The Wisdom and poems contained in this little book were compiled from the inspired Spiritual Messages written by Sivananda-Valentina over a five-year period, 1964 - 1969. The thoughts herein presented were gathered, not with the intention to give a comprehensive survey of all the Teachings of Sivananda-Valentina which broadly deal with the Synthesis of Yoga, but rather to inspire the mind, to uplift the heart, to kindle the inner Flame of those who aspire to discover and to lead the divine life. We hope to gradually expose to the aspirant world all the inspiring words of Sivananda-Valentina.
Sivananda-Valentina, Herself, is the perfect example, nay the very embodiment, of all that She has realized and thence so generously shared in Her writings. It is the Divine Light cast by Her complete Selflessness, Service and Love for all that illumines the Path for those who are receptive to Her emanating Rays of Truth.
With the prayer that all who read these pages will be further challenged to seek, this book is devotedly dedicated to our Beloved Guru, Sivananda-Valentina.
May Her Love kindle all hearts
May Her Compassion heal all wounds,
May Her wisdom engender straight-knowledge,
May Her Heart lead all to Eternal Life!
1969
You mention my teachings! They are not mine. I am nobody. How can I teach anybody? all I can do is to share what I adore and know as Eternal Truth. It is not I who teach - it is you who learn! Behind me is my Gurudev. I feel pure when I think of him, it is true. And you know why? Because I don't think of myself at that time. and also because I see the Lord in him.
Vivekananda said: "The Guru is the bright mask which God wears in order to come to us. As we look steadily on him gradually the mask falls off and God is revealed."
Behind my Messages is the luminous power of Gurudev, whose every word and thought burn like a sacred flame within my heart. May you be kindled!
June 1964 - Message 4
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Why do I admire and adore beyond words the great Soul whom I chose as my Master? Is it because of His tremendous erudition? Is it because of His amazing administrative genius? Is it because He has established the Divine Life Society in the midst of the Himalayan solitude and then brought it down to the whole wold? Or is it because of His books? No. Even His Wisdom would not compel my devotion.
I adore Gurudev because He is a great Saint. Because He has realized God. And because He had the divine power to make out of me that what I am now: an ardent devotee of the Lord. Saints transform our lives - no one else does.
October 1965 -Message 1
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Who am I? -- I am an Immortal Spiritual Soul because I move, live, love and
have my existence in Him who is Infinite, whom I cannot localize or finitize
because He is Endless. He is something stupendous and infinitely Beautiful;
that is the only reason why, even through my finite perceptions, I can appreciate
Beauty. He is infinitely loving, and that is why I love even with my imperfect
ways. Whatever I an - is because He IS. I know now through special intuition
that He permeates everything, including me and you. And if He, who is Infinite
sustains me - nothing finite can be of my real nature. Thus - I am His Ray
and, in fact, I am He, for where is that "I" who can do something without
Him? Thus, my true Home is timeless, spaceless and infinite. This I know
not through reasoning, but through feeling, but through peculiar
"straight-knowledge".
April 1966 - Message 4
Only when the thinker in us realizes that he knows nothing and that intellectual efforts will only lead him into the debris of metaphysical subtleties without bringing any peace or wisdom, only then we are ready for the second step; - surrender to the Center Power - the Spirit - the fragment from the Eternal Divine Flame.
Vichara, or Enquiry of "Who am I", is not the process of logic and speculation,
it is a far more subtle and profound technique of highest portion of our
intellect, which is the discriminative faculty of the thinker. This reflection,
contemplation and concentration penetrates into the very core of created
things, facts and ideas and discards them all as unreal! "Only Atman is Real"
- and thus starts the highest thought man is capable of conceiving. Enquiry
becomes - a poetry. It is not a mere dry jargon or repetitious affirmation
about the Lord being real and the world unreal! After thoroughly understanding
that intellectually we know nothing about the Self - we surrender to that
very Real Self (manifested as the Guru, as the Savior within your own heart)
and by the Grace we acquire the true awareness of the Presence of the Beloved
within. We come nearer to Him through:
Do we identify ourselves with our mind? If so, we are only a mental image created by our own mind - such as: "I am handsome; I am wealthy; I am popular; I am learned." When this subtle egoity and unrestricted mind-stuff into spiritual pursuits: "I am so moral! I am a good Christian; I am a devout Jew; I am advancing in Yoga!" All the same I-I-I-I - only differently labelled. Thus, unless there is a complete control of this I-ness, the inquiry of "Who am I" will remain in the realm of intellectual exercise and will not bring us closer to the Indweller.
