Bharatheeyam : ( 08/11/2012. )

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-8. Now, to ignore the existence and the operation of the soul in human conduct and activity would be to ignore yourself completely. What would happen to you, if you ignore yourself in the programme of life? The question is very strange. If everybody starts ignoring one's own self – I ignore myself totally, you ignore yourself totally, everybody ignores himself or herself totally in the meaning of life – then what remains in life? There would be no such thing as life itself. So, to remove religion is to remove the soul. That is what I was trying to tell our friend who came to me from All India Radio the other day. Religion is the science of the soul. It is not Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc. These are not religions. These are only the shapes that religion has taken in social relationship. Religion is the character of the soul made manifest in outward conduct and activity. And if the soul is what you are

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-7. A few days back, a person came from All India Radio, Delhi, and asked me for a message, to be broadcast in All India Radio, concerning 'the relevance of religion to national integration'. I was trying to tell him, in that short message which I gave him on tape, that it is very strange that he should speak of relevance of religion to national integration, as if there can be any other relevance, because that would be like speaking of the relevance of the soul to the body of an individual. What is the relevance of the soul to the body? There cannot be any other relevance. The soul is the only relevance conceivable. Minus the soul, what is the body? You remove your soul from your personality, and let us see what you are. You will simply disintegrate into smithereens the moment the soul is withdrawn from your personality. You may wonder why it should happen. The soul is not a spark of light or a centre of gravity t

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-6. Though desires vary from person to person, and though predilections and idiosyncrasies of each are different from those of other people, there is a peculiar trait in every individual which is common with everybody else.  And that is the one cementing element which can bring all people together on a common platform. But for that element, there is nothing similar amongst us. We are dissimilar in every respect. We speak different languages and we have different ideals in social life. We eat different kinds of food and we have differences in every respect. But, there is one thing which keeps us together, and that is what we call the soul of man. Bodies are different, languages are different, houses are different – everything may be different, but the soul cannot be different. My soul and your soul are the same, and they speak the same language. Though verbally I may be speaking a vernacular of India or the En

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-5. But, the personality of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj was unique as far as his relationship with God is concerned. There were many, as I mentioned to you earlier, of his calibre and category who could summon into activity, into implementation, into a forceful manifestation, the deeper feelings of man and the crying aspirations of the soul which were neglected, unfortunately, notwithstanding the fact that the beginning of the twentieth century has seen the revolutions of science and industry, business and commerce, and international nearness of approach. While everything was achieved, one thing alone was ignored. That is why we are grieved even today. Everybody has a sorrow in his heart. We have radios and televisions; we have planes and cars; we have the best food to eat and most attractive clothes to put on; we have got social status and position; we have got money to spend and to burn. There is nothing that we lack, m

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-4. I may say here that the aspirations of mankind may be said to have found an articulation, to a very pronounced degree, in the personality and the mission of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. He gave voice and fluent expression to the inner urges of the human being. Every one of us has an urge within us, a desire, an aspiration, a longing and a hope, all of which we cannot adequately express on account of the weaknesses of our own personalities. Why do we elect a person as a representative of a constituency, in an election, for example? That person is made a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council in the Parliament, because we ourselves cannot express our ideas properly. We are unable to speak our deeper feelings in a proper language and place them before the Parliament in an adequate context. So, we elect a proper person. And the person whom we elect as a Member of the Parliament, or for the

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-3. In this very context was born another great master, H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. I shall tell you the special  significance of his coming into the midst of mankind that it is today. What is that special significance? A few of us have had the blessed opportunity of living physically in contact with this Master for many, many years. So, we may confidently say, in all humility, that we have some sort of a personal knowledge of his own practical life and the meaning of the message that he intended to convey to mankind. I should say that we have to regard ourselves as thrice blessed for having been given this opportunity by God, the Almighty, to live physically in his presence for years and years. And to live in the physical presence of such masters is to bask in the sunshine of the Spirit. You know what it is to bask in the sun. It is to infuse your personality with health-giving rays of a dynamic storeho

Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-2. Message given on the 8th of September, 1975, the 88th birthday anniversary of H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. To the humble followers of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the 8th of September is a momentous occasion, every year. This is not merely a celebration of the birthday anniversary of the great Master, but an eternally significant event of the advent of the Spirit in this world in a new dimension and with a reoriented perspective. This birthday anniversary celebration, as relevant to the great Master, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, is a rejoicing of the spirit for all his disciples and its meaning cannot be anything but spiritual. I may take this opportunity of pointing out to you and reminding you all that the coming into incarnation of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj had a special meaning to this world of the modern age. This is the twentieth century and history has taken a leap, as it were,

 Chapter 9. Gurudev Sivananda – Physician of the Soul-1. Message given on the 8th of September, 1975, the 88th birthday anniversary of H.H. Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. To the humble followers of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the 8th of September is a momentous occasion, every year. This is not merely a celebration of the birthday anniversary of the great Master, but an eternally significant event of the advent of the Spirit in this world in a new dimension and with a reoriented perspective. This birthday anniversary celebration, as relevant to the great Master, Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, is a rejoicing of the spirit for all his disciples and its meaning cannot be anything but spiritual. I may take this opportunity of pointing out to you and reminding you all that the coming into incarnation of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj had a special meaning to this world of the modern age. This is the twentieth century and history has taken a leap, as it were,

Chapter - 8. Sri Radha – The Divine Mystery-5. Even in ordinary intense forms of worldly love, our individuality tends towards a melting, though it does not actually melt. We rarely experience intense love in our lives. Often we are like broken glass pieces with no worth or value in us. We are parading empty shells with no substance in ourselves. This is human life today. But this will not work before the realities of life. We can never entertain true affection and true love in regard to anything in this world, because we are mostly hypocrites. We are never true to ourselves and, therefore, we can never be true to others. This predicament is a tremendous danger before man's future. And this illness has come upon man right from the very beginning of his birth itself, and attaches itself to him wherever he goes in every incarnation. Perhaps this is the original sin that people speak of in theological circles. Unless we shed this completely and stand naked before the