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Swami Sivananda and The Divine Life Society are modern
representatives of ancient spiritual traditions which have been passed
down in unbroken succession from the distant Vedic times. The words SERVE,
LOVE, MEDITATE, REALIZE in The Divine Life Society crest represent the
four ancient yogas of selfless service or karma yoga, devotion to God
or bhakti yoga, concentration and meditation or raja yoga, and enquiry
into the ultimate truth or jnana yoga.
Born in southernmost India in 1887, Swami Sivananda
was named Kuppuswami. He was a strong, athletic and active young man.
Early on he demonstrated that innate passion for service and generosity
that characterized his entire life. He would also devotedly assist his
father, an orthodox brahmin descendent of a famous 16th century saint
and scholar, in his daily worship.
His passion for service led Kuppuswami to the study of medicine and, after
graduation, to serve as a doctor in Malaya (now Malaysia). When he was
being interviewed for a position in a rubber plantation hospital, he was
asked, "Can you manage a hospital?" The young Dr. Kuppuswami's
response reflected his lifelong "can do" spirit: "I can
manage three hospitals!"
Dr. Kuppuswami's very successful and compassionate service
in Malaya lasted for ten years. Towards the end of that period he began
to feel an inner call to a life of renunciation-a life dedicated to meditation,
spiritual study and repetition of God's name. In 1924 he arrived in Rishikesh
where he met his guru and was given the name Swami Sivananda Saraswati.
There followed years of intense austerity and long hours of meditation
as well as deep study. However, even his ardour for his spiritual practices
did not prevent him from finding some time each day to offer medical help
and other services to his fellow sadhus and to passing pilgrims.
By the early 1930's his spiritual advancement had attracted
a number of disciples, and in 1933 he shifted from Swarg Ashram on the
left bank of the Ganges river to the site of the present Sivananda Ashram
on the other shore. He and his disciples found an abandoned cowshed to
provide shelter, and they obtained their food from one of the charitable
institutions that provide rations for local sadhus. During this period
Swami Sivananda made a number of tours in North India where his melodious
singing voice and magnetic personality attracted large, enthusiastic crowds.
In 1936, in order to better serve his growing family
of disciples and followers, he registered The Divine Life Society Trust.
A grant of land from the ruler of Tehri-Garhwal provided space for new
buildings and the continuing growth of the Ashram. That growth, in both
buildings and service, has continued to this day even though Swami Sivananda
passed away in 1963.
Swami Sivananda's successor as president and spiritual
head of The Divine Life Society was Swami Chidananda who had joined Sivananda
Ashram in 1943 as a young man of age 26. Swami Chidananda, who is still
president after nearly 40 years, has himself become known as a great saint.
It is, therefore, enlightening to read what he had to say about Swami
Sivananda in his book Light Fountain written shortly after he joined the
ashram.
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