YOGA Year 12 Issue 7

July 2023

Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, Bihar, India

 Hari Om

YOGA is compiled, composed

and pub­ lished by the sannyasin
disciples of Swami Satyananda
Saraswati for the benefit of all
people who seek health, happiness
and enlightenment. It contains in­
formation about the activities of
Bihar School of Yoga, Bihar Yoga
Bharati, Yoga Publications Trust
and Yoga Research Fellowship.
Editor: Swami Gyansiddhi Saraswati
Assistant Editor: Swami Yogatirth­ TRIBUTES BY
ananda Saraswati
SWAMI SIVANANDA
YOGA is a monthly magazine.
TO SATYAM
Published by Bihar School of Yoga,
Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger, Bihar
– 811201. Divine Spirit
Printed at Thomson Press India July 1962
Ltd., Haryana – 121007
Greetings!
© Bihar School of Yoga 2023 I send my heartiest congratulations to
you all for starting the International
Useful Resources Yoga Fellowship Movement. May God
Websites:
Almighty grant total success to this
www.biharyoga.net
noble mission of yours. I am sending
www.sannyasapeeth.net the prasad of Lord Vishwanath for the
www.satyamyogaprasad.net same.
Apps: Remove the hatred, greed, delusion,
(for Android and iOS devices) self­
ishness and jealousy deeply in­
Bihar Yoga grained in human society and spread
APMB
YOGA (English magazine)
the message of inner peace. Only
YOGAVIDYA (Hindi magazine) inner peace can lead to world peace.
FFH (For Frontline Heroes) That alone is true service of humanity.
May God aid and assist you in the
Total no. of pages: 56 (including cover pages) great task that lies ahead of you.
Front cover: Sri Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Plates: 1. Swami Sivananda Saraswati
—Swami Sivananda Saraswati
2–3. Swami Satyananda Saraswati
4. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Published and printed by Swami Shivadhyanam Saraswati on behalf of Bihar School of Yoga,
Ganga Darshan, Fort, Munger – 811201, Bihar
Printed at Thomson Press India (Ltd), 18/35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Rd., Faridabad, Haryana.
Owned by Bihar School of Yoga Editor: Swami Gyansiddhi Saraswati
 YOGA Year 12 Issue 7 • July 2023
(61st year of publication)

Contents
5 Continuing the Lineage
9 Four Traditions
11 No Flirting
12 Guru as Role Model
16 Relationship
17 More Change
18 The Middle Man
22 Guru Poornima 2022
34 Birthday Celebration
41 More than a Sweet Memory
42 Guru
46 What can I say . . .
47 Do we need a guru?
51 Can a guru be mistaken?
53 To Live the Positive

The Yogi is superior to the ascetic. He is deemed superior even to those versed
YOGA
in lore. The Yogi is superior even
sacred 3 to those who perform actionJul 2023
with
some motive. Therefore, Arjuna, do you become a Yogi. (Bhagavad Gita VI:46)
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Today
Yes, you belong to realms unknown
And have returned to your True abode.
And like those who travel to faraway lands
You often send postcards, emails and sms
To those you love
Or those who love you dearly.
But today rest for a while with me,
The cave of my heart yearns for your fragrance.
Although you have much else to do
Today do not deprive me.
Today I yearn to bask in your presence
To see your beloved form with my eyes
To hear your laughter
To smell your fragrance
To awaken to your touch
To taste the nectar of your sweet embrace.
The memories come alive,
Now the delightful forms and motions are transparent.
I look through them and see myself as You.
You leave so that we two can do one dance.
—Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
Continuing the Lineage
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

The Indian culture has always been guided and made rich by
the teachings of the gurus, and not by the teachings of religion.
This is something that each one has to understand properly and
carefully. Gurus guide the aspirant on the spiritual path. It is a
practical process of educating oneself about one’s own nature,
personality and inherent quality. This has been the role of
gurus since time immemorial, as they have provided us with an
understanding to realize the causes of our pain and suffering,
to overcome them, and to experience the transcendental and
the divine nature within all of us.
Religions say, ‘Believe in God’, but gurus have said,
‘Discover divinity within you.’ This is the main difference
between religion and spiritual life, although today people
confuse religion and spiritual life. They believe it to be one
and the same, yet these are two different paths. In the Indian
culture, religion is a personal belief and experience, it is not
confined to a belief in only one; each individual can believe
in different aspects of divinity. This is known as polytheism.
This experience of divinity comes by following a path in which
we are able to discover ourselves and remove the garb, the
covering of ignorance and experience the light and luminosity
within. This is also the meaning of the word Guru. Guru does
not mean teacher, but dispeller of darkness.
Today many people like to call themselves gurus, yet guru
is a qualification which is given to those people who have
walked the path themselves, who have attained purification
themselves, who have attained the experience of the divine
within themselves, and who are able to guide other spiritual
aspirants on the path of positivity, creativity and luminosity.
This is the tradition that we follow in India. Although many
Indians today do not understand this concept of guru,

YOGA 5 Jul 2023

right from time immemorial this concept has been given
predominance in our life.
Lord Shiva was the first guru. He is considered to be the
first master, who taught his disciple Parvati, his consort, the
way to overcome suffering, realize the causes of suffering and
attain freedom from suffering. He defined many different
vidyas or aspects of knowledge, which lead to transcending
the gross, lower nature which is negative, limited and which
is suffering, and to identify with the higher, transcendental
nature which is pure, benevolent and creative.
The tradition of gurus continues since that time, and
society has been guided by the teachings of these masters, not
by religious precepts. The teachings and the lineage of these
masters are remembered. We chant:
Om namo brahmadibhyo Brahma vidya sampradaya kartribhyo
varnsharishibhyo namo gurubhyaha.
The tradition begins with Narayana and comes to Shankar­
acharya. There is a whole lineage of these luminous masters:
Narayanam padmabhavam vasishtham saktim cha tatputrapa-
rasaram cha.
Vyasam shukam gaudapadam mahantam govinda yogindra
mathasya shishyam.
In this manner, the whole lineage of enlightened gurus is
remembered for they are the guides, the ones who have told
us how to cultivate positivity in life; they have told us how to

YOGA 6 Jul 2023

live harmoniously in life. How much we are able to, is up to
us. The path is clear and the path is straight.
In this lineage comes our Paramguru, Swami Sivanandaji.
Swami Sivanandaji is a very special personality. To know
him, you have to understand the history of his birth. There
was great saint in South India, Appayya Dikshitar, who was
a great devotee of Lord Shiva. One day during his worship
he had the vision of Lord Shiva, who appeared before him, in
front of the eyes of his mind, and said to him, ‘I shall be born
in the seventh generation of your lineage.’ After that the vision
dissipated. Sure enough, in the seventh generation a special
child was born, who was called Kuppuswami by his parents.
This child exhibited extraordinary qualities and personality
from his birth, and endeared himself to everyone. He was
educated, and in those days he was one of the few medical
doctors in the country, as education was very limited. He
went to serve in Malaysia. While he was serving in a hospital
in Malaysia, one sadhu came for treatment. This prodigy,
Kuppuswami treated the sadhu who became well. At the
time of departure, the sadhu presents a book to Kuppuswami,
Brahmavichar, Thoughts or reflections on God.
Kuppuswami read this book and it became the matchstick
which lit the flame of spirituality in his life. After reading the
book, Kuppuswami left his work, profession, returned to India
by ship, as that was the main mode of travelling at that time,
and went straight to the railway station. There he handed over

