The aspect of bhakti and love is the highest spiritual quality. Swami Sivanandaji was one person who lived what he preached and preached what he lived. In everyone else there is a split, people preach something and lead a life which is different to what they preach. Everyone leads a double life. Spiritually enlightened beings live a single life as they are immersed in that experience of oneness, union and love. There is no split in their belief and their life, performance and actions. They preach what they live and live what they preach.
This was the nature of Swami Sivananda. He had a basic philosophy and three principles which he lived. The moment he became a sannyasin, and even prior to that, he lived this life according to the three principles of ‘serve, love and give’. That was his life. Although he might have attained the highest state of meditation and he might even have experienced samadhi, however the life he lived was devoted to service, loving everyone and giving to everyone.
When I look at the life of Swami Sivanandaji, I find him to be a unique personality. From time immemorial, people have spoken about the need to love and have given that as the goal and direction for every spiritual seeker, however nobody has said how to love. Nobody has defined the path to love. The path which is defined does not deal with the immediate behaviour and nature of the influences which we are subject to on a daily basis.
Swami Sivananda has defined the path to experience bhakti and transcendental love through a simple process known as pratipaksha bhavana, cultivation of the opposite behaviour. If you are thinking negative thoughts, think positive thoughts; if you are sad, negative, destructive, and have depressive emotions, convert them to positive, creative, constructive ones. If your behaviour is not acceptable to others, make the effort to make it acceptable. Be good and do good. Always keep connected with the positive in life and the more you connect with the positive in life, the more creative and more evolved you become. This can be applied in day-to-day situations.
How long have I been here in the ashram? I also sweep and have my area, however do I get bored? I have been doing that for forty years. Do I get bored? No. Why? It is due to an attitude of mind. Whatever I do, I am doing it for the first time in my life. So, every day when I am cleaning, I am doing it for the first time in my life. Nothing is carried over from yesterday. I don’t even think about how this place was cleaned by me yesterday, or why I need to clean it today. No. Every day is a new thought that whatever I do is a new beginning for me, even if it is picking up a pen and writing, talking, cleaning, whatever the activity may be. Always try to improve it and make it better.
Would you say that is routine work? I would say no. You get fed up with routine work, however we don’t since every day is a new beginning for us. The inspiration which we had on the first day, carries on and continues even after forty years. It is the same inspiration, the same zeal and the same motivation ‘I’m going to do it’. That is the proper application of the vidya, not just knowing and saying, ‘Okay, now what? What do I do to develop my creativity?’ and then go into a depressive mood. However, if you learn to enjoy every moment as if it is the first moment of your life and apply yourself completely and totally to make whatever you are involved in the most beautiful thing possible, over a period of time, you will be creatively using the faculties of head, heart and hands.
This is the teaching of Swami Sivananda. Maintaining positivity, optimism and hope leads to the eradication of the negative devils in the mind. When the negative devils are gone, the good devils come up. I don’t call them angels. Angels are still beyond the good devils. Good devils say, ‘Now I’m going to make the effort to do something nice.’ You become an angel when everything that you do is nice; when you make the effort to change, you become a good devil. Try to understand and apply this in your life.
Make the effort to remain connected with the positive nature and the qualities that are inherent in you; put aside all those emotions which are coloured by the six conditions of the mind. That is when you are on your way to becoming positive, becoming light, becoming luminous and immersing in divine energy which is love and unites everybody.