GetWiki

{{Short description|Hindu spiritual teacher}}{{For|the second President of Ramakrishna Math|Shivananda}}{{Distinguish|Sivananda (yoga teacher)}}{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}

factoids

Pattamadai, Madras Presidency, British Raj>British India (now in Tamil Nadu, India) df=yes718878}}|death_place = Muni Ki Reti, Uttar Pradesh, India (now in Uttarakhand, India)|birth_name = KuppuswamiIndian people>Indian |guru = Vishwānanda Saraswati|philosophy = Yoga of Synthesis|founder = Divine Life Society |disciples = Shantananda Saraswati, Krishnananda Saraswati, Chinmayananda Saraswati, Satchidananda Saraswati, Vishnudevananda Saraswati, Sivananda Radha Saraswati, Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Jyotirmayananda Saraswati, Swami Sahajananda, Swami Chidananda, Venkatesananda Saraswati}}Sivananda Saraswati (or Swami Sivananda; IAST: Svāmī Śivānanda Sarasvatī; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963) was a yoga guru,WEB, Chetan, Mahesh, 10 Most Inspiring Yoga Gurus of India,weblink Indian Yoga Association, 16 August 2021, 5 March 2017, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of Vedanta. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, and was named Kuppuswami. He studied medicine and served in British Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism. He was the founder of the Divine Life Society (DLS) in 1936, Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy (1948) and author of over 200 books on yoga, Vedanta, and a variety of subjects. He established Sivananda Ashram, the headquarters of the DLS, on the bank of the Ganges at Muni Ki Reti, {{convert|3|km|mi}} from Rishikesh, and lived most of his life there.Divine Life Society Britannica.comBOOK, McKean, Lise, Divine enterprise: gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1996, 978-0-226-56009-0, 32859823, 164–165, BOOK, Morris, Brian, Religion and anthropology: a critical introduction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006, 978-0-521-85241-8, 252536951, 144, Sivananda Yoga, the yoga form propagated by his disciple Vishnudevananda, is now spread in many parts of the world through Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. These centres are not affiliated with Sivananda's ashrams, which are run by the Divine Life Society.

Biography

Early life

Swami Sivananda was born as Kuppuswami to a brahmin familyWEB, His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati Maharaj, Divine Life Society,weblink 16 January 2022, on 8 September 1887. His birth took place during the early hours of the morning as the Bharani star was rising in Pattamadai village on the banks of the Tamraparni river in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu. His father, Sri P.S. Vengu Iyer, worked as a revenue officer, and was a great Shiva Bhakta (Bhakti) himself. His mother, Srimati Parvati Ammal, was religious. Kuppuswami was the third and last child of his parents.WEB, H. H. Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati,weblink Divine Life Society, 25 August 2019, 2011, WEB, Swami Sivananda,weblink Yoga Magazine (issue 18), 25 August 2019, As a child, he was very active and promising in academics and gymnastics. He attended medical school in Tanjore, where he excelled. He ran a medical journal called Ambrosia during this period. Upon graduation, he practiced medicine and worked as a doctor in British Malaya for ten years, with a reputation for providing free treatment to poor patients. Over time, a sense that medicine was healing on a superficial level grew in Dr. Kuppuswami, urging him to look elsewhere to fill the void, and in 1923 he left Malaya and returned to India to pursue his spiritual quest.

Initiation

Upon his return to India in 1924, he went to Rishikesh where he met his guru, Vishvananda Saraswati, who initiated him into the Sannyasa order, and gave him his monastic name. The full ceremony was conducted by Vishnudevananda, the mahant (abbot) of Sri Kailas Ashram. Sivananda settled in Rishikesh, and immersed himself in intense spiritual practices. Sivānanda performed austerities for many years while continuing to nurse the sick. In 1927, with some money from an insurance policy, he ran a charitable dispensary at Lakshman Jhula.{{anchor|Yoga of Synthesis}}{{multiple image| align = center| perrow = 4| total_width = 800| header = | image1 = Krishnananda and Sivananda 1945.jpg| caption1 = Krishnananda and Sivananda (right), circa 1945| image2 = Swami Sivananda Swami Vishnudevananda am Ganges.jpg| caption2 = Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda along the Ganges, circa 1950| image3 = Sivananda Saraswati 1986 stamp of India.jpg| caption3 = Sivananda on a 1986 stamp of India| image4 = SwamiSivananda ValMorin 20070805.jpg| caption4 = Murti of Swami Saraswati at the Sivananda Ashram in Quebec}}

