Swami Sivananda Saraswati

Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati was one of the greatest spiritual beacons of twentieth-century India. Born on September 8, 1887, he exhibited from the first a total dedication to the welfare of all those around him. Eventually this manifested in the form of a medical degree and a practice devoted utterly to the alleviation of physical suffering with no thought of profit or personal comfort.

This dedication to others expanded into a spiritual fervor that stimulated him to take up the monastic life for the enlightenment and spiritual welfare of the world. After wandering around India in the traditional manner of a sannyasi, he settled in the holy city of Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills in 1924. Quickly the young sadhu became the focus of unreserved admiration from his fellow sadhus, many of whom he nursed through illness and infirmity, gathering food daily from many sources in order to feed those too feeble to seek out their own food.

In 1932 he started Sivanandashram, and in 1936 the Divine Life Society that was destined to be come a worldwide source of spiritual uplift to mulititudes of all lands. Sivananda wrote over three hundred books and printed many periodicals--all on spiritual life and aimed at all classes of people whatever their level of development might be.

He coined a motto: "Be Good. Do Good." And he embodied this in his own life. Having become Good (God) he was able to do the highest Good by imparting God-consciousness to others. The number of souls awakened, inspired and enlightened by this great Master cannot be even estimated. I personally knew many, and saw them spiritually transformed beyond all expectation.

As one who was privileged to meet this Great Soul in the last year of his life (1963), I can bear testimony to his inconceivable greatness. There is no human virtue that he did not embody to the maximum degree. Nor was there any form of yoga in which he did not demonstrate absolute perfection. This is not mere emotional effusion--it is sober fact. I saw it with my own eyes, heard with my own ears, and experienced with my own inmost being.

Shortly before his departure from this world, I bowed for the last time at his feet, in the meantime having become Swami Nirmalananda Giri. Throughout the entire morning satsang he kept turning to me and saying: "'Swami Nirmalananda Giri'! I am so happy. I am so happy." And so am I happy in the remembrance of You, Swamiji, as I write these few words. Though one with That "from which the mind and the senses turn back," still those of us who knew and loved you can speak of your glory and aspire to the same attainment.

Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya!

More Articles on Sannyasa

• A Brief Life of Swami Sivananda
• Advice to Sannyasins–part 1 by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• Advice to Sannyasins–part 2 by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• The Ideal of Sannyasa by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• Sannyasa Dharma by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• Perspective of the Renunciate by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• Reflections on Sannyasa by Swami Sivananda Saraswati
• The Rugged Path by Swami Sivananda Saraswati