SELF-KNOWLEDGE
By
SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
Sri Swami SivanandaFounder of The Divine Life Society
SERVE, LOVE, GIVE,PURIFY, MEDITATE,REALIZESo SaysSri Swami Sivananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1958Second Edition: 1986Third Edition: 1995(4,000 Copies)World Wide Web (WWW) Edition: 2002WWW site: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-053-3
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETYP.O. S
HIVANANDANAGAR
—
249 192Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,Himalayas, India.
INTRODUCTION
The life of man in this sense-universe is a life of temptation. Man is born forSelf-realisation. He is born for leading a religious life. But he is led astray by the temptations of hisenvironments.Heisspoiledbysociety.Hehasnotgotthestrengthofwilltoresistthetemptations.ADeputyCommissionersaid:“OSwamiji,theworldwantsbread.Iwantbread.Icareatwopence for the soul. Who wants the soul in these days? Nobody cares for spiritual matters.” I repliedhim: “You cannot live on bread alone, but you can live on OM, the symbol of Brahman. The mindwants mental food. The soul wants spiritual food.”The desire to attain knowledge of the Self will dawn in these proud, egoistic people onlywhentheymeetsomeadversities,calamities,troublesanddisappointments.Thedesiretoattaintheknowledge of the Self dawns in a person who is free from desires for sense-objects. Such a man,with a pure mind alone, is competent to tread the spiritual path.My heart is filled with joy to see those persons who are filled with spiritual Samskaras andwhoareattemptingforSelf-realisation.Eveninthisironage(KaliYuga),whenthevastmajorityof persons run after women and money, there are earnest and sincere young men who want God andGod alone. They are exalted personages indeed! My silent adorations to them!Are you always peaceful? Are you noble? Do you possess self-restraint? Are you endowedwithdivinevirtues?Areyoufreefromignorance?DoyoupossessknowledgeoftheSelf?Haveyougot illumination? Have you realised the immortal pure Self? How do you stand before thesequestions? If you have not got these things, then, come, sit down and read the lessons given in thisbook. Therein is the message of Amrita for you all. Even if you practise a little of this, you will gobeyond death, sorrow and pain.Lifeisagreatbattlefield.Lifeisaconquest.Toliveistofightfortheidealandthegoal.Lifeis a series of awakenings. You must conquer your mind and the senses. These are the real enemies.You must conquer internal and external nature. You must conquer your environments, old evilhabits, old evil Samskaras, evil thoughts and evil Vasanas. You must fight against the antagonisticdark forces. You must resist the forces of degeneration.The greatest victory is the victory over the turbulent mind. The greatest battle is the innerAdhyatmic battle. The greatest hero is one who has conquered the mind.Becomeahero.Conquertheformidablefoe,thisturbulentmind.Self-conquestismorethanmany a martyrdom. The inner fight, the fight with evil thoughts, evil Vasanas, cravings and evilSamskaras or mental impressions, is more formidable than the external war. The fight with themind and the senses is, indeed, more terrible than the outer war.Be a spiritual hero in the Adhyatmic battlefield. Become a brave, undaunted, spiritualsoldier. Fight against the mind, Vasanas, Trishnas, Vrittis and Samskaras boldly. Use themachine-gun of Brahma Vichara to explode the mind efficiently. Dive deep and destroy theundercurrents of passion, greed, hatred, pride and jealousy through the submarine or torpedo of
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