My first virtual encounter with 'Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi' :
There are so many Indian Saints, who've deeply influenced me in life, but none as much as Swami Sivananda Saraswathi.
The memory of the picture, lovingly posted above, is indelibly impressed in my subconscious mind since very early childhood.
It was perhaps the year 1964-65. Appa's Antique book shelves in 'Reliance Jute & Industries', where Appa was working with this 'Jardine & Hendersons Group of Companies', founded during British Raj in India, had loads & loads of old second-hand books from College Street, in Calcutta. Among them was a small sand hill of fresh issues of Bhavan's Journal from 'Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan', of Bombay ( Today's Mumbai ).
There are so many Indian Saints, who've deeply influenced me in life, but none as much as Swami Sivananda Saraswathi.
The memory of the picture, lovingly posted above, is indelibly impressed in my subconscious mind since very early childhood.
It was perhaps the year 1964-65. Appa's Antique book shelves in 'Reliance Jute & Industries', where Appa was working with this 'Jardine & Hendersons Group of Companies', founded during British Raj in India, had loads & loads of old second-hand books from College Street, in Calcutta. Among them was a small sand hill of fresh issues of Bhavan's Journal from 'Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan', of Bombay ( Today's Mumbai ).
The Journal started with the following lines in each issue:
आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः ।
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.
- Rig Veda
And inside one of these issues of 'Bhavan's Journal', I saw an article of 'Swami Sivananda Saraswathi' with the above Sacred, Holy, Sublime, Soul-stirring picture.
I was a small school kid then. I knew English alphabets, but was not educated enough to read the article, leave apart understanding the article. :)
I loved the picture of the Saint, but I didn't know then about the greatness of this greatest, renowned Sage of modern India. As mentioned, I was a small child then ; but my memory of this unforgettable picture of Gurudev is still so green, and still lingering in my mind, even after so many decades.
It's the same great Saint of Bhavan's Journal of 1964-65, who later became 'Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi' for me, years after his departure from this Planet.
Only later in life, while attending the Induction Training for Officers at ONGC HQ, Dehradun, my very first job after graduating from the 'Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur', where 'Trascendental Meditation' was part of our 'Corporate Induction Training', I learnt about my great Gurudev through one of his finest books on 'Concentration & Meditation', issued at the training along with other technical books. And my journey started then & there, JUSSSST Then & There, and I haven't looked back since then.
Today Gurudev is my greatest Guru, My Sadguru, My Sadguru Paramatman. And I feel, at every step in the journey of my life of great ups & even greater downs, he's guiding me, invisibly holding my hands, like a dear father would hold his dearest child's hands !!!
On my way back home to Calcutta ( Today's Kolkata ) from Dehradun via New Delhi, I picked up a beautiful book on Yoga, Pranayama of Swami Sivananda Saraswathi in 'Nayi Sarak', a street in the National Capital of New Delhi, known all over the country for all kinds of books, on any imaginable subject under the Sun of our Solar-System.
This street, I mean Nayi Sarak is in the National-Capital of India, and is located in the extremely vibrant, fun-filled Chandni-Chowk area of New Delhi. And these are just some of the smallest examples of the typical Indian city life today, in the busiest of Metros in this country. These are the rare joys, that attracts millions of tourists to India, every year in hordes, from every nook & corner of the globe, along with of course India's age-old Spiritual -Wisdom, Spiritual Ashrams of enlightened Sages, Yoga, Pranayama, Meditation & Ayurvedic Healthcare & Spas.
Kottakkal Arya Vaidyashala, in the South Indian State of Kerala, also known as 'God's Very Own Country', is one of the many finest examples of World-Class 'Ayurvedic-Centres', in India.
The book, that I picked up at Nayi Sarak in early 80's, is still there in my home-library, though very yellow & extremely decayed today, due to age related degeneration, but still full of blissful old memories of early days.
Can't believe, this is the very picture of a brilliant successful Medical Doctor, who permanently said 'Good-Bye' to a very lucrative overseas medical career, in search of the 'Divine' & became a dispassionate mendicant, renouncing all worldly ties.
Just wanted to share, at this sublime morning hour, some of the sublime quotes of this immensely Sacred & Holy Indian-Subcontinent, the Supreme-Status enjoyed by the 'Gurus', I mean 'Spiritual-Teachers', since time immemorial, in this very ancient civilization of Bharathavarsha :
Life for me is unusually busy these days, with the regular hectic family-responsiblities & eldercare-responsibilities, of a typical Indian homemaker, with of course the regular Spiritual-Sadhanas of this struggling soul, on its path to evolve, reach the very Ultimate Goal of life, and never to come back again to this Earth-Plane, to suffer loaded & immersed in grief, miseries & agonies. The only joyous desire to come back again to this plane of existence, would be to be some great use the mankind, all over the globe, nothing besides that.
These days, Even the very mention of a sacred, holy visit to Sivanandashram at Rishikesh, in India, of The Divine Life Society, is simply a 'Joy', a 'Bliss', a 'Bliss' inexplicable for me, anytime of my life on this mundane Planet.