YOGA 7 Jul 2023

all his personal belongings to a friend whom he had called and
said, “Please take this to my home and tell them that I have
another destiny.” Then he travelled north, to the Himalayas,
in search of an enlightened guru. In those days, there were
no roads, vehicles or cars, motorcycles or scooters, not even
bicycles. People had to travel on foot, bullock carts, elephants,
or just keep walking. He came close to Rishikesh, searching
for somebody who could guide him in spiritual life.
Before reaching Rishikesh, he felt tired, sat down against
a tree to relax, and closed his eyes. One does not know how
much time had passed, but suddenly this doctor, this aspirant
felt a shadow fall on him and he opened his eyes to see what
the shadow was. When he opened his eyes, he saw a sannyasi
standing before him who asked, “Who are you? What are you
doing here? What are you searching for?” Respectfully this
aspirant doctor told the sannyasi, “I am in search of a master,
a guru, who can guide me on the spiritual path.” The sannyasi
said to him, “I am your master and I will initiate you into
the tradition of sannyasa.” He gave him the initiation, a few
instructions and then walked away. The name of this master
was Swami Vishwananda Saraswati, who named the aspirant
Swami Sivananda Saraswati.
Vishwananda means master of the universe, vishwa, the
world. He was an emissary of Shiva or maybe Shiva himself,
who came to inspire and guide his ‘part’, his offspring,
and named him Sivananda. The encounter between Swami
Vishwananda and Swami Sivananda was a very short one,
lasting about twenty to thirty minutes only. This was the only
time that guru and disciple were together. The instructions
given by Swami Vishwananda to Swami Sivananda were
followed by him with absolute conviction, faith, sincerity,
commitment until the end of his days – to live like a sannyasin
and to serve like a sannyasin. That was the inspiration Swami
Sivanandaji carried with him all his life.
—12 July 2022, Ganga Darshan, Munger

YOGA 8 Jul 2023

Four Traditions
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

My tradition is not the guru-disciple tradition, but the family

tradition. My mother inherited the hatha yoga tradition
from Nepal. When I say Nepal, I mean the Natha yogis
like Gorakhnath, Matsyendranath. They are called the nine
yogis who are supposed to be the founders of hatha yoga.

YOGA 9 Jul 2023

Gorakhnath was a Nepali sadhu, sannyasin, yogi. His guru,
Matsyendranath, the founder of the hatha yoga tradition in
our times, was also from Nepal.
Another tradition of mine, which comes from my grand­
mother, is from Tibet because she was Tibetan. I inherited
the Buddhist tradition of hatha yoga from her. In western
countries, the Buddhist tradition of hatha yoga, of 84 yoginis
and yogis, is not known at all. Milarepa, was also linked with
that tradition, as was Naropa and Tilopa; all these great yogis
(84 in number) in the Tibetan tradition are known as Master
Yogis.
The third tradition which I received was at the age of
sixteen, when a yogini, a lady sannyasini, came to our family
and stayed with us for a period of over six months. She initiated
me in the practical side of hatha yoga and into every practical
aspect of tantra.
It is through these traditions that I have been teaching
hatha yoga to everyone, even after having read other books.
In hatha yoga there is a tradition: if the book says one thing
and guru tells you another thing, you go by guru and not by
the books. I have always gone through the traditions to which
I am directly linked – Nepal, Tibet and that yogini.
After that, the fourth tradition came into my life – my guru.
Swami Sivananda was my guru, for he gave me the deeper
and abiding understanding of life, matter and everything. He
pulled me through the quagmires of life; he pulled me through
the limitations of life, and gave me a deeper understanding of
Vedanta, the non-dual aspect of the whole creation. So he is
my real guru.
—2 March 1985, Dulwich, England

YOGA 10 Jul 2023

No Flirting
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

In the ashram, the central figure is the Guru. It is not the

kitchen-in charge, not the office-in-charge, not the money-in-
charge, not the accountant, not even the secretary. Guru is the
central figure and that Guru is not a worker. Of course, he does
join you in the office and in the kitchen, but he is not a worker.
Guru is an inspirer, Guru is a transmitter and Guru is
sometimes a tutor. This inspiration sometimes works through
everyone.
If the gurus were to flirt a lot with their disciples and gossip
endlessly, they could not transmit. They have to be alone, all
by themselves. They have to practise their sadhana, strengthen
their willpower and with that raised willpower they have to
help the disciples, devotees and admirers who come to them.

YOGA 11 Jul 2023

Guru as Role Model
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The truth is that the real guru is in everybody. Guru is not an

external reality, I am not the guru, and nobody is a guru. We
are indicators to the inner guru. Not only that, the inner guru
is beyond the reach of everybody. The guru is within you. The
external guru is not necessary. Can you talk to the internal guru,
can you hear him, can you understand him? He is telling you
so many things, he is guiding you, he is waking you up, but
you don’t understand it. You are deaf and he speaks silently.
This is the greatest gap, this is the greatest distance between
you and your inner guru. This is with everybody in the world.
Therefore, you must realize the truth in contradiction.
Number one, the guru is in me and not outside, but you
are my guru. This is how we have to understand the truth in
total contradiction, in total paradox. Many times I tell people,
the external guru is the detonator, he helps you to explode,
to awaken the inner guru. Just as you have a detonator for a
bomb, if there is no detonator the bomb will never explode.
In the same way, the role of external guru is clear. What does
he do? He just explodes the awareness of your inner master.
And that’s what we have been doing.
But at the same time we must remember, when a man
approaches the aspirations of spiritual life, he approaches
with incompleteness. Sometimes he is neurotic. Now do you
think that a person who has no father or who has missed a
father, or a person who has lost his beloved, or lover, or has
no beloved and lover, should not go to a guru? No, this is not
the condition. Anybody can go and approach a guru. And the
guru will understand him.
First of all the guru will fill up the vacuum. It may be a
psychological vacuum, it could be an emotional vacuum, it
could be a philosophical vacuum. He could be your guide, your

YOGA 12 Jul 2023

friend, your philosopher, he can play
all the roles in your life so that you
may not feel the vacuum which you
had in your life. But gurus are very
alert people. They understand their
mission very well. While giving
the love of a father, or lover,
or beloved, while fulfilling
the role of a friend, guide
and philosopher, guru
knows only one thing
that they will have to
awaken the guru inside
the chap.
What is the meaning
of guru? Master? No.
Professor? No. Teacher?
No. Preceptor? No.
Guru is the lighter.
Guru means who lights
the lamp; there is a candle, I light it, there is a lantern, I light
it, there is the bulb, I put on the switch. That is the role of the
guru. Where is the light? It is in everybody but you do not know
where is the switch. The candle is in you, but you don’t have
the matchbox. Therefore, guru is a combination of two letters.
Gu means darkness, ru means dispeller, so the etymology is
dispeller of darkness, remover of darkness, killer of darkness,
this is the negative expression. What is the positive expression?
The bringer of light, the lighter of light, so there are two aspects
of guru. Do not miss these two aspects, do understand these
two aspects.
One is the negative aspect, the other is the positive aspect.
The remover of ignorance or darkness is the negative aspect;
harbinger of light is the positive aspect. When guru fulfils
the role of a father etc., that is his negative aspect, that is his
negative definition. When he becomes the instrument of inner

YOGA 13 Jul 2023

light, that is his positive role. Therefore, you should be very
clear in expressing who a guru is.
There is a story in the Upanishads: Once a great sage
approached his master. The guru said, “Why have you come
here?” The sage said, “I want knowledge from you.” He said,
“Okay, come tomorrow.” He went back. Next morning what
did he do? He filled his motor car or wagon, or whatever
you may say, with a lot of books. There were the books on
philosophy, theology, theosophy, yoga, tantra, etc. Thousands
of books. He went to his guru and told his guru, “Sir, these
books I have mastered, now you know what you should teach
me.” The guru said, “What exactly you want tell me?” He said,
“I want the inner light.” He said, “But what do the books have
got to do with that?” The disciple could not answer, because
so far he was thinking that books will light his lamp.
So long he was thinking that all the knowledge he was
gathering would ultimately culminate into illumination. And
here this guru is telling something else. Then he said, “All these
books which I have been reading, have I been wasting my time?”
The guru said, “No, no it has not wasted your time, these books
have brought you to me.” There is a necessity of theoretical and
intellectual knowledge. You can’t burn all the books. But if you
think that books alone can make you a guru, impossible. And
thus, the story goes that, the guru gave him enlightenment.
In the same way, the external guru has to be capable of
helping you to light the inner lamp. Even as you see the subtle
microbes through a microscope, without it you can never see
them with the naked eyes, the inner eye has to be opened. If
the inner eye is opened, then you can see the glory of your
inner light. Of course, if the psychologists can give a spiritual
turn to the life of the individual, and if they do not leave
the individual half the way after treatment, and if they can
definitely fill the vacuum created by the absence of father, if
they can explain it to him at all, then they are also gurus. And
if there are such psychologist gurus, I will remove my hat for
them, in reverence, in worship.

