September 11, 2026
A holy man, who was a contemporary of Swami Sivananda's told us a beautiful story. In those days there were not many English-speaking swami's and the villagers love to hear these swamis speak in their own language - Hindi. This swami, a wonderful man, was fascinated by the appearance of this young Sivananda, who was very young and radiant. He saw something great in him. It seems he got hold of Sivananda and said, “come and stay with me for a month and I will teach you Hindi. Afterwards, you can travel and thrill all audiences with your dynamic, radiant personality!” Swami Sivananda stayed only three days - the fourth night, he quietly slipped away. “This is not my path. This is not what I am here for; not to imitate this man, but to find myself.”
And I think that is what he wanted all of us to do. “What am I here for in this world? The what is my unique role to play in this world?” That each one has to discover - then that itself acts, enriching one's life.