September 5, 2026
Swami Sivananda was fond of what he called ‘namaskara yoga’. ‘Namaskara’ is greeting everybody with humility and reverence in an attempt to see the presence of God in all. Yoga is nothing if it does not lead us (no matter how quickly or how slowly) in the direction of the realisation that that which is omnipresent has no duality in it.
How does this wisdom or knowledge arise? Is it possible for the thought that thinks that there is diversity to cease without another thought arising, suggesting that there is no diversity? The two thoughts think of the same diversity. Whether you say that I exist or I do not exist, I am there in your mind. Diversity does not cease to be by merely raising another thought called unity, another thought called omnipresence, another thought called infinity. It only adds to our worries. The one that is infinite is not opposed to diversity. The infinite is not the opposite of diversity, and therefore by creating another thought called infinity we are not going to solve the problem of diversity.
Be a Christian if you want, but see that in and through the content of that religion is God. Be an atheist if you want, but the content of that atheism is God. Be what you want to be – the content of what you are in reality is God. That is the beautiful approach of Krishna and also of Swami Sivananda.