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YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
By
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
SERVE, LOVE, GIVE,
PURIFY, MEDITATE,
REALIZE
So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
Eighth Edition:
1999
(2,000 Copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition: 2000
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-055-X
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. S
HIVANANDANAGAR
—
249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
That this book has already run into eight editions is in itself the best tribute that can be paid
to this, one of the first books written by Sri Swamiji Maharaj.
About the book and its author, we cannot do better than to quote from the Publisher’s Note
to the first edition of this book, in which Sri Em. Airi writes:
“His Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati needs scarcely any introduction to the vast
multitudes of reading public that pants for spiritual unfoldment and Self-Realisation. The revered
Yogi belongs to the ages and ranks amongst the blessed souls who have had the good fortune to
taste the Nectar of Cosmic Consciousness. In clear, simple and impressive style the Swami
addresses the young and yet inexperienced spiritual aspirants and lays down before them the
fundamentals of spirituality and the various means essentially requisite for Divine Wisdom.”
“This book is a message from the great Yogi of the Himalayas to the helpless and
bewildered seekers of Truth. This inspiring and soul-stirring little volume will, we venture to say,
undoubtedly contribute its mite to the moral and spiritual perfection of the human race in general
and the aspirants in particular. As we wish to present this volume in a popular and a presentable
style, it is printed on good paper and got up excellently well. If this book appeals to the
broad-minded and expanded hearts amongst the religious reformers and also aspirants, the
Publishers’ labours will have been sufficiently recompensed.”
We reiterate Sri Airi’s pious wish as we offer this priceless treasure to the blessed
aspirant-world.
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
Man wants happiness. He shuns pain. He makes various sorts of efforts (Pravritti) to get
happiness from objects and gets himself entangled in the meshes or snares of Maya. As these
objects are perishable, finite and conditioned in time, space and causation, he fails to get the desired
happiness from the objects. This world is Apurna (imperfect) and there is uncertainty of life. A
barrister talks at the telephone, ascends the staircase to take his meals upstairs and dies on the
staircase.
There is not an iota of happiness in objects and they are Jada (insentient). Even the sensual
pleasure is a reflection of Atmic Bliss only. Just as a dog which sucks a dry bone in the streets
imagines foolishly that the blood comes from the dry bone, whereas, it really oozes from its own
palate, so also worldly-minded persons foolishly imagine that the happiness they enjoy comes from
the objects only.
There is a mental uneasiness, dissatisfaction, discontent and restlessness even in
multi-millionaires and kings. Some kind of sorrow, misery or pain is always present even when you
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are in the height of enjoyment of worldly pleasures. When the marriage of your second son is
celebrated the remembrance of your first son who passed away, torments your mind. Mind is so
constituted that the rhythm of pleasure and pain is kept up like the rhythm of systole and diastole
(contraction and dilation) of heart. You entertain the idea that the happiness will pass away soon.
This adds pain when you are in the enjoyment of sensual pleasure.
You can find eternal, infinite, supreme peace and bliss, only in the Atman of your heart. It is
an embodiment of bliss (Ananda Swarupa).
All objects that you see consist of five parts, viz. Nama-Rupa-Asti-Bhati-Priya (name,
form, existence, knowledge, bliss). Nama and Rupa constitute the world. They are the cause for
human activities and sufferings. Asti, Bhati and Priya are the Svarupas of Atman or Brahman or
Moksha.
Amongst the things desired by human beings of this world, Moksha alone is the best and
highest thing. The means (Sadhan) for Moksha is Atma Jnana (knowledge of the Self or Atman),
Vichara of “Who am I?” or significance of “Tat Tvam Asi” Mahavakya. This is the means for
attainment of Brahma Jnana.
Moksha is desired in order to get rid of the pains of Samsara which are in the form of birth,
death, disease, old age, etc. Moksha can hardly be attained without Sadhana.