YOGA 14 Jul 2023

 After all there is so much of difficulties in our emotional
life. Even if you have your father and mother living, if you
are emotionally full, and intellectually full, and if you are
financially full, if you are full and full and full, still you are
incomplete unless the inner awareness is handled and grasped.
One has a beautiful body, good health, brilliant, obedient,
lovable wife, eminence, fame, all over, and alot of money in
American and Swiss banks, but if one has not known the glory
of guru and his role in life, these things are not going to make
one complete.
I was given a poem this morning, it is in Sanskrit and it is a
hymn to guru. There are six hymns, and these are addressed to
the inner guru, not the physical guru, the guru that is beyond
darkness, and the hymns say, “Guru is the creator, guru is the
preserver and guru is the destroyer. There is no one beyond
guru.” To such a guru I salute. What are the attributes of guru?
Full of absolute bliss, transcendental ecstasy, and knowledge
absolute beyond conflicts and controversies, without any fault,
the totality of all emotion, whom the three gunas do not touch
at all, who is the essence of man’s existence, to him I salute.
You see this is the ode to the inner guru by the disciple.
First of all, we present this ode to the guru whom we
know. We present these ideas to him, full of devotion and full
of divine attitude. And through him the whole thing comes
back to me and it goes deep into my spirit and that awakens
the guru. So therefore, you can say the guru is my father, he
is my lover or beloved, he is my son or brother, my boss or
secretary, he is my friend, guide and philosopher. You can
consider him whatever you like. But you must remember the
ultimate purpose. If you forget that purpose, then all those
relationships carry no meaning.
—August 1981, Chamarande, France

YOGA 15 Jul 2023

Relationship
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The relationship with your guru shouldn’t be just a formal one.

You should allow him to know you. So unless you expose your­
self to him, he cannot know you. Just as you expose yourself
before the x-ray and the x-ray tells you that the bone is broken,
in the same way, don’t maintain reservations with your guru.
There you are like a child and he should be like a mother.
He should not be like a God, because he will punish you
otherwise. God punishes, that is what we are told. I don’t
know but a mother will never punish. Even if she gives a slap
to a child, she starts crying after that, because for the mother,
the child is an emblem of love.
A disciple is a child, not just a devotee, and guru is like
mother. If this relationship is established between the two,
there will be some communication. Then, like a doctor, he
knows what your malady is and he gives you the prescription,
‘You can practise kriya yoga.’ After some time, kriya yoga does
not work. You tell your guru, ‘Kriya yoga does not work.’ He
will think and say, ‘Okay, practise only hatha yoga.’ This is
why the relationship with guru has to be established on a very
non-religious basis.

YOGA 16 Jul 2023

More Change
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

In all the ashrams, the money and the property is managed

by other people and not by me; even my letters I don’t see.
Once the accountant of one of the ashrams told me that he
had been to a picture last night. I got angry with him. So what
did he do? He did not tell me later, but he still used to go. I
did not know where he got the money from. It was ashram
money. I wanted to know what to do with him. I could not go
on dismissing accounts.
So I phoned one cinema proprietor and asked him whenever
a new picture came to send me two first class tickets. He was
surprised but he knew there was something in my mind.
Every time I used to give this disciple two tickets. That’s all,
and the whole thing changed. He remained a good cashier and
accountant.
Still I think much more change has to come in me. I wanted
to accept the whole creation. I don’t want to know the two
sides of creation. I just want to know it as one. I don’t care
who cheats me. I don’t mind if one betrays me and I don’t
care if one loves me. That state of mind should come and it
will come.

YOGA 17 Jul 2023

The Middle Man
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

It is not necessary to tell everybody about myself. It is not

out of modesty, but what to tell you about myself? I am the
transmitter; the knowledge does not belong to me. I am a
medium; I am an agent; the middle man. That is my identity.
My guru had chosen me.
My guru was Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh. He had many
disciples. They are scattered over the world like the fragrance
of a flower, qualified and wonderful. I am just one among the
prominent ones, but I was chosen. I was chosen in such a way
that even my physical frame changed. I don’t say that even my
mother would not be able to recognize me. Even if I would tell
her, ‘I am your son,’ she would say, ‘No, you are an impostor.’
My handwriting changed completely, like Swami Sivananda’s.
I don’t know what exactly this is.
I do not like ashrams, I never liked disciples. If you have
to exhaust your karma and suffer, you must have disciples.
Disciples are the agony of a guru. I do not like this counting
money, day and night. I like to be all alone, even today. I don’t
like to meet people. That is my nature.
Up to 1963, I was able to do it. Suddenly on 14 July
something happened. At midnight I started receiving wireless
messages from my guru. Do this, do this, do this, do this. You
will be surprised to know I did not know yoga at all, yoga was
as far as anything from me, because my tradition is Vedanta.
I belong to the special order of Advaita Vedanta philosophy
in the Indian tradition. I thought asana and pranayama were
all jokes. I thought, ‘What are these people doing, drinking
water through their nose?’ I thought it was all useless, but the
messages said, ‘No, yoga has to be taught, mankind needs it.’
From time to time, I received those messages. I don’t know
how to contact him, but he is able to contact me.

YOGA 18 Jul 2023

 Sometimes I think it is my fortune; I am blessed. Sometimes
I think ‘Oh, he should not have chosen me, it would have been
much better.’ I would be sleeping somewhere on the banks of
the Ganga in a dilapidated Shiva temple, and I would sleep
and sleep and sleep. What a joy there is in sleeping! You
understand? You don’t enjoy anything and you don’t want it
at all. That is a little about myself.
If you expect any power from me, please don’t because all
that I am delivering to humanity is not my property. Things
happen I know, and many people are helped, but I definitely
do not claim that upon myself.
How did the things happen? When I was six years old,
I suddenly felt that my body was there, but I did not feel
myself. It was a peculiar experience. I did not feel the link
between matter and prana. It was very fast, like lightening
and it repeated itself. I spoke of it to my parents and since my
father was also an initiated disciple of a very famous swami
in India, he knew that something was happening to me, but
he could do nothing more.
By God’s grace, in those days, in 1929, there were not many
doctors in my country, otherwise they would have given me
tranquillizers and so many things and my development would

YOGA 19 Jul 2023

have been finished forever. Ultimately I was only taken to a
few spirit healers, village magicians, as you call them. But they
did not know what was happening to me.
I could never understand what exactly spiritual life and
monastic life was. My guru has given me sannyasa and I stick
to it because I have respect for him, but logically I cannot
understand it. I think everybody can be a sannyasin in coat,
pant and trousers, saris and frocks. Spiritual luminosity,
spiritual enlightenment is not a cadre, it is not a sect. Spiritual
illumination can happen to anybody, at any time. For that, you
don’t have to shave your head and put on this garb. I knew it
very well, still I did it.
Always engrossed in intellectual pursuits, reading from
Einstein to the mysteries at the Court of London, well any
absurd book. I was reading from the Bible, Koran and the
Vedas to the books on sexual sciences. Reading about politics,
sociology, history, geography and science, day in and day out,
that was my life. Or I would take a rifle, go into the forest and
hunt.
At the age of ten, I started hunting and stopped at the age
of eighteen, when I shot the first tiger at a distance. That was
my life. I did not understand, even today I do not understand
how I became a swami.
That experience repeated itself again and again. My father
referred this matter to four or five people. One was Swami
Shraddhananda of Arya Samaj, a very powerful swami in
that era. The second was Ma Anandamayi, a lady saint, who
recently left her body, and a few more. They said, ‘Send him
to an ashram. Give him to a swami.’ Well, my father did it. He
used to ask me for years, ‘When are you going?’ Every time
he came back from his duties, he said, ‘Are you not going for
sannyasa?’ I said, ‘Let me complete my education.’ When the
result was out, he took 90 rupees from his pocket, brought me
to the motor stand, put me on the bus and said, ‘Get out.’ He
said to me, ‘You are meant for a different life.’ So I think I was
supposed to be the medium of my guru.

