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Guru is the gate through transcendental Truth-Consciousness. But it is the aspirant who has to enter through it.
October 1966 - Message 1
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There is no greater Love than that of the Soul. There is a sparkling, colourful link between the fortunate ones who love each other in spirit. Intimacy becomes so subtle and pure that no physical proximity is necessary. There is a profound, silent adoration only.
September 1967 - Message 3
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The concept of spiritual transmittance on one hand and spiritual receptivity on the other - is the purest and the sublimest flower of soul-relationship. This surpasses all relationships in all the worlds! For it is a sacred bond, an inspiring endeavor and a Divine Enterprise. The fact that this sublime tradition is known to all nations of all times - shows that the Supreme Power revealed Itself to the whole humanity in the form of reverence, gratitude, humility and obedience of the disciple; and of fiery dedication, self-giving and lofty transmission of the Preceptor.
June 1966 - Message 1
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Real hunger for Truth starts only when all the toys of the world become meaningless to you. And then you simply have to meet someone who will whisper a word of Hope to you. Such is the Cosmic Law.
September 1964 - Message 2
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We are drawn Karmically and cosmically to a certain great Soul who has intimate affinity with our own soul and who powerfully enters our inner life the moment we are ready for His Guidance - never before this sacred moment! The inner contact between the Guru and the disciple is a miraculous contact. It happens not between the two personalities, but between the two Souls.
August 1964 - Message
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How to tell the true Guru? First of all - you have to be a true disciple. Only a true musician can immediately tell you the worth of Mozart. Only the one receptive to colours - can recognize the true beauty of a masterfully painted landscape. Only a poet can rejoice at high poetry. And only a true disciple and seeker after Truth -can tell the true Guru.
February 1965 - Message 4
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How do we tell our Guru? By transformation which takes place in our souls. Gurudev Sivananda, like a virtuoso musician, took my soul and played a wonder-tune on it. It was a short song, but it was a song of a genius musician. It resounds and will resound eternally in my Soul. Gurudev magically consumed the accumulations of lives of sensuality in my soul. He liberated me from ego. He simply and powerfully opened the Gates to Infinity. And what is more, He transmitted to me His patience in serving others and in loving them impersonally.
This is the Power of the true Guru when the Soul is ready to receive.
May 1965 - Message 1
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To think intensely is to attract the object of our thoughts. To think continuously about the loftiest aspects of our chosen Ideal is to be immersed in deep meditation. The quality of feeling which is behind our thoughts defines our spiritual progress.
Who is a Guru and who is a disciple? He, verily, is the Guru, who kindles your heart and who transmits the Truth to you powerfully and masterfully. And he is the disciple who reverently and ardently absorbs the Truth and applies it.
The more affinity between the Guru and the disciple - the more miraculous are the results of transmission on one side - and assimilation on another. Till the greatest miracle takes place and the two souls merge into One.
November 1964 - Message 4
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Our true life starts when we turn away from mundane friendships and loves and ardently seek the eternal comfort of Spiritual Love. And who can love and give more than Guru, or the one who is sharing spiritually what he himself knows and loves best? No one, no one in all the worlds!
Guru loves impersonally. Disciple - at first - adores most passionately and personally; then, through the Grace and example of Guru, he acquires the ability to enter the Guru's very heart and identifies himself with the Beloved. Then there is Peace, which allows the formation of our new character.
Our solitude is not exclusiveness but union with the Supreme through the Guru. Through intense aloneness, with Guru-Bhakti in our hearts, we acquire Wisdom and skill. We become rightly expressed and rightly subdued. We become well harmonized. Our Guru-Bhakti immunizes us from lesser loves but increases sympathy and compassion within us.
Guru is everything. It is only through Guru-Bhakti that we are able to derive strength, insight and are able to deal with the world harmoniously.
September 1967 - Message 2
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The true disciples absorb the hidden, the sacred and the secret part of Guru's life. If one is ready for such absorption - one does not have to sit literally at His Lotus Feet. The Guru will come right into your heart where you are. You will hear His call also regardless where you are. The Lord Himself arranges for the meeting of the souls at the right hour. Nothing can take away from us what is Cosmically ours. And nothing can be given unto us, unless it is already ours.
