A most effective way in which the Master (Sri Swami Sivananda) served people was to pray for them. He had great faith in healing through prayer and through utterance of the Lord’s name. He called it ‘Namapathy’.

Noticing a sick person, or reading an obituary report, or observing a lame dog, or an ant accidentally trodden underfoot, the Master would breathe a hidden prayer with feeling heart. In the Ashram (the Divine Life Society Headquarters) he regularly conducted Kirtan (singing the Lord’s name) and collective prayer on behalf of devotees when they were sick or when they desired success in some undertaking or on their birthdays.

After conducting the prayer for devotees, the Master would never forget to add at the end, “And for the whole world at large.”

The Master asked his disciples to always pray for the welfare of the whole world.
The tender feeling that he had for others was made apparent when he once said, “I take a dip in the Ganges in the name of all those who are longing for a bath in the holy river.”

Before he went to bed each day, he would pray for the welfare of a number of people whose names he kept in a list. One devotee might be suffering from a disease, another from mental worry, a third might be fearing an impending crisis in his business. The Master prayed on behalf of these sufferers.

Whenever there was a calamity, or threat of calamity, like famine, flood, war, rail accident or earthquake in some part of the world or the other, the Master organised collective prayer.

It was the first week of November, 1946. Tension ran high in most North Indian States. The Master called the inmates of the Ashram and suggested that everyone should do Japa of ‘Om Namah Sivaya’. Even before the Japa was completed the order was restored in trouble-ridden States.

On January 13, 1949 he declared, “From now onward the first of every month will be observed here (in the Ashram) as ‘All-souls Day’. We should offer special prayer for the peace of all departed souls. Many religions have come into being which condemn the worship our ancestors (the departed souls). They are in great grief. They look to us for help. We must do this.