YOGA 20 Jul 2023

 During my sojourn I met many important yogis in India,
but I liked Swami Sivananda. The relationship between guru
and disciple is the relationship between the master and the
medium. I keep myself open. I have my own intellectual
personality, I have my own philosophy, and I have my own
idiosyncrasies in life. But towards him I am completely open,
so that his aspirations and his wishes will be fulfilled through
me.
Many times Swami Sivananda told me, ‘You have to go
from door to door and shore to shore to meet people and to
tell them to practise meditation.’ I don’t know, it may be a sort
of hallucination also. Maybe I am deluding myself, maybe it
is self-hypnotism. It is very hard. When I remember that I am
a chela, a disciple, whenever the disbeliefs come into my mind
from time to time, and when I get fed up with all these silly
things that I see I am doing, immediately that voice comes,
the aura comes, and I get my next order, ‘Do it’ and I do it. It
works.
I get guidance about my work and about people. Many
times the persons I see in the future, I have already seen them.
If I have to pick up one among you for my work, I know it very
well. That face has already been shown to me. I know what I
am going to do in which country. This is the glory of guru and
therefore we should try to become a good chela, disciple.
I think everybody must have a guru; do not doubt. If you
are a good aspirant, even a charlatan guru cannot cheat you. If
you only wait for a great guru to come, please keep on waiting.
Such gurus are not born every day like pigs and dogs. Have
your search for a guru and try to correct your inner self.
So many things have happened in my life and everything
against my personal wishes, I don’t know what is in store for
me. Perhaps I do not want things and they are happening. I
have completely submitted myself to his will, so let things
happen. Guru is the shepherd and let him take care of us.
—3 April 1982, Casablanca, Morocco

YOGA 21 Jul 2023

Guru Poornima 2022
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

When Swami Sivananda was initiated, he came to Rishikesh

and lived alone in a cottage, performing his sadhanas and
serving the sick and destitute, the travellers who would
pass through Rishikesh on their pilgrimage to Yamunotri,
Gangotri, Badrinath or Kedarnath. He had a beautiful routine.
He combined sadhana and seva in perfect harmony and
balance. Most of us who want to have spiritual awareness and
experience indulge ourselves in sadhana only and shun seva,
thinking ‘Oh, it is work, it is not necessary. I am practising my
own sadhana for my enlightenment.’
Swami Sivananda blended seva and sadhana. The life he
lived was austere, a Spartan life. One single room, sleep on
the floor, two geru dhotis, and that was it. In the winter he
would submerge himself in the freezing waters of Ganga and
stay there for hours practising his austerities, sadhana, japa.

YOGA 22 Jul 2023

In the summer, he would light fires and sit in front of the fire,
practising his sadhana, his austerity, his japa.
He would also serve all the sick and needy. Eventually his
name spread through the region. Like many moths are attracted
to the flame, in the same manner many people were attracted
to his luminosity and became his disciples. In the course of
time, Swami Sivananda established the Divine Life Society. He
was a swami, a sannyasi all his life, and not a yoga teacher. He
taught people how to avoid the pitfalls of life, which are holes
made by our own raga and dwesha. They are made by our own
kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya. Everybody
has those holes in their life and everybody invariably falls
into those holes, practically every day. People are not able to
extract themselves from these holes. They become jealous, fall
into the pit of jealousy and cannot extract themselves. People
get infatuated by comforts and luxuries and cannot extract
themselves. They are willing to die for the sensorial pleasures
of life and cannot extract themselves. This is our story.
Swami Sivanandaji gave lessons of how to avoid these
pitfalls, how to become aware of these pitfalls, how to cultivate
higher positive, constructive qualities in life. He says, ‘Avidity,
cupidity, stupidity, audacity, irritability, eccentricity are
all different obstacles to spiritual life. Duality, multiplicity,
plurality, individuality, ahamkarity, raga-dweshity, abhiniveshity,
sensuality, sensitivity, sentimentality, inactivity, rotundity are
the obstacles of life.’ Which master can be so clear and say
these are the obstacles and you have to avoid the obstacles
and pitfalls? Everybody talks about ethics and morality, which
they cannot follow nor understand. Swami Sivananda gave
a clear guideline on how to avoid the pitfalls of life and what
to cultivate to progress on the spiritual path.
Meditation is not the path to progress in spiritual life. Self-
correction and self-awareness become the path to progress in
spiritual life. This was the lesson that Swami Sivanandaji gave
to all. He lived a life of a sannyasin of the highest order. He
was beyond Paramahamsa, he was beyond duality, he was one

YOGA 23 Jul 2023

with the cosmic awareness. He was a trigunatita sannyasin, one
who had transcended the three gunas, sattwa, rajas and tamas,
and was established in the divine nature. There have been very
few people like him. As disciples came to him, he taught them
the way to live a spiritual life. He taught them how to become
self-aware, how to correct themselves and recognize the faults
of nature, the mind and personality; how to discover harmony
and peace inside, and experience luminosity inside. That was
his sannyasa life. When people used to come to him knowing
that he was a doctor, could understand their sickness and help
them, Swami Sivanandaji used to dispense medicines, but not
like an ordinary doctor.
My guru, Swami Satyanandaji tells us, ‘If a person came
to Swami Sivananda for treatment, he would give him a
medicine. After some time, if Swami Sivananda thought that
the medicine given was improper and another medicine would
be better for the sick person, he would give the new medicine
to a disciple and say, “Go and find that sick person and give
him this medicine.” Can you imagine a disciple going through
the roads, looking for a person who had left the ashram three
or four hours earlier, find him, give the medicine, come back
and say, ‘Yes, I have given the medicine.’ That was the nature
of Swami Sivananda. If he thought that something else would
be beneficial, he would make sure that the person would be
the recipient of that which was more beneficial to him.
He also knew that most of the illnesses and sicknesses are
psycho-somatic and somato-psychic. Psycho-somatic begins
in the mind and affects the body and in Sanskrit is known as
adhyatmic. Somato-psychic begins outside and affects the mind,
adibhautik and adidaivik. The adibhautik and adidaivik, the
external factors causing suffering and illness, and adhyatmic,
the inner stuff causing sickness, could not be helped only
through medicine.
So he started training his disciples in yoga, and said yoga
would become the means for people to attain, physical, mental,
psychological, emotional and spiritual health. He told them

YOGA 24 Jul 2023

that in the coming times they would have to spread out in the
world and bring the teachings of yoga to human society across
the nations. Many disciples asked Swami Sivanandaji, ‘Yoga
is not our vocation. We are sannyasins. We follow the path of
Vedanta.’ Swami Sivanandaji advised, ‘In your personal life
you are sannyasins, but in your public life you are servants
of humanity, and you have to give what humanity requires.
If somebody is sick and ailing from respiratory problem and
is having difficulty in breathing, what will you do? Will you
teach him Vedanta and say, ‘You are not this body, you are
not this mind?’ Will Vedanta help the person who is sick and
suffering? No. You have to give the person who is sick and
suffering the right tool by which he can overcome his sickness,
his weakness and attain health. Vedanta will not give you
health, yoga will.’
Therefore, he instructed his disciples to teach yoga and
no other philosophy of life. All his disciples became frontline
teachers of yoga at a time when nobody in the world knew
what yoga was. This was the instruction he gave to Swami
Satyananda, our master, ‘You go out and spread the message of
yoga from door to door and shore to shore.’ At that time Swami
Satyanandaji said, ‘I don’t know yoga. How do you expect
me to teach yoga?’ Swami Sivanandaji said, ‘I will teach you
yoga. Come with me.’ He took him to a room, taught him kriya
yoga and transferred all his knowledge to Swami Satyananda.
You may wonder, ‘How can knowledge be transmitted by one
person to another person in a few minutes?’
When you eat food, you use your fingers or spoons. The
spoon becomes the medium to bring food to the mouth. The
food goes down and it fills your stomach. The fingers become
the medium to pick up the food, bring it to the mouth, then
the food goes down and fills your stomach. Just as a metallic
spoon or four fingers and thumb become the medium to
eat food and satisfy your hunger, kriya yoga became the
medium for shaktipat, for transference of knowledge from
Swami Sivananda to Swami Satyananda. Endowed with this