We should adore not the personality but the Sublime Light in our Guru. In proportion to this adoration we grow. The purer the devotion - the deeper the results. If we are not purified - our devotion is mere emotion.
In the case of true devotion, Guru transmits His own divine Light, and we grow into His likeness. It is not even the wisest words of the Guru that change us and deliver us from dark ignorance. It is His vibration, His Divine Psychic Energy that mysteriously operates through our heart and links our consciousness with the Sublime Consciousness of the Guru. Finally, through His Grace, we become aware of the Guru of all Gurus, the Indweller of all hearts - the God within ourselves.
March 1966 - Message 2
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You have to have a chosen Guru. He is your Guru who leads you most triumphantly Godwards. And He should be adored as God Himself, for God's Grace manifests itself as a Guru. This worship by no means dilutes our devotion to God - on the contrary - it brings us closer and closer to Him.
My Child - I can tell you that this is so. If not for my absolute concentration for the past few years on the Adorable Gurudev - I would not be able to tell you what I shall tell you now, namely: Guru is Life Eternal, Love Everlasting, Song Celestial!
Yes, Guru is Divine Sweetheart, nothing less! The adoration of Guru is based mainly on tremendous gratitude. It is so overwhelmingly beautiful to find a perfect soul who not only is gloriously and superbly pure, wise and knowing, but who also is a precise answer to all our spiritual needs. A real Guru opens all the potentialities of disciple's soul... In all my worship is always the sweetness of Guru-Presence. This Presence inspires immensely and accelerates the process of all Sadhanas.
February 1966 - Message 4
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Tall talks bring us nowhere, but devotion to Guru brings us to God. Guru is All-in-All, and by His Grace everything becomes possible. Please try to understand not through your stubborn heads, but through your soft lovely hearts: Guru should be adored as God Himself, because God uses Guru's saintly and completely purified body and mind to bring Enlightenment to the disciple.
The greatest obstacle to God-Realization is our ego. By worshipping the Guru, we certainly become humble, and eventually we crush our ego to pieces.
February 1964 - Message 3
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You should firmly depend on yourself and God. Guru shows the Way but you yourselves should walk, climb and reach. Guru serves the food, but you should masticate, swallow, digest and assimilate fully.
When you depend (as almost all people do) on lectures, organizations, books, etc., you get some temporary enthusiasm and a little informational knowledge, but your mind is progressively degenerating on subconscious level, because you do not awaken the higher faculties, such as INSPIRATION, DEVOTION, AND FAITH. Only if you have these qualities, your Guru becomes not just an academic authority, but the very breath of your life. For Guru's ideas then become yours in such an intensive way that they start, continue and fulfill your Sadhana through the force of devotion within you. Self effort becomes inspiration.
September 1966 -Message 4
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Without Guru, our evolution is a mechanical, endlessly slow process; with the Guru - it is a joyous and conscious march onward. It is our sacred and intimate relationship with the Supreme which is deeply hidden within the core of our hearts. Our Praise to Guru is Praise to God or to the Supreme Truth. It is Yoga - it is an intelligent cooperation with the Divine Will.
July 1965 - Message 1
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Without an ardent, flaming adoration of Guru - neither service in the world, nor meditation and seclusion, are fruitful. In order to succeed - we ought to be constantly inspired by a glorious example.
March 1965 - Message 2
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It is wrong to be attached to the "dear ones".
It is just as wrong to allow others to be infatuated, fascinated or charmed
by us.
It is right to see the divine element in every human being - nay, in every
creature.
It is right to see only God in your Guru. "He who sees a human being in his
Guru - is a beast", says Sivananda.