Founding the Divine Life Society

Sivananda founded the Divine Life Society in 1936 on the banks of the Ganges River, distributing spiritual literature for free. Early disciples included Satyananda Saraswati, founder of Satyananda Yoga.In 1945, he created the Sivananda Ayurvedic Pharmacy, and organised the All-world Religions Federation. He established the All-world Sadhus Federation in 1947 and the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948. He called his yoga the Yoga of Synthesis, combining the Four Yogas of Hinduism (Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Rāja Yoga), for action, devotion, knowledge, and meditation respectively.WEB, Sivananda,weblink Yoga of Synthesis, 29 May 2017, Sivananda travelled extensively on a major tour in 1950, and set up branches of the Divine Life Society throughout India. He vigorously promoted and disseminated his vision of yoga.BOOK, Goldberg, Elliott, The Path of Modern Yoga: the history of an embodied spiritual practice, The Path of Modern Yoga, Inner Traditions – Bear & Company, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 2016, 978-1-62055-567-5, 926062252, 326–335, His Belgian devotee André Van Lysebeth wrote that his critics "disapproved of both his modern methods of diffusion, and his propagation of yoga on such a grand scale to the general public", explaining that Sivananda was advocating a practice that everybody could do, combining "some asanas, a little pranayama, a little meditation and bhakti; well, a little of everything".JOURNAL, Van Lysebeth, André, The Yogic Dynamo, Yoga, 1981, September 1981,

Vegetarianism

Sivananda insisted on a strict lacto-vegetarian diet for moral and spiritual reasons, arguing that "meat-eating is highly deleterious to health".Rosen, Steven. (2011). Food for the Soul: Vegetarianism and Yoga Traditions. Praeger. p. 22. {{ISBN|978-0313397035}}McGonigle, Andrew; Huy, Matthew. (2022). The Physiology of Yoga. Human Kinetics. p. 169. {{ISBN|978-1492599838}}"Meat-Eating". sivanandaonline.org. Retrieved 22 January 2023.[https:www.dlshq.org/messages/vegetarianism/ "Vegetarianism"]. dlshq.org. Retrieved 22 January 2023. Divine Life Society thus advocates a vegetarian diet.

Mahasamadhi

Swami Sivananda died, described as entering Mahasamadhi, on 14 July 1963 beside the River Ganges at his Sivananda Ashram near Muni Ki Reti.BOOK, Ananthanarayan, Sri N., I Live to Serve – A Promise and A Fulfilment, 1965, Divine Life Society, Sivanandanagar, Tehri-Garhwal, U.A. India, Intimate Glimpses into Gurudev Sivananda’s Last Days Ë How the Holy Master Lived a Life of Unremitting Service to the Very End,weblink

Disciples

Sivananda's two chief acting organizational disciples were Chidananda Saraswati and Krishnananda Saraswati. Chidananda Saraswati was appointed president of the DLS by Sivananda in 1963 and served in this capacity until his death in 2008. Krishnananda Saraswati was appointed General Secretary by Sivananda in 1958 and served in this capacity until his death in 2001.Disciples who went on to grow new organisations include:

• Chinmayananda Saraswati, founder of the Chinmaya Mission
• Karunananda Saraswati, founder of The Valley of Peace yoga ashram in the Moonbi Ranges north of Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
• Sahajananda Saraswati, Spiritual Head of Divine Life Society of South Africa
• Satchidananda Saraswati, founder of the Integral Yoga Institutes, around the worldNEWS, Martin, Douglas, Swami Satchidananda, Woodstock's Guru, Dies at 87,weblink The New York Times, 21 August 2002,
• Satyananda Saraswati, founder of Bihar School of YogaENCYCLOPEDIA, Melton, J. Gordon, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices,weblink 2010, 4, International Yoga Fellowship Movement, 2nd, ABC-Clio, Melton, Baumann, J. Gordon, Martin, 978-1-59884-204-3, 1483,
• Shantananda Saraswati, founder of Temple of Fine Arts (Malaysia & Singapore)
• Sivananda Radha Saraswati, founder of Yasodhara Ashram, British Columbia, Canada
• Venkatesananda Saraswati, inspirer of Ananda Kutir Ashrama in South Africa and Sivananda Ashram in Fremantle, Australia
• Vishnudevananda Saraswati, founder of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, HQ CanadaBOOK, Krishna, Gopala, The Yogi: Portraits of Swami Vishnu-devananda,weblink 1995, Yes International Publishers, 978-0-936663-12-8, 15–17,