YOGA 25 Jul 2023

knowledge, Sri Swamiji left Sivananda Ashram to fulfil the
mandate of his guru. Swami Sivananda, the guru, said about
his disciple, “There goes my true successor, who will bring the
light of Siva into the world.” This he did not say about anyone
else. “There goes my true successor, who will bring the light
of Siva to the world.”
This happened because Swami Satyananda had become
Swami Sivananda. Swami Sivananda had merged himself
into Swami Satyananda. The example is the hard drive of a
computer. When the hard drive of a computer is full and you
want to make a copy of that hard drive into another empty hard
drive, when you transfer the information from this full hard
drive to the empty hard drive, it becomes an exact replica of
the original. Nobody will be able to tell the difference which is
the original and which is the copy except the person who has
done the transfer. Otherwise everything is the same, every byte
is the same. There is no difference. This happened to Swami
Satyananda because he was able to empty himself and allow
Guru’s grace to fill his being.
This is not possible for everyone. There are people who
make gurus, who become disciples and they want to sit with
the guru for hours talking about their problems, difficulties,
sufferings and pains. They talk for hours and days just about
themselves to the guru, thinking, ‘Guru doesn’t know me. I
have to tell him everything.’ If that is the attitude, then you
have misunderstood the whole concept of guru and disciple
relationship. There is no need for you to sit and describe as in
a dictionary or an encyclopaedia every little ache and pain you
are having in the body, in the mind, every little suffering you
have faced in your life. People tell the guru, ‘You don’t know
what I have suffered in my life.’ That is only a misconception
that they live.
Swami Satyananda and other disciples of Swami Sivananda
were not like that. They never sat down with their master to tell
him of their problems and difficulties or ask for consultation.
They believed that their master would always help them

YOGA 26 Jul 2023

overcome their limitations. Sri Swamiji says, ‘If one can die
for the sake of the pleasures of the world, let me die for the
sake of my master.’ That was the awareness and attitude that
sannyasins had. The sannyasins of Swami Sivanandaji did
not practise meditation for eight hours, six hours, three hours,
four hours, no. They did not practise japa, repeating so many
thousands of mantras, no. Swami Sivanandaji guided them
on the path of sannyasa which, for Swami Sivanandaji, was
commitment to seva. That was his sannyasa.
He laid down an eightfold path for sannyasins, in which the
first step is seva, serving; second step, prem, loving; third step,
daan, giving; fourth step, shuddhi, self-purification; fifth step,
do good all the time, acchha karo; sixth step, be good, acchha
bano; seventh step, meditate, dhyan karo; eighth step, realize,
atmasakshatkar. Nowhere in this teaching for sannyasins does
the word sadhana appear. Sadhana is a selfish thing. You only
do it for your on pleasure, not for your transcendence. What
kind of sadhana do you do anyway, when you are not even
able to manage the fluctuations of your mind? When you are
not able to manage your kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada,
matsarya, ghrina, raga, dwesha? What kind of sadhana, what
kind of meditation is going to be beneficial to you? Like an
ostrich, you can put your head down in the sand and think
nobody in the world is looking at you, but remember, the big
bum is sticking up. That is what we are. In the guise of sadhana
we hide our head in the sand, yet all the negatives of life
always shine brightly in our life. Therefore, if you understand
what I am saying, you will know the secret of success. Swami
Sivanandaji lived this life and he taught this life to his disciples.
Many of you may not agree with what I am saying, but
what I am saying is the truth, and people don’t understand
truth. Swami Sivanandaji was not a yoga teacher. He inspired
people to teach yoga to benefit humankind, yet he lived the life
of a sannyasi. He inspired others to live the life of a sannyasi,
to develop the awareness of the higher qualities leading them
to live the divine life. In the same vein, Swami Satyanandaji

YOGA 31 Jul 2023

was not a yoga master like the world thinks. In the span of his
eighty years of life, he taught yoga for only twenty; the rest
was his sannyasa life. When only one-fourth of life is yoga,
how can you say he is a yoga master? He was a sannyasin who
lived his life for sixty years and served yoga for twenty years.
In these twenty years, the contribution of Sri Swamiji for the
development of yoga is unchallenged. He was the master and
he could give the lessons of yoga in a manner that no sage of
the past had done. It was Swami Satyanandaji who brought all
the aspects of yoga to life and made them practical, scientific,
experimental and experiential. Therefore, his contribution is
unparalleled in the history of yoga, past, present and future.
He stands unique as the master of yoga vidya, the total science
and subject of yoga. However he was a sannyasi foremost, first
and last. Yoga was his contribution as per the mandate of his
master. It was the inspiration of Swami Sivanandaji that flowed
through Swami Satyanandaji. They are our inspirations. These
two are our masters, whose life and teaching is an example for
us to emulate, follow and realize.
—12 July 2022, Ganga Darshan, Munger

YOGA 32 Jul 2023

In the Innermost Chamber

Where do guru and disciple unite?

Not on the physical and emotional plane.
They unite in total darkness
When everything is finished,
In the innermost chamber
Where everything is dead.
There you do not hear a sound
Or see any form or vision.
You are aware of nothing but the guru,
Shining like a lofty light.
That is how guru and disciple
Must commune with each other.
—Swami Satyananda Saraswati

YOGA 33 Jul 2023

Birthday Celebration

On 23rd December 2022, Sri Swamiji’s birthday was celebrated

for the first time on this date. During Satyam Poornima, his
lunar birthday was celebrated on the full moon night of
Margashirsha which was on 8th December, and 23rd December
corresponds to his solar birthday. Swami Niranjan conducted a
havan in front of Chhaya Samadhi and later sannyasins spoke
about their experiences with Sri Swamiji.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati: Sri Swamiji many times

said, ‘I am a heart surgeon.’ He used to open blocked hearts
and do heart surgery. He used to say, ‘I do that.’ After his
mahasamadhi, the last surgery he did was to open the hearts
of people, and he sat in their hearts by becoming the experience
of love. That was the last surgery which he did.
Most of us feel it, because we know the history, we know
the background, we have been associated with him. For that,
there is no word to express any gratitude or thanks, because

YOGA 34 Jul 2023

you can be grateful or thankful to somebody who is different
to you. How can you be grateful and thankful to somebody
who is in you, and that too in such a beautiful manner? He
established himself in the form of love within our hearts, and
it has made our life meaningful
and whole.

Swami Kaivalyananda Saraswati:

The most inspiring person in
the world for me is Parama­
hamsaji. He was kind, he was
compassionate, he was gener­
ous, he was affectionate, he
was lovable and inspiring. It
does not matter how you meet
him, even if you do not meet
him. If you think about him,
you will be inspired. Why?
I want to tell you one point.
I never saw him criticizing
anybody – even the bad persons, thieves or robbers. He used
to find a good quality in each and used to guide that person,
and that person used to grow. There are examples of many
persons who were thieves and robbers in Munger and in other
parts. They are totally transformed.
This was something very important for me. We should also
try not to criticize anybody. He said that you have no right
to criticize anybody until you are self-realized. And once you
are self-realized, why are you going to criticize? Then you see
God everywhere. This is one quality which inspired me a lot.