September 1968 - Message 2
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After thoroughly understanding that intellectually we know nothing about the Self - we surrender to that very Real Self (manifested as the Guru, as the Saviour within your own heart) and by the Grace we acquire the true awareness of the Presence of the Beloved within. We come nearer to Him through:
June 1967 - Message 1
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When you are fully captivated by the godly qualities of your Guru, you concentrate on them with tremendous force. Special hours for meditation becomes silent communion with the highest within yourself through the awareness of the highest within your Guru.
The constant awareness of Guru's Perfection is in itself meditation. This is a matter of experience. The more you practice this constant inner communication with the Beloved Soul - the more intense and habitual it becomes. You turn to Him with utmost simplicity because you feel His intimate Presence all the time. You can talk to Him and you can hear His Voice too. Your "talk" is, of course, not an ordinary conversation. It is the exalted praise, admiration and adoration.
September 1965 - Message 4
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Divine Love is based on self-less Love, on absolute purity and desirelessness. Or should we say - on one-pointed, crystallized and purified desire, which becomes an ardent longing to fuse with the Beloved, to become His, to be with Him in absolute Divine Union.
September 1965 - Message 4
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Guru is the visible God.
The tangible contact with the Supreme,
The blessed bridge for the crossing of the ocean of Untruth.
September 1965 - Message 4
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The best weapon against all the vices is Prayer and Silence.
The best technique of eradication - LOVE of Guru and God.
The best tempo of application: presto-prestissimo as far as self-surrender
to the Wisdom of Guru and - molte-andante-morendo - as far as your own
willfulness is concerned! There is nothing more effective and quick in results
than Guru-Bhakti.
April 1966 - Message 2
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To praise the Guru is a divine joy.
To spread his precepts is a great privilege,
But to practice the great teachings of the Guru
In our day-to-day life
Is an austere obligation.
July 1967 - Message 2
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Guru Purnima is another opportunity to prostrate at the feet of Sivananda. I bless His unseen but tangibly-felt Hand which touched my heart and transformed it into flaming devotion! This is the Grace - the Miracle.
The Grace of the Guru is mysterious. It is not His preference, volition or caprice. Neither is it an ordinary tit-for-tat relationship of human affection, manifested in exchange of gifts, charm, attachment, allurement and what not!
But, rather, it is the mysterious current of Love Eternal, which flows powerfully and victoriously. It moves with thirst and frenzy from the ecstatic heart of the Guru towards the absorbing heart of the thirsty devotee. It is Primordial Love which only waits to fill up the right receptacle!
July 1967 - Message 2
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I sit now at the dusk, facing the magic colours of the sky and the sea. The sky is silvery-blue, with the most delicate shades of gold and pink. The sea-gulls and the pelicans are soaring on the background of these colours. The waves dance, catching each other. The breeze tells its own little story. It is a busy, restless, rajasic breeze! It tries to report too many things at once.
And so I sit and think about my Gurudeva. He is so far, but I feel Him in this sweet scenery. I gaze and gaze into the space, till I fuse with these colours; I merge in Him through His sweetness which surrounds me everywhere.
I dedicate every breath to my Guru whom I feel so near, so dear, so within me. Does it reach Thee? I know it does.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya.
(From old diary leaves)
July 1968 - Message 4
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Not to long even for the Grace;
Not to expect even guidance;
Not to depend even on the Guru -
Is true achievement,
But to become ONE with Guru and God
Is true fulfillment!
If we recognize Perfection, (the truth of the TAT TWAM ASI!)
We become this very Perfection!
Even glimpses of this thrilling Awareness
Liberate us from hypnotization into flesh.
June 1968 - Message 4
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Valentina, indeed, is gone - there is only Gurudev. It is all - all Sivananda! The perfect Soul can, indeed, transform the imperfect soul into HIS likeness. The Grace of Guru knows no limits. The way He leads, inspires and enlightens is a profound mystery. His powers are infinite. Death makes Him more alive and more powerful, for He, then, is minus His human, limiting adjuncts - body and mortal mind.
Let everyone choose what they may; I have chosen God. I thought of Him as an immense Heaven of exquisite Rose-Petals. Through the sweet and tender fragrance of this Beautiful Veil, the Divine