In the 1940s during the Second World War, the message of Swami Sivananda was not of atma and paramatma, not of the discovery God. He had a practical message: ‘Improve the quality and the condition of your life. Come out of the negative quagmire and attain divinity in life’.
Swami Sivanandaji did not name his ashram ‘yogashram’ or ‘vidyashram’. He said, “This is the place where you can come to overcome, transform and transcend your limitations and negativities. You come to connect with the positives in life, and once you begin to express the positive, your life becomes divine.” Therefore, ‘Divine Life Society’ was the name of his organization. The name was not ‘ashram’. It was a society, a group of people who were making the attempt to overcome their limitations, their tamasic nature and attain sattwa and creativity. This did not happen because they were meditating, chanting mantras and practising yoga. This transformation and change happened in them for they were able to follow the teachings of their master.
25 July 2018, Guru Poornima, Paduka Darshan, Munger