Swami Yogakanti Saraswati: I first met Swamiji in 1976 when

he came to Australia. He was talking about how yoga was the
way to uplift the consciousness of mankind, and we had to do
that. That was a wonderful message for me, because I had been
wondering what to do with my life, because so many things

YOGA 35 Jul 2023

seemed to be out of kilt. Things were not good environmentally,
and I was thinking about where to devote my life. What would
be a useful thing to do with my life? When he said ‘Yoga is
the way to uplift the consciousness of mankind,’ I thought
‘That’s It! Of course! Uplift the consciousness of mankind and
everything will be much better.’
He was doing the great World Yoga Convention in Sydney.
It was in a huge hall and everybody was enthralled by him.
Everybody was totally silent, totally inspired, just soaking up
his wisdom, his enthusiasm and his sureness. There was this
sort of vibration of love.
Many people’s lives were changed that day. There was no
need to think about it. That was what we had to do and he
knew how to do it. So, we just had to do what this man was
teaching. Find out what he was teaching and do that. So, that
sureness, love and world understanding is what impressed
me first.

Swami Anandananda Saraswati, Italy: When in January 1980, I

was leaving the old ashram, I went to Paramahamsaji’s room
to give my pranams, and I said, ‘I am going to Italy.’ At that
time, I asked him, ‘Swamiji, I would like to take sannyasa from
you.’ He said, ‘You are a sannyasin.’ I said, ‘No, but I want to
be your sannyasin.’
This was revolving in my mind today. I found that it has
very much to do with a sense of belonging. I wanted to belong
to his mission, to his tradition, as I had accepted him in my
life. Swami Satyananda has given a direction to my life. This
I know for sure. He had given me a clear, good, positive and
useful direction for life. If I think about what I would be, if it
was not for Swami Satyananda, I don’t know. All I know was
that I wanted to be part of his mission, his work, to help and
support. I was in Italy and Swamiji was in India, but I kept the
feeling, the connection, I kept thinking of him, I kept working
for him, whatever I did for yoga was all for Swamiji’s mission,
to support, help and contribute.

YOGA 36 Jul 2023

 There have been instances of something that he would
say, and it would have a direct meaning, touch the core of
my being and give me some direction in life, hope, strength,
encouragement and inspiration. He was living inspiration.
Whatever he did, whenever I could see him, translate for
him, he was perfect. I saw perfection in every single act he
did. He has shaped the direction of my life. The essence of
the connection, I cannot rationalize. It is a mystery to me,
but I know that Paramahamsaji, Sri Swami Satyananda, is
present, he touches my soul. I do not know what has happened
somewhere down there, but that only he could do.

Sannyasi Sivadhara: I realized over a period of time that Sri

Swamiji knew the keys to the locks which we possibly didn’t
even know existed within us. He knew how to oil those locks
because they were, and still are, quite rusty. He has also taught
Swamiji the skill of oiling the lock and turning the key very
well!
This morning when Swamiji said that today, ninety-nine
years ago, Swami Satyananda’s physical body manifested, I
felt that somewhere our destinies were also born. Whether

YOGA 37 Jul 2023

we were physically born or not is not relevant. Time really is
not ‘past, present, future’, it is everything all the time. When a
great soul like Sri Swamiji incarnates, it ignites a tiny spark in
each and every being and it is up to us to take it and protect it
and to nurture it, so that maybe somebody else will see some
light at some point in something we do, and then it passes on.
I think that the best way that we can begin to thank Love is by
sharing it.

Swami Bhaktananda, Hungary: When I think of Sri Swamiji,

the first thing that comes to mind is that he gave me the most
precious thing in my life, which is my guru. I didn’t know
anything about gurus. I didn’t know anything about yoga. I
did not have any experience. I came here and one day I just
saw Swamiji and that was it. It is like the strike of lightning,
when the mind is empty, you cannot think. What develops in
the silence is love.
I met Sri Swamiji a few months later in Rikhia in 2002 during
the Sat Chandi Mahayajna. I had never seen anything like it
in my life. The yajna is beautiful and something very ancient.
I felt an attraction to it immediately, but the daan, the giving
aspect, was really mind-blowing. I didn’t understand how this
could happen? Thousands of people were coming every day
and received prasad that they could not carry – it was so big
and so much. I asked one of the swamis, ‘Who is doing this
and why?’ He said, ‘It is Swami Satyananda. This is what he
took on to help people. He just wants to help people.’ My jaw
dropped, ‘What a beautiful aim. I want to do that.’ It was such
a beautiful inspiration and still is.
What else is it but love, and he radiated love all the time.
Since I met Sri Swamiji and I met my guru, Swamiji, I have
not had a day without love. It is a big thing, because there are
billions of people in the world who have never experienced
love, positivity or happiness. We have the good fortune because
someone shows us the way, and sometimes someone tells us,
‘You have to do it better.’

YOGA 38 Jul 2023

 Forever Grateful

In the realm of divinity, where wisdom transcends,

On this auspicious Guru Poornima, our hearts blend,
We gather to celebrate, with reverence and cheer,
The birth anniversary of Sri Swami, so dear.

YOGA 39 Jul 2023

 A century has passed since your sacred birth,
A beacon of light, spreading wisdom on earth,
Your teachings have touched countless souls,
Guiding us towards spiritual goals.
With humility and grace, you lead the way,
Through your words and actions, day by day,
You’ve shown us the path to truth and light,
Nurturing our spirits, keeping them bright.
In the depths of silence, we find your voice,
Whispering truths, making our hearts rejoice,
Your presence is felt in each gentle breeze,
In every moment, bringing us inner peace.
With unwavering faith, we bow at your feet,
Grateful for the blessings, so pure and sweet,
You’ve ignited a flame within our hearts,
A divine connection that never departs.
On this joyous occasion, we offer our gratitude,
For your infinite love and boundless magnitude,
Your wisdom has shaped us, transformed our lives,
Forever grateful, as each moment thrives.
As we celebrate your 100 years of grace,
We embrace your teachings, in every place,
Through the journey of life, hand in hand,
Forever guided by your divine command.
Sri Swamiji, on this blessed day,
We honour you, in every single way,
May your light continue to shine so bright,
Guiding us through darkness, with eternal sight.
Happy Guru Poornima, with love and devotion,
Celebrating your birth, with heartfelt emotion,
Thank you, Sri Swamiji, for all that you do,
We are forever indebted, forever grateful to you.
—Harsh Ranjan, Patna

YOGA 40 Jul 2023

More than a Sweet Memory
After doing the official regi­
stra­tion at the guest­house,
the kind-hearted receptionist
slowly tidied his desk and
before handing me the key,
quietly asked; “So you have
come from the Bihar School
of Yoga?”
“Yes, I live there.”
“May I ask you, have you
ever met Swami Satyananda?”
“Yes, I have.”
“I also met Swami Saty­
ananada, once. We even
shared the stage. It was in
1981 in Hyderabad. At the
time, I was associated with the Vivekananda Kendra, and
I helped organize programs and functions. This particular
program was conducted at the Electronics Corporation India
Limited; they were makers of Dyanora TV. I was a young man
of 27 and I had to say a few words about Swami Vivekananda
and ended with, ‘Swami Vivekananda believed that the Divine
is in everyone and in everything.’
Then I introduced Swami Satyananda. It was his turn to
speak and he began by saying, ‘I agree with this young man
and with Swami Vivekananda.’ He said, ‘I agree with this
young man . . .’
The eyes of the receptionist had the glow of a young man
of 27, and after 42 years that brief encounter with Sri Swamiji
was as alive and as significant as ever.