Some say, that Karma is the Sadhan for Moksha. Some other say, that Karma and Jnana
combined (Samucchayavada) is the means. Sri Shankara has refuted the Karma and Samucchaya
theories by strong, sound, convincing arguments and has established the Truth that Kevala Jnana
(pure knowledge alone) is the means for Moksha. Just as fire is the direct means for cooking food,
so also Brahma Jnana is the Sakshat Sadhana (direct means) for Moksha. The famous Mandana
Misra (Sureshwaracharya) disciple of Sri Sankara has also said in his reputed book Naishkarma
Siddhi that Kevala Jnana alone is the means for Moksha.
Do not say: “Karma. Karma. My Karma has brought me like this.” Exert. Exert. Do
Purushartha. Do Tapas. Concentrate. Purify. Meditate. Do not become a fatalist. Do not yield to
inertia. Do not bleat like a lamb. Roar OM, OM, OM like a lion of Vedanta. See how Markandeya
who was destined to die at his sixteenth year became a Chiranjeevi, an immortal boy of sixteen
years on account of his Tapas! Also note how Savitri brought back to life by her Tapas her dead
husband; how Benjamin Franklin and late Sri T. Muthuswamy Iyer of Madras High Court elevated
themselves. Remember, my friends, that man is the master of his own destiny. Visvamitra Rishi,
who was a Kshatriya Raja, became a Brahma Rishi like Vasishtha and even created a third world for
Trishanku by his power of Tapas. Rogue Ratnakar became the sage Valmiki through Tapas. Rogues
Jagai and Madai of Bengal became highly developed Saints. They became the disciples of Lord
Gauranga. What others have done, you also can do. There is no doubt of this.
You can also do wonders and miracles if you apply yourself to spiritual Sadhana, Tapas and
meditation. Read the book ‘Poverty to Power’? by James Allen with interest and attention. You will
be inspired. Draw up a programme of your life. Follow my Twenty Spiritual Instructions and Forty
Golden Precepts. Adhere to the “Spiritual Daily Routine” prescribed by me. Apply yourself with
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zeal and enthusiasm to Sadhana. Become a Naishtic Brahmachari. Be steady and systematic in your
Yogabhyasa. Assert. Affirm. Recognise. Realise. Shine in your native pristine Brahmic Glory.
Become a Jivanmukta. You are the children of light and immortality. “Tat Twam Asi—Thou art
That,” my dear readers.
This is a book with a message of hope, success in life, of peace, of bliss and of the secret of
life itself. Herein will be found the Way to Peace, to Truth, and to the Abode of Immortality, eternal
sunshine, infinite Joy and Knowledge (Nirvana or Kaivalya) or the final beatitude, the highest goal
of life.
Swami Sivananda
YOGA IN DAILY LIFE
Cultivate indomitable will. Practise self-control and self-mastery. Have self-confidence.
Develop independent judgment. Do not argue. Strive ceaselessly for Self-realisation. Kill this little
ego. Develop pure love. Rise above all distinctions of caste, creed and colour. Give up the idea of
‘I-ness’, ‘Mine-ness’. Look within for the happiness which you have sought in vain in the sensual
objects.
Moksha is the
summum bonum
of life. It is freedom from births and deaths. It is not
annihilation. It is annihilation of this little ‘I’. It is obtained through knowledge of the Self. You will
have to know the Truth through direct intuitive experience. You will have to cut asunder the veil of
ignorance by meditation on the Self. Then you will shine in your pristine purity and divine glory.
Do not try to drive away the unimportant and irrelevant thoughts. The more you try, the
more will they return and the more strength will they gain. You will only tax your energy and will.
Become indifferent. Fill the mind with divine thoughts. The others will gradually vanish. Get
yourself established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi through meditation.
Without perfect Brahmacharya, you cannot have substantial spiritual progress. There is no
half measure in the spiritual path. Control the body first. Then purify your thoughts through prayer,
Japa, Kirtan, Vichara and meditation. Make a firm resolve, “I will be a perfect Brahmachari from
today.” Pray to the Lord to give you spiritual strength to resist the temptations of life and kill lust.
Constant study of the lives of saints will enable you to lead a virtuous life. You will imbibe
very noble qualities. You will be gradually moulded in the spiritual path. You will draw inspiration
from them. There will be an inner urge in you to attempt for God-realisation. Pray to the Lord that
you may become a saint.
Swami Sivananda
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