-----------------------------
Disclaimer :
"The inspiring & amazingly beautiful 'Images' on top, featured in this Blogpost, are the sole properties of their sole owners. My deepest sense of gratitude to all of them, whether him or her or of any gender, for making this small sublime write-up a reality. If the inclusion of these inspiring 'Images' in this Blogpost is unacceptable to the actual owners, & they do not want these pictures anywhere here, the 'Great Sacred, Holy Souls' may kindly send me a message with the details and the link to the picture, and I will remove the pictures right away. Unfortunately I was unable to discover the names of the artists, the Great World-Wide-Web ( WWW ) being full of Copy-Cats of all kinds, like me. : ) . I didn't want to put the wrong name of the artist either, without being sure about it. That would have been total injustice to the real artist. But I MUST, MUST admit before the Whole-Wide-World ( WWW ), that the 'Images' were indeed great inspiration for me, to begin this Blogpost:) :) "
आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः ।
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.
- Rig Veda
And inside one of these issues of 'Bhavan's Journal', I saw an article of 'Swami Sivananda Saraswathi' with the above Sacred, Holy, Sublime, Soul-stirring picture.
I was a small school kid then. I knew English alphabets, but was not educated enough to read the article, leave apart understanding the article. :)
I loved the picture of the Saint, but I didn't know then about the greatness of this greatest, renowned Sage of modern India. As mentioned, I was a small child then ; but my memory of this unforgettable picture of Gurudev is still so green, and still lingering in my mind, even after so many decades.
It's the same great Saint of Bhavan's Journal of 1964-65, who later became 'Gurudev Swami Sivananda Saraswathi' for me, years after his departure from this Planet.
Only later in life, while attending the Induction Training for Officers at ONGC HQ, Dehradun, my very first job after graduating from the 'Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur', where 'Trascendental Meditation' was part of our 'Corporate Induction Training', I learnt about my great Gurudev through one of his finest books on 'Concentration & Meditation', issued at the training along with other technical books. And my journey started then & there, JUSSSST Then & There, and I haven't looked back since then.
Today Gurudev is my greatest Guru, My Sadguru, My Sadguru Paramatman. And I feel, at every step in the journey of my life of great ups & even greater downs, he's guiding me, invisibly holding my hands, like a dear father would hold his dearest child's hands !!!
On my way back home to Calcutta ( Today's Kolkata ) from Dehradun via New Delhi, I picked up a beautiful book on Yoga, Pranayama of Swami Sivananda Saraswathi in 'Nayi Sarak', a street in the National Capital of New Delhi, known all over the country for all kinds of books, on any imaginable subject under the Sun of our Solar-System.
This street, I mean Nayi Sarak is in the National-Capital of India, and is located in the extremely vibrant, fun-filled Chandni-Chowk area of New Delhi. And these are just some of the smallest examples of the typical Indian city life today, in the busiest of Metros in this country. These are the rare joys, that attracts millions of tourists to India, every year in hordes, from every nook & corner of the globe, along with of course India's age-old Spiritual -Wisdom, Spiritual Ashrams of enlightened Sages, Yoga, Pranayama, Meditation & Ayurvedic Healthcare & Spas.
Kottakkal Arya Vaidyashala, in the South Indian State of Kerala, also known as 'God's Very Own Country', is one of the many finest examples of World-Class 'Ayurvedic-Centres', in India.
The book, that I picked up at Nayi Sarak in early 80's, is still there in my home-library, though very yellow & extremely decayed today, due to age related degeneration, but still full of blissful old memories of early days.
Can't believe, this is the very picture of a brilliant successful Medical Doctor, who permanently said 'Good-Bye' to a very lucrative overseas medical career, in search of the 'Divine' & became a dispassionate mendicant, renouncing all worldly ties.
Just wanted to share, at this sublime morning hour, some of the sublime quotes of this immensely Sacred & Holy Indian-Subcontinent, the Supreme-Status enjoyed by the 'Gurus', I mean 'Spiritual-Teachers', since time immemorial, in this very ancient civilization of Bharathavarsha :
Life for me is unusually busy these days, with the regular hectic family-responsiblities & eldercare-responsibilities, of a typical Indian homemaker, with of course the regular Spiritual-Sadhanas of this struggling soul, on its path to evolve, reach the very Ultimate Goal of life, and never to come back again to this Earth-Plane, to suffer loaded & immersed in grief, miseries & agonies. The only joyous desire to come back again to this plane of existence, would be to be some great use the mankind, all over the globe, nothing besides that.
These days, Even the very mention of a sacred, holy visit to Sivanandashram at Rishikesh, in India, of The Divine Life Society, is simply a 'Joy', a 'Bliss', a 'Bliss' inexplicable for me, anytime of my life on this mundane Planet.
-----------------------------
Disclaimer :
"The inspiring & amazingly beautiful 'Images' on top, featured in this Blogpost, are the sole properties of their sole owners. My deepest sense of gratitude to all of them, whether him or her or of any gender, for making this small sublime write-up a reality. If the inclusion of these inspiring 'Images' in this Blogpost is unacceptable to the actual owners, & they do not want these pictures anywhere here, the 'Great Sacred, Holy Souls' may kindly send me a message with the details and the link to the picture, and I will remove the pictures right away. Unfortunately I was unable to discover the names of the artists, the Great World-Wide-Web ( WWW ) being full of Copy-Cats of all kinds, like me. : ) . I didn't want to put the wrong name of the artist either, without being sure about it. That would have been total injustice to the real artist. But I MUST, MUST admit before the Whole-Wide-World ( WWW ), that the 'Images' were indeed great inspiration for me, to begin this Blogpost:) :) "
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