YOGA 41 Jul 2023

Guru
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The real guru is within everybody. All of you must listen to this
truth. Guru is not an external reality, he is within everybody.
He keeps on guiding you all throughout life, but we are
ignorant people and therefore we are not able to understand
that voice or the guidance of the inner guru. The inner guru
is known as satguru, and when you praise your guru, you
are actually praising him. This is the truth which I am putting
before you, how to commune with the inner guru. For that
purpose, you have to have an outer guru. The external guru
puts you in touch with the satguru.
The external guru is the medium through which you
reach your inner guide. Therefore, it is important for you to
have faith, devotion and understanding for the outer guru.
He teaches you practices through which your mind becomes
very subtle and begins to visualize the inner guru. The outer

YOGA 42 Jul 2023

gurus are of two types. One is called the teacher and the other
is called the guru or master. The teacher teaches your intellect,
your mind, yoga or anything else, and the guru can transmit
the knowledge into your spirit without teaching you.
The main duty of a guru is to remove the darkness within
your mind. Within the mind there is no light, there is total
darkness. You can remember things, you can think things, but
you cannot experience your inner spirit. If all these lights go
off just now and there is no moonlight outside, there will be
total darkness in the hall. Then I cannot recognize any one of
you. You cannot identify anyone here, because there is total
darkness. Now you bring the light into this hall and you can
identify everyone here. In the same way, within your mind,
within your consciousness, within your spirit, there are many
wonderful and beautiful experiences.
Within you is bliss and within you is light and within
you is divine experience, but you cannot experience that,
because there is darkness in your consciousness. Because of
this darkness you are not able to experience your satguru, and
for that an external guru comes and helps you remove the
darkness. If there is a treasure of gold underneath the earth,
you will have to dig it out. Without digging you cannot get
the treasure, and for digging you need tools and you must
also know where to dig. In the same way, in order to realize
the satguru you will have to dig into your mind.
This tradition of guru and disciple relationship is very old.
The relationship, the link between them is not intellectual. It is
emotional initially, but not totally emotional. You have a link
with your children, that is paternal and maternal emotion.
You have a relationship with your husband or your wife,
which is a marital relationship. You have a relationship with
your friends, which is a fraternal relationship. You have a
relationship with your boss in the office or with your sub-
ordinate and that is an intellectual relationship. In the same
way, you have a relationship with your guru, and that is a
spiritual relationship. It is neither physical, mental, intellectual

YOGA 43 Jul 2023

or emotional. It is based on the purity of your faith or belief.
This is one explanation.
Guru and disciple both make one circuit. When they
come together, they create a polarity in the field of energy.
Just as in the electrical cable you have two lines, positive and
negative, in the same way there is a relationship between
guru and disciple. Guru is the positive energy and disciple is
the negative energy, when these two energies unite at some
point, there is the manifestation of shakti. In fact, this is the
true relationship between guru and disciple. It is very difficult
to practise this relationship. Guru is pingala and disciple is
ida. Guru is purusha and disciple is prakriti. Guru represents
consciousness and disciple represents nature. Guru represents
masculine energy and disciple represents feminine energy.
There is a third explanation. Guru is the operator and
disciple is the medium. Guru uses the disciple as a field
of the manifestation of his energy. I have tried this third
explanation many times and I found that this relationship is
very productive. I think I can project myself in my disciple
and create things. This means my disciple is a medium.
There is one way of developing the relationship between
guru and disciple and I can give you one example. Here are
a number of lights. The moment I put off the main switch,
all the lights will instantaneously go off. They won’t take
time. They obey the law. The light will not think, ‘Okay, the
switch has gone off but I can stay on for a minute.’ That is
called obedience, and in the obedience of a disciple there is no
place for reasoning, no provision or possibility for reasoning.
Reason was the helper once upon a time, but if you want to
be a disciple then reason is a barrier. Therefore, you have to
transcend reason. If I tell the disciple to sit down, he should
not say, ‘Why?’ If I say, ‘Go right now.’ He should not say,
‘What for? Have you gone crazy?’
There are many stories in the tradition of Christian, Hindu
and Buddhist mysticism and I can recite one story here. In Tibet
there was one boy called Milarepa. He went to his guru. His

YOGA 44 Jul 2023

guru did not allow him to enter the house. Instead he abused
him and ill-treated him. He misbehaved, and tortured him.
Milarepa had completely dismissed his reasoning. One day
when the guru had gone out, the guru’s wife brought Milarepa
some fresh boiled meat to eat. Immediately the guru appeared
and he said, ‘Ah, I know, what is going on between you two,
you rascal get out of here.’ He made Milarepa carry stones to
the top of the mountain from the road. The poor boy carried
boulder after boulder, week after week, and month after month
and built a little house for himself. One day his guru went to
inspect the house. He found Milarepa relaxing. He said, ‘Hey
you lazy boy, you are not going to stay here at all – dismantle
the house and bring the boulders down.’ What would you do
if I asked you to do this? You would say, ‘Crazy man, crazy
man.’ You would say, ‘I think there is definitely something
wrong with my guru.’
This is the way in which Gurus make disciples their
mediums. If you cannot obey your guru, you cannot become
a medium. If you analyze and assess the guru, you can not be
a medium. In history all great disciples have been mediums
of their guru. But this third explanation is a very difficult one
and not everybody can be like that.
—6 December 1982, Medellín, Colombia

YOGA 45 Jul 2023

What can I say . . .
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

I had the good fortune of meeting a great mahatma during my

tirtha yatras and when he heard that Sri Swamiji had taken
mahasamadhi, he closed his eyes for a few moments and then
said, “In this age, no other sannyasin has been able to live
all dharmas and fulfil all karmas in the manner that Swami
Satyananda did. He is the only sannyasin of such calibre who
has lived in the present times.”
These were the words of spontaneous praise from a great
saint himself. It is true, for we have seen these attributes in his
life: his hard work, his faith, his knowledge, his sacrifice, his
surrender, his simplicity, his straightforwardness, his love, his
gentleness . . . the list is endless.
What can I say about my guru, with what words can I
express my feelings about the one because of whom my entire
life has meaning and purpose?

YOGA 46 Jul 2023

Do we need a guru?
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Frankly speaking, a guru is very important, not only in yoga

but in every science. Of course, a few outstanding people are
born in the world who do not need a guru, but most people
need a guru. When you follow the path of awakening spiritual
experiences, you need someone to help you and guide you.
The relationship between guru and disciple is a very intimate
one. It is not based on the body and society and it should
not be a physical and social relationship. The relationship
between guru and disciple is out and out spiritual. Even as
you are related to many people in the world, through worldly
relationships, physical relationships, blood relationships and
social relationships, you have a spirit, you have the self. It is
on that plane that you have to relate yourself with someone,
and that relationship you can develop with your guru.
A guru is not a priest, not a religious preacher, not a scholar,
nor a moral preceptor, he is just a helper in your spiritual quest.
He should know the techniques. Even if he is not intellectual,
even if he is not literate, that does not matter. My first encounter
was with an illiterate lady. Finally, I came to search for my
guru, whom I found after two years.
Now there is a difference between my experience with her
and my experience with my guru. She helped me to awaken
my psychic or spiritual nature, but it was not possible for her
to guide me after a certain point. Therefore, I had to go in
search of a guru who would be able to help me transcend the
barriers. This is the tradition in India. When we go in search of
a guru, we do not go in search of a religion. Whether the guru
is a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian, we do not mind because
we believe the experience can be had from anyone. Whether
you are a good person or not, whether you drink or eat meat,
whether you are a Hindu, Muslim or Christian, it does not

YOGA 47 Jul 2023

matter. If you are a master of the technique, you are my guru.
Hindus believe in one thing and I think you will agree. If
you go to the toilet and your diamond ring falls into the toilet,
what will you do? Will you flush it out? The precious diamond
is lying in a very dirty place but a wise man will not leave it
there. In the same way, whatever the spiritual experience is,
you should have from anybody without distinction of religion
or nationality. That is precisely the reason why all religions are
flourishing in India. Everybody has got a wide market because
there is always someone who goes to them.