How then do we know if we are approaching the Self - with the right spirit? There are many sublime signs. One of them is timelessness and I-lessness! When time ceases to exist, we are near Him! We perceive Him in the Sublime Golden Peace ("Golden" because there is Light in front of our mental gaze and loss of body and ego consciousness - only THAT - the golden THAT). With profound ecstasy, the heart cries; "Lord - talk; 'this' (not 'I' but this 'receptive instrument') is listening to Thee!" We then do not think any more - we know.
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Believe intelligently - not blindly - introspect; can you be this body which comes and goes? Can you be this mind which changes eery minute? Then who are you? - real you? There must be someone Immortal within you - call it Soul, Atman or Self! Can this Soul be afraid of anything? Indeed not! The most terrible that can happen is death, and once the Soul is Immortal and cannot die - what is all this fuss about phobias and fears and complexes? The moment you will feel what I tell you now - you will be free from your fears. practical advice; fill up your mind with divine thoughts. Before going to bed, write down a verse from Gita or Bible, and in the morning re-read it. Carry it with you throughout the day. During the office hours, recollect the sacred verse. The words of the Bible or Bhagavad Gita are not just moral words - they are charged with superhuman power because they were given by God Himself.
***
"Science tells us that the ultimate goal of everything is unknown and unknowable; but the Vedanta teaches us that the ultimate goal is Brahman, the Infinite, and that it can be realized through hearing, reflection and meditation."
And Gurudev gives you the seven means of liberation (from all monsters):
The study of scriptural books with aversion for bad company and self-interest."
Swami Sivananda
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The fact that essentially we human beings are Spirits does not miraculously transform us into saints. Saints only, can realize God. If a sinner sometimes does - there is a superhuman instantaneous transformation which first makes him pure -then gives him realization of his true nature. Divine virtues build spiritual character and are, in truth, the measure of human worth.
The Divine Spark within us knows Itself as Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Eternal, but when this Infinite Being is operating though Its "garment" - the individual Jiva, It recognizes Itself through the sheaths, which It has built through contact with the inferior realms of names and forms.
You notice how, while performing Pranayama, you get rid of your"hardness"; while concentrating on lofty ideas you get glimpses of Truth, etc.. Yet the next morning finds you again heavy, slothful and inert. The reason is that mostly - you function in your physical and lower subtle bodies and only now and again go to the purified mental body, which gives you temporary inspiration.
The subtle body in man has three functions:
The first is repository of various thoughts, ideations, etc.
The second - identifies one's I-ness with the body and the senses. The "I-I-I" principle is a powerful deceiver! It all the time catches the flow of thoughts and emotions and identifies itself with them and with the insentient body.
And only the third principle, the High Mental Body (Buddhi in Sanskrit) has the power of discrimination, and intelligent, strong UNDERSTANDING and supreme insight. All intuitive illumination, all immediate knowledge comes from this part of your being which is closely connected with the Soul.
Thus, understand:
Your inspiration comes when you step out from the body consciousness; your inertia, hardness, heaviness, anger, irritability, greed come when you return back to it! In other words, all our higher experiences are supra-mental; our lower - are between the physical and the mental.
***
It seems to me that your greatest foe is impatience! What if you do not attain to the Supreme Consciousness? If you only would understand the tremendousness of your goal - you would acquire true patience which will bring with it true humility. Just pray and wait. It is not up to us to judge whether we are qualified for higher spiritual experiences or not! Just keep on doing your best - be sure that He will graciously do the rest! But do not hurry Him!
Oh my Lord, Thou art Light. I know, I see, I live in this Light. Skepticism vanishes with the first experience of That. Great Saints are sad only for others. In themselves they are full of special Joy. Thomas … Kempis often calls this earthly life - "miserable." Yes, so, but only then miserable when it is mistaken for reality. Never miserable when THAT is realized behind the screen, as well as in the midst of the whole show. Thus, the little Jiva tastes the Presence of the Joy-giver and exclaims; "Flow-flow-flow-Life!" Just as the Sun is penetrating every bit of earth and air, even so THAT (God) is permeating every bit of this (individual soul). No more questions, Only the subtlest silent discrimination. And this discrimination constitutes Vichara. We then simultaneously feel know and experience the flow of the Central Force into our body, mind, senses and intellect via our Soul, which is the Residence of the Lord. Lord - work! We give up. He is the only DOER! We stretch the whole Soul to him: Lord-Lord - Thou art Life - O Life, come forth! Vitalize and animate this Jiva. And "this Jiva" loses her independent existence. This Jiva again and again exclaims: O, my Lord - I am Thine, only Thine, Thine!
