Swami Sivananda A Modern Sage (Excerpts from the book ‘Sivananda Upanishad’)

Part II

Dissemination of Knowledge

The habit of giving was ingrained in him. When Sivananda advanced in his spiritual practices and tapped the mine of spiritual wisdom at greater and ever greater depths; he shared the wealth of his spiritual experience with others through conversation, lectures, letters, leaflets and articles in periodicals. Pilgrims who met Swamiji began to correspond with him when they returned home. Others who read his tracts wrote to him. Sivananda replied to those letters and gave spiritual advice.

Swami Sivananda considered the gift of knowledge, as the greatest gift. For this, Swamiji felt the printing press to be more important than the platform. What was heard might be forgotten in a day, but recorded knowledge would be of lasting benefit.

Everyone who wrote a letter to Swamiji or sent the smallest donation got some leaflet or pamphlet. Whenever Sivananda went out on tour, he made it a point to have spiritual literature printed for free distribution. But Swamiji was not quite content with this method of leaflet distribution. With the growing of the Society, he felt that something must be mailed regularly to his correspondents. In September, 1938 was born "The Divine Life", the monthly magazine of the Divine Life Society.

Then in 1939, Sivananda got his first book published. ‘Practice of Yoga—Vol.I" was printed in Madras. For more than two decades, Swamiji had to have his books printed by outside presses. Even after the Ashram press was started, it could not at first cope with all the production jobs that he wanted undertaken.

Swamiji attached so much importance to this work of dissemination of spiritual knowledge that even when there was a financial crisis in the Ashram, he refused to slow down the tempo of work on the publication side. He was willing to shut down the kitchen, but not the press. "We can all go to the Kshetra and live on alms", he would say, "but the Jnana Yajna must go on".

(To be continued in May, 2005 issue)

© "The Divine Life " (September 2000) published by The Divine Life Society, The Sivananda Publication League, Shivanandanagar 249 192, Tehri-Garhwal Dist. Website: www.divinelifesociety.org. Reprinted with permission. Part I of this article appeared in Splendour, March 2005 issue.

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