quality which Swami Sivananda lived every moment.
Next come yoga and dhyana; the practice of yoga and meditation are also part of this vedantic tradition. Self-enquiry is also part of this vedantic tradition. When people think of self-enquiry, they question themselves, ‘Who am I?’ They read books and say, ‘Oh, I am the immortal soul. I am made of gold,’ and they go through these funny notions of the Higher Self, of being one with God. That is not self-enquiry. I call that self-hypnotism where you lose touch with reality, and you identify with something which is totally alien and different to your nature and behaviour.
Self-enquiry leads to inner purification. It is like cleaning the room of the mind, cleaning the room of the intellect, the room of the conditionings and memories, the room of ego. To clean these rooms, you first need to know the dirt which is lying there. You need to know the flaws of your own nature and personality and correct them. You need to transcend the tamas of your own nature. Transcending the tamasic nature is the main purpose of self-enquiry; to know which tamasic nature is influencing you, your thoughts, responses, attitudes, behaviours, and to correct them. For us self-enquiry does not begin by thinking about Brahman or the Supreme Self, but by discovering the flaws of our nature and self-correction.
The next item is positive thinking. Positive thinking happens when you are free from the influence of negativity. Negativity represents tamas. As long as you are under the influence of tamas, you can never think positively about anything or anyone. The people who think ill of others, who get angry at others, who are rude to others are only living their tamasic nature. There is nothing positive about that. I am giving that as an example. Positive thinking is the state of a clean mind. Forget pure mind; work for a clean mind. It is difficult to experience purity in life, yet it is possible to experience cleanliness in life. This leads to the next item – a balanced life in which you are free from pain and pleasure, need and desire; you are always doing the right thing. This leads you to develop faith and devotion towards the Higher Self.
These are the twelve principles that Swami Sivananda lived, and these twelve principles denote his personality. For people who are affluent, their riches, their affluence denote their personality and life. They have everything – private planes, expensive cars, huge mansions, many helpers, servants, butlers, cooks and cleaners. They live the life of absolute luxury and affluence. In the life of a sannyasin, these twelve are the wealth which makes a sannyasin live a very affluent life. Not a materially affluent life, but a spiritually affluent life. These are the principles or stepping-stones to practical Vedanta, that Swami Sivananda personified, that Swami Sivananda lived, and that Swami Sivananda taught to his followers.
15 August 2024, Paduka Darshan, Munger, published in Guru Charitra