HE IS NOT OURS; - WE ARE HIS!
No matter how eloquently, sincerely and ardently we try to explain the innermost experience - we shall not reach the mind which still associates itself with body and personality.
***
"Ego is the steel wall that separates man from the Lord or the Immortal Atman. It is a stinking substance that has brought down man from his highest level of divinity and made him degenerate into a being with base animal instincts and brutal impulses. It is a magical chemical manufactured in the laboratory of Maya, which has made him forget his original, essential divine nature and run after shadowy toys of mundane, perishable combinations of opium, alcohol, wine, brandy, gin, whisky and something else, whose composition is unknown to scientists and even to Brahma, the Creator!
"It is a mysterious gas, which evaporates into nothing for an inquirer, but appears like a granite rock for a man of indiscrimination and worldliness which cannot be blown out even by dynamite and potent bombs.
"It (ego) is highly powerful. Its ways are peculiar. Its mysterious working is beyond the reach of the intellect. It is insidious and treacherous in its invasion and onslaught. It brings down a Yogi or a Sannyasi, who has ascended to a great height in the Ladder-of-Yoga, to a low level in a twinkle of an eye. It assumes various forms, attacks in various ways and deludes a man.
"The whole world is a play of ego. Ego, sex and world are inseparable. If you understand the nature of ego - you have understood the whole mystery of creation. Therefore, scrutinize. Study of ego is imperatively necessary. It will help you in the attainment of Eternal Bliss or the Ultimate Reality.
"You say: 'This body is mine,' The vultures, jackals, and fishes also say: 'This body is mine.' This body, mind, Prana, senses, etc., are all the combinations of the five elements. They are all modifications of the Prakriti (undifferentiated matter) only. Where is the 'I' then? The ego is an illusory nothing, fabricated by the Juggler-mind. Nothing can be said to exist which is not produced by some cause. This body, which is produced by Karmas is not itself the cause; the knowledge or consciousness that we have of it is itself illusory. Therefore, Ahamkara (self-arrogating principle, the sense of 'I', self-conceit; identification of consciousness with personality) and other effects which are produced through the delusion of knowledge - is also non-existent.
"The Real 'I' is only the Sat-Chit-Ananda - Brahman.
"Do not identify yourself with the physical body. Identify yourself with the Supreme Self or the Para Brahman.
"You might have reduced or thinned down your egoism to a very great extent, but if you are still susceptible to censure and praise - know that the subtle egoism is still lurking in you.
"This ego will lurk like a thief when you start introspection and self-analysis.
It will elude your understanding. You must be ever alert and vigilant. "If
you obtain the grace of the Lord through Japa, prayer and devotion, you can
easily kill this ego. Through Lord's Grace alone your self-surrender will
become perfect. When this ego melts in the Cosmic Ego, you will attain communion
with the Lord through Self-Realization!"
Swami Sivananda
Vichara or "Who am I" method of Self-discovery should go hand-in-hand with general self- abasement, spirit of self-sacrifice, disinterestedness in the worldly vanities, etc.
The Sattwic qualities should be thoroughly cultivated. The wisdom of the purified thinker will then be united with the flame and ecstasy of the purified Lover.
Jnana and Bhakti are inseparable in the end; only at the beginning they look different.
Valentina's smile about Self-Inquiry:
And Self-Inquiry? This is Jnana Yoga - the very profound one! "I am not this and that" - this is the first stage of Self-questioning. I am not this body. I am not this mind nor even the deeply reasoning faculty. Who then am I? A student usually is discouraged by such inquiry, because the restless mind (the lower intellect) is ever ready to give stupid or morbid answers. "Who am I?! Sure, I know! I am a dope. A miserable sinner! A phony!" And maybe the outer personality is all that. But now your task is precisely to abandon the outer. But zealously carry on the contemplation on the Luminous You - within your Spiritual Heart. That which is Ecstatic Bliss is verily the Self.
Self-Enquiry leads to not the intellectual debates within our mind but to subtle Realization of the Everlasting Being. Silence is the result of Vichara. Atma Vichara destroys the subtle desires and generates Knowledge.
O, Truth, which is God - make us one with Thee! For all that we have, hear, read or study, if without Thee, is grievous and sorrowful.
Extracted from various Messages