September 10, 2026
When I watch the life of such a great man at Swami Sivananda, what example do I follow? What we usually do with all the great masters is to follow all the convenient examples. What suits me, I follow; but I cannot do what is uncomfortable for me, and therefore when he does what does not suit me, I say: “Oh, he was so great; I cannot do this." I put them on a pedestal and worship him — and what is comfortable, nice, pleasant, I blindly copy. That won't do.
One has to get saturated with the teachings; not only as they were embodied in his writings, but also in his life. One must watch, one must listen with a whole of one's being open. Your whole being will be open to these teachings only if you are not even anxious about how you are going to apply them to your life. "How am I going to get self-realization the day after tomorrow, through this?" Even that anxiety must go. I must let these teachings and the incidence of his life soaked through my whole being, so that then, from there, the teachings themselves will act. The whole being is transformed. Then it is possible for life to undergo drastic and complete change.