References

{{reflist|28em}}

Bibliography

• (1944) Yogic Home Exercises. Easy Course of Physical Culture for Men & Women, Bombay, Taraporevala Sons & Co.
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Siva-Gita: an epistolary autobiography,weblink 1946, The Sivananda Publication League, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Principal Upanishads: with text, meaning notes and commentary,weblink 1950, Yoga Vedanta Forest University, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Raja Yoga: theory and practice,weblink 1950, Yoga Vedanta Forest University, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Inspiring songs and kirtans,weblink 1953, Yoga-Vedanta Forest University, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Music as yoga,weblink 1956, The Yoga-Vedanta Forest University for the Sivananda Mahasamsthanam, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Yoga of synthesis,weblink 1956, Yoga-Vedanta Forest University, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Story of my tour,weblink 1957, Yoga-Vedanta Forest University, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Sivananda-Kumudini Devi, Sivananda's letters ro Sivananda-Kumudini Devi,weblink 1960, Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), India, Lord Siva and his worship,weblink 1962, Yoga-Vedanta forest academy, Divine life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Yoga practice, for developing and increasing physical, mental and spiritual powers,weblink 1966, D.B. Taraporevala Sons, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Fourteen lessons in raja yoga,weblink 1970, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Inspiring songs and sayings,weblink 1970, The Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Yoga Vedanta dictionary,weblink 1970, Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Kundalini yoga,weblink 1971, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), The science of pranayama,weblink 1971, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Ten upanishads: with notes and commentary 8th ed.,weblink 1973, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Sivananda vani: the cream of Sri Swami Sivananda's immortal, practical instructions on the yoga of synthesis in his own handwriting,weblink 1978, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Swami Sivananda, Practice of yoga,weblink 1979, The Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Autobiography of Swami Sivananda,weblink 1980, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Japa Yoga: a comprehensive treatise on mantra-sastra,weblink 1981, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Science of Yoga: Raja yoga; Jnana yoga; Concentration and meditation,weblink 1981, Divine Life Society, 0, 9781465479358, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Moksha gita,weblink 1982, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Samadhi yoga,weblink 1983, The Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Yoga samhita,weblink 1984, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda, The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: Sanskrit text, English translation, and commentary,weblink 1985, Divine Life Society, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami.), Karma yoga,weblink 1985, Divine Life Society, 978-0-949027-05-4, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Bhakti yoga,weblink 1 January 1987, Divine Life Society, Fremantle Branch, 978-0-949027-08-5, 0, none,
• BOOK, Sivananda (Swami), Lord Shanmukha and his worship,weblink 1996, Divine Life Society, 978-81-7052-115-0, 0, none,
• BOOK, Swami Sivananda, Raja Yoga,weblink December 2005, Kessinger Publishing, 978-1-4253-5982-9, 0, none,
• Sivananda and the Divine Life Society: A Paradigm of the "secularism," "puritanism" and "cultural Dissimulation" of a Neo-Hindu Religious Society, by Robert John Fornaro. Published by Syracuse University, 1969.
• From Man to God-man: the inspiring life-story of Swami Sivananda, by N. Ananthanarayanan. Published by Indian Publ. Trading Corp., 1970.
• Swami Sivananda and the Divine Life Society: An Illustration of Revitalization Movement, by Satish Chandra Gyan. Published by s.n, 1979.
• Life and Works of Swami Sivananda, by Sivānanda, Divine Life Society (W.A.). Fremantle Branch. Published by Divine Life Society, Fremantle Branch, 1985. {{ISBN|0-949027-04-9}}
• Sivananda: Biography of a Modern Sage, by Swami Venkatesānanda. Published by Divine Life Society, 1985. {{ISBN|0-949027-01-4}}

External links

{{commons category}}{{Wikiversity|Buddha oracle#33 Plan of the Day (Swami Sivananda)}}

• {{curlie|Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Hinduism/Gurus_and_Saints/Swami_Sivananda|Swami Sivananda}}
• {{Internet Archive author}}
• Biography and spiritual instructions

{{Hindu reform movements}}{{Modern Hindu writers}} {{Modern yoga gurus}}{{Yoga}}{{Authority control}}