Sri Swami Sivananda
Founder of
The Divine Life Society
PURIFY, MEDITATE,
REALIZE
So Says
Sri Swami Sivananda
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. SHIVANANDANAGAR\u2014249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
\u201cHis Holiness Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati needs scarcely any introduction to the vast multitudes of reading public that pants for spiritual unfoldment and Self-Realisation. The revered Yogi belongs to the ages and ranks amongst the blessed souls who have had the good fortune to taste the Nectar of Cosmic Consciousness. In clear, simple and impressive style the Swami addresses the young and yet inexperienced spiritual aspirants and lays down before them the fundamentals of spirituality and the various means essentially requisite for Divine Wisdom.\u201d
\u201cThis book is a message from the great Yogi of the Himalayas to the helpless and bewildered seekers of Truth. This inspiring and soul-stirring little volume will, we venture to say, undoubtedly contribute its mite to the moral and spiritual perfection of the human race in general and the aspirants in particular. As we wish to present this volume in a popular and a presentable style, it is printed on good paper and got up excellently well. If this book appeals to the broad-minded and expanded hearts amongst the religious reformers and also aspirants, the Publishers\u2019 labours will have been sufficiently recompensed.\u201d
Man wants happiness. He shuns pain. He makes various sorts of efforts (Pravritti) to get happiness from objects and gets himself entangled in the meshes or snares of Maya. As these objects are perishable, finite and conditioned in time, space and causation, he fails to get the desired happiness from the objects. This world is Apurna (imperfect) and there is uncertainty of life. A barrister talks at the telephone, ascends the staircase to take his meals upstairs and dies on the staircase.
There is not an iota of happiness in objects and they are Jada (insentient). Even the sensual pleasure is a reflection of Atmic Bliss only. Just as a dog which sucks a dry bone in the streets imagines foolishly that the blood comes from the dry bone, whereas, it really oozes from its own palate, so also worldly-minded persons foolishly imagine that the happiness they enjoy comes from the objects only.
