Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart!

Divine Life Society Publication: Advices on Spiritual Living by Sri Swami Chidananda

Your blessedness and unique good fortune in this present life is something for which you have to constantly lift up your heart in gratitude and thankfulness to God. Rare indeed is it to obtain a human birth; rarer still is to have aspiration for Moksha; and rarest of all, is the blessedness of the contact of association with an illumined saint and sage.

O, Beloved Seeker: Can you realise now your blessedness? Endowed with the first two, you have had the greatest boon in the form of your contact and association with the Holy Master, the illumined Sadguru, Pujya Swami Sivananda. Awaken to this holy privilege. Count this blessedness rightly. Understand your wonderful good fortune. Be fully worthy of it. Ceaselessly seek the immortal. Aspire for liberation. Adore the Divine. Worship Him in gratitude. Pray to Him in thankfulness. Realise the grace. He has showered upon you. Utilise this wonderful life. Rise to sublime heights. Shine radiantly as an ideal person and a noble seeker and sadhaka.

Prepare to worship the Holy Sadguru. The sacred Guru Purnima now draws high. It is the great day of all days to every sincere seeker and disciple. See how you hast lived these 12 months. Has your life been a divine life? Have you radiated the Master’s Gospel through daily activities? Have you served thy neighbours selflessly? Have you engaged in humble Seva? Have you increased in thy love and devotion to God and Guru? Have you shared and given what He has granted you? Have you diligently sought to purify yourself and cultivate noble virtues in thy nature? Have you remembered God constantly and meditated upon him? Have you aspired after Divine Realisation with sincerity and earnestness and intensity of purpose?

Gurudev insists that from the very commencement of our sadhana, we should hold before the mind the ideal of an integral and harmonious development of all the aspects of the personality. Therefore the Sadhaka’s daily routine must contain element of all the four Yoga Margas. The mainstay of the daily routine should be the spiritualisation of the entire life of the Sadhaka. The goal of life should be ever remembered. This goal is the attainment of God-realisation. Whatever the external form the Sadhaka’s life be, the aim of his life should be God-realisation. Keep up the Nishkamya Bhavana in all your daily activities. This is the ‘easy sadhana’ of Gurudev. Never miss an opportunity to serve humanity.

Are you striving to be a true Sadhaka? Are you engaging in earnest sadhana? For, primarily Gurudev came to teach us the essence of Sadhana. He came to train and guide us in practical spiritual life. He wanted that our life should be ‘sadhanamaya’. Plunge into Sadhana; that is Sivananda; that is true discipleship, Sadguru Swami Sivananda stands for spiritual Sadhana in life. Be intent on Sadhana. Make your life an integral Sadhana. Stick to your path of Sadhana. Combine all your paths as harmonious helps.

Without Sadhana, Self-realisation cannot be had, Sadhana is indispensable. Regularity in Sadhana is indispensable. Sincerity and earnestness are the essential conditions for the fruition of all Sadhana. Make the coming 10-day period from Guru Purnima to Aradhana the commencement of new life of earnest and sincere spiritual Sadhana. Be sincere. This is the key-note of spiritual Sadhana. Let these 10 days be a period of intense spiritual Sadhana, for you, no matter where you are; at home, or at the Ashram. Let this period inaugurate a future of life-long dedication to ceaseless spiritual sadhana, in and through your ordinary daily life in this world.

To be a disciple is to be a Sadhaka; always remember this. Gurudev asks you; He looks and sees and tries to perceive what you—His disciple—have been. Look at thyself. Try to be transformed. Aspire nobly. Prepare to worship the Sadguru upon the holiest of Holy days—auspicious Guru Purnima. As the sacred Guru Purnima approaches, with its period of Sadhana, leading upto the solemn Maha Aradhana next month. I send out to you all, my prayerful good thoughts for your all-round welfare, spiritual progress and divine illumination. Even as the moon receives on the full moon day the glorious radiance of the sun in the fullest measure and shines brilliantly; even so, upon this sacred Guru Purnima Day, may you all receive the radiant spiritual light of Gurudev Sivananda in the fullest measure and shine brilliantly with Wisdom, Bliss and Divine Life. May joy and Blessedness be yours. God bless you.

My regards, Prem and OM to each one of you.

Jai Gurudev Sivananda:

At His Feet,
Swami Chidananda
Sivanandashram,
23.6.64.

Spiritual Calendar (Sivananda Ashram):

July 31 – Guru Poornima

Aug 8 - 52nd Anniversary of the Punya Tithi Aradhana of His Holiness Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj

Excerpts from: Enshrine Thy Guru In Thy Heart - Advices on Spiritual Living by Sri Swami Chidananda