Curious behaviour
There was a Muslim fakir who used to live about one hundred
and fifty miles from the place where I have my ashram. One
of the orthodox Brahmins from my town went to him because
his son was suffering from cancer. He had heard of his great
fame so he went there and saw some things with which he did
not agree. He had been educated in England for five years,
and in the West there are definitions, compartments of ‘This
is good and therefore it is unequivocally good; this is bad and
it is only bad and not good.’ So he came back.
I asked him, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘I don’t like him.’
I asked why. He replied, ‘He is a very fat man.’ I said, ‘What
has fat got to do with it? You have gone to him to get help for
your son and you are saying he is fat. You are discrediting a
fat man.’ He said, ‘No, it is not only that he is fat. Any lady
who comes, he hugs her.’ In India that is not the tradition. You
cannot even hug your grown-up daughters. You can only hug
your wife in private. The third thing he said, ‘He drinks and
he makes everybody take it.’
I told him that when you want milk, you must go to a
cow. Do not say she is black or brown or multi-coloured, or
that she is Indian, Jersey, Australian or Danish. Only be sure
that the milk is white! The poor western-educated lawyer
was completely dumbfounded when I spoke to him like this.
Then I put the same question to him that I put to you now,

YOGA 48 Jul 2023

‘What would you do with a diamond ring if it has fallen into
the toilet?’ He said, ‘I would pick it up.’ I said, ‘Please go back
again and if he gives you a little sip of champagne, have it. If
by drinking one spoon or half a glass full of champagne, your
son becomes free from cancer, well and good.’
The people who are outstanding spiritually have curious
behaviour. In India they are absolutely strange people. They
just put on a string and piece of bandage cloth, like most of
your girls do here and they go walking in the street. Everyone
respects them. Whatever they say must happen because they
are endowed with the truth of speech. They do not speak but
if they do say something, it must come to pass because when
you practise higher techniques, then you are in connection
with higher energy.
It is very important for everyone to have a guru. Through
this, you do not change your religion but you change the quality

YOGA 49 Jul 2023

of your experience – and this is most important. I am a Hindu,
you are a Christian, but our quality of experience is very low.
This is something which is very peculiar to India; Indians are
always in search of people who have what we call some extra
spiritual experience. This does not happen in the West.
Once in India about thirty years ago, a very funny man was
found in a dirty place. He was very dirty looking and the place
where he was sitting was unhealthy. He used to call everybody
and say, ‘Hey, bring me ganja to smoke!’ He used to smoke a
chillum the whole day; ganja means hashish. The people all
around began to think, ‘Who is this man? Is he a madman or
is he something special?’ After observing him they found that
he had some sort of connection with the psychic realm of the
universe, and then people began to flock to him – but until
his death he never left that dirty place. He lived there, never
changing his way of life.
If such a person happened to be here in the West, he would
be put into a mental hospital. In the West, you put yogis into
mental hospitals and therefore you do not have any gurus at
all. It is not that there are no outstanding people in the West.
There are very good yogis, but before they can become gurus,
they are sent to the hospital. In India, we make a very subtle
distinction between a madman and a yogi. A madman is a
madman; he knows nothing; he has no connection with the
inner life, but the other type of madman has a connection with
spiritual life.
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the guru of Swami Vivek­
ananda, was like this. He was a priest in a temple and instead of
worshipping the deity, he used to worship himself. Such is the
tradition of the madman. These madmen have also been born
in the West from time to time, but they were either executed,
put behind bars or into mental hospitals. Those who survived
left for India. You are also welcome.
—10 May 1984, Toulon, France

YOGA 50 Jul 2023

Can a guru be mistaken?
Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Everything depends on the disciple. When a mother has a baby,

her baby is beautiful, ugly, healthy or paralyzed. Is the baby
bad for the mother? Whatever may be the state of the baby,

YOGA 51 Jul 2023

the mother has only one attitude for it: love, affection, care.
She does not base her affection on the actual condition of the
child. It is the same way with the guru and disciple relationship.
Many times disciples project themselves onto the guru and
then the guru is full of mistakes. There are many gurus who
be­have in a peculiar way, especially with the disciples who
live with them. They are never kind to the disciples. They are
never straight with the disciples. They keep the disciple always
under dis­tur­bance. That is the training, isn’t it? If the guru is
kind, affectionate and always lenient, how can the disciple
improve?
For example, how do you make a table? The carpenter
cuts the wood, bit by bit. It is a painful process for the wood.
Ultimately you have nice furniture. How do you make a shirt?
You have to cut the material with scissors. If only the piece of
cloth could feel, it would cry at every cut of the scissors.
Reorientation of a personality can never take place unless
there is a process of medication: sometimes affection, sometimes
harsh words, sometimes love, sometimes contentment,
sometimes praise and sometimes insults. This is how to train
the undeveloped mind of a disciple. It is not only the guru
who does it; you find the same thing in the world. This is the
law of nature. If everybody only loves you, praises you, gives
you affection and protection, you will never grow. You will not
become intelligent. If sometimes you get love, at other times
somebody hates you, somebody frightens you, somebody
protects you, the mind will undergo a state of fluctuation.
Awareness becomes broad. This is the law of nature and this
is the law of a guru.
When there is love, there is no mistake. I believe in this.
You see the mistake when love ceases to exist. For an intelligent
disciple, there is no mistake in the guru. When the disciple is
wavering and dwindling in his awareness, he can even see a
mistake when his guru is snoring in sleep.
—11 September 1980, Zinal, Switzerland

YOGA 52 Jul 2023

To Live the Positive
Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
I am not here to say good words, for good is the outcome
of transcending the bad. What is the use of saying ‘serenity,
regularity, absence of vanity’ when we are unable to apply
them in our own life? I am here to make us aware of the
restrictions that block us from experiencing the goodness that
Sri Swami Sivanandaji and Sri Swamiji have pointed out. We
believe in our convictions more than we believe in the teachings
of the master.
We believe that by practising meditation and chanting
mantra we can attain higher states of consciousness, however
that was never said in any book, satsang or in any of the
teachings of Swami Sivananda or Swami Satyananda. Their
teachings were an open secret – to be the best, to apply one’s
skills and qualities to achieve the best in life and to help people
achieve their best. In that way, you can become a human being.
To be a true human being is the last state of being a siddha.
It is this lesson that I think about. Not of asana, pranayama,
mantra and meditation, but how the masters, who have
touched our lives and inspired us, have told us to overcome
the negative and to live the positive. The positive cannot be
lived in meditation, the positive can only be lived in the world.
The positive cannot be lived in the Himalayas or in isolation,
it can only be lived in the world.
Therefore, Swami Sivanandaji and Swami Satyananda did
not advocate tapas for their followers, they did not advocate
moksha or self-realization for their followers. They advocated
‘Serve, Love and Give’. They advocated atmabhava where you
are connected to sattwa.

YOGA 53 Jul 2023

 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING
DONATIONS

Donations to the ashram will be received only under the following

‘Heads of Accounts’:

1. General Donation
To Bihar School of Yoga, Bihar Yoga Bharati, Yoga Publications
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Funds will be utilized towards developing and furthering the
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To Bihar School of Yoga Corpus (Mooldhan) Fund, Bihar Yoga
Bharati Corpus (Mooldhan) Fund, Yoga Publications Trust
Corpus (Mooldhan) Fund, Yoga Research Foundation Corpus
(Mooldhan) Fund
Interest income generated from CORPUS (MOOLDHAN)
FUND shall be utilized towards all the activities of the Society/
Trust.
3. CSR Donation
Funds will be utilized towards CSR activities.

Therefore, devotees are requested to send donations to the

above-mentioned account heads only.
Donations towards Bihar School of Yoga may be made through
‘SB Collect Online Donation Facility’ by directly accessing the
web address: https://www.onlinesbi.sbi/sbicollect/icollecthome.
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Donations can also be sent through cheque/D.D./E.M.O.
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A covering letter mentioning the purpose of donation, mailing
address, phone number, email ID and PAN should accompany
the same.

YOGA 54 Jul 2023

 Yoga Publications Trust

Guru Tattwa
Guru Poornima Satsangs 2009–2020
337 pp, Soft cover, ISBN 978-93-94604-21-6

The volume Guru Tattwa: Guru Poornima Satsangs

2009–2020 is a source of inspiration offered to
spiritual seekers on the auspicious occasion of
Guru Poornima. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
describes the tradition of this day, the role of guru
and the journey the disciple has to embark on to
experience the true meaning of guru tattwa, the
essence of the guru, and the beauty of the guru-
New
disciple relationship.
For an order form and comprehensive publications price list please contact:
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