All the sannyasin disciples of Swami Sivananda, within whom the spiritual fire was lit, became as great and illuminated as their master. History bears witness to this. All his disciples are stalwarts in their own right, they became masters who guided and inspired many to discover peace, contentment and inner union with the higher Self.
Our own guru, Sri Swami Satyanandaji, is one such disciple.
All the disciples of Swami Sivananda became like Swami Sivananda. Just as if you put thirty or forty sticks of wood in a fire, they will all begin to burn and become fire. In the same manner, these disciples opened their minds and hearts to Swami Sivananda and he entered into them, the guru tattwa became alive within all of them. The ideals of seva, service, sadhana, perfection, samarpan, dedication, conviction and faith, infused by Swami Sivananda came alive in each one of his disciples.
Swami Sivanandaji used to say that you cannot become enlightened through meditation. You can practise meditation because it pleases you, yet do not expect any results from meditation except self-hypnosis. To derive the maximum benefit from meditation, you have to fine-tune your personality, character and nature. How many people do that? Nobody wants to change their nature, mentality, behaviour or thoughts, yet they want to practise meditation to have higher experiences of life. Impossible! Swami Sivanandaji guided each one and his instructions were: Do whatever you have to do, practise hatha yoga, raja yoga, kundalini yoga, kriya yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, mantra yoga, japa, do everything, but at the same time make the effort to change the quality of your mind.
He gave eighteen qualities to improve the quality of mind, personality and nature. One has to make the effort to maintain serenity in all situations and conditions of life. We are all subject to stress, tension, anxiety and frustration. We are unable to maintain our inner peace and are swayed by the force of ambitions, desires and ideas, which give birth to pleasure and pain. Whether we are in pain or whether we are experiencing pleasure, the mind is never balanced. We move from one state to the other without any balance. Swami Sivananda used to say, “A conscious effort has to be made to maintain serenity and peace in one’s life. It has to be taken up as a sadhana. Just as you practise mantra and meditation as a sadhana, the cultivation of serenity in life should also be a sadhana. Do not expect serenity to be a reaction, response or an outcome of things that you do, rather make the attempt to discover your inner peace and serenity.”
In this manner, he gave eighteen points which are the ’18 ITIES’ of Swami Sivananda. Strive for and acquire serenity: observe situations and conditions which serve you and which distract you, learn to manage them so that you are able to remain serene. Regularity comes next. Whatever you do, be regular with it, whether it is your job or sadhana. Make the effort to be regular, no matter how busy you are. You always find time to eat and drink, to gossip and sleep, no matter how busy you are. In the same manner, always find time and be regular in your effort to improve yourself. The third ITY is absence of vanity. Remove vanity from your mind because vanity distracts the mind from its purpose. The next one is sincerity. Cultivate sincerity in thought, word and deed, be simple. Do not try to show something that you are not, do not put on different masks to project yourself, just be natural and simple, live a simple and natural life.
These are the instructions Swami Sivananda has given: serenity; regularity; absence of vanity; sincerity; simplicity. be truthful – veracity; equanimity; be focussed on your goal – fixity; do not get irritated by little pinpricks and mosquito bites but maintain non-irritability; learn to adapt to every situation and condition. Just as water can take any form as it flows over stones, through holes and around curves, learn to adapt yourself to different situations in life – adaptability; manage your ego expressions and cultivate humility; integrity; nobility; magnanimity; cultivate charity; cultivate generosity; attain purity.
In this manner, he has outlined eighteen qualities or ideas that modify mental, external and social behaviour to discover and attain peace. Once you are endowed with these eighteen qualities, real spiritual development can take place. Until such time, you are only flirting with whatever you do, whether it be meditation, yoga, kriya or being in company of the guru. It is recommended that sincere spiritual seekers should choose one quality a month or a year and develop it in their life. If you want to cultivate serenity in your life, pick that up and work on it. Observe the situations and conditions that disturb and distract you, and take away your mental balance, peace and harmony. Isolate yourself from those negative influences to maintain your serenity. Work at it for one month, two months, for three months, for one year. If you can, cultivate one quality every year, in eighteen years the spiritual light will manifest within you. Without going into heavy philosophy, Swami Sivananda used to explain the process of spiritual life in a simple way and by inspiring people to adopt one quality, the spiritual journey used to become smooth and pleasurable.
From the beginning, he would inspire people to cultivate drashta bhava, the attitude of a witness. He used to say this very clearly, “You can read any scripture, any book, you can use your intellect at any time but remember that the intellect can never give you enlightenment. You can read about God, you can read about other seekers of the universe and try to understand them intellectually, that’s fine, but you will never have realization and experience. This can only come through faith, not through intellect. Intellect is all right for knowing, faith is necessary for experiencing and realizing.” In this manner, he inspired many people to live a simple life.
His spiritual teachings were clear. He said, “There are eight stages or steps in spiritual sadhana which you have to climb. When you climb these eight steps, your sadhana will be complete.” What are these eight steps? The first step is purification: purify yourself, your thoughts, mind and emotions. Think the right things, do not think negative things. Purification is the first step of spiritual sadhana. The next step is to develop concentration; nothing can be achieved without concentration. The third step of spiritual sadhana is developing the ability to reflect on things that you have done, reflect on your mistakes and achievements and try to find your centre, your balance.
Meditation is the fourth step of the sadhana and illumination in meditation is the fifth step. When you meditate and the object of your meditation comes alive, that is called illumination. Like when there are objects in a dark room, you cannot see them in the absence of light. However, if you shine a torch in the room the objects will be seen. In the same manner, our own spiritual nature is unknown to us. When we focus our mind through concentration and meditation to attain a specific goal or result, the object of meditation becomes illuminated and identification takes place in the course of time.
Paramahamsaji has explained this to us many times. Once identification takes place, you are absorbed in that experience and that is when salvation happens. Purification, concentration, reflection, meditation, illumination, identification, absorption and salvation are the eight stages of spiritual sadhana given by Swami Sivananda.