June 8, 2026
In the countless books that Gurudev has written he has expounded the traditional doctrines, flavoring them with his own charm and simplicity. They are meant to cater to the spiritual needs of all temperaments and capabilities. In his own life, he exemplified the perfection that at once combined all the essentials of the different branches of yoga. Yoga means integration; and he emphasized integral yoga, thus underlining the truth that perfection is all-round perfection and not partial perfection.
Gurudev not only gave us textbooks on different aspects of yoga and of the unique alchemy that transformed daily life into divine life, but he also showed by his own highly successful, dynamic, devout, mystic and enlightened life that the yogi is a perfect administrator; a perfect master; a perfect karma yogi who does everything efficiently and in the right spirit; a perfect devotee who lives a life of total self-surrender; a perfect raja yogi whose life itself is continuous meditation and samadhi; and a perfect jnani whose enlightenment is perfect and leaves no shadow of doubt.
Gurudev, who was incarnate love, did not demand that everyone should attain this perfection overnight; he recommended and taught a step by step approach to perfection. His prescription for spiritual evolution is an expansion of consciousness in concentric circles. The goal or the ideal is the summit; but it is the immediate next step that is vitally important to the pilgrim.
Gurudev saw no contradiction in the monastic, dualistic and pluralistic doctrines at all. In our own daily lives we experience body consciousness, self-consciousness (as in dream) and unconsciousness in deep sleep. It is possible to combine service (in body consciousness), worship (in self-consciousness), and egoless meditation (in transcendental consciousness) at the same time. Such was the message of his own life which was at once colorful, glorious and enlightened. To contemplate ut is to assimilate divine life. May he guide us from within our own hearts.
To the devotee everything is the gift of God; therefore he is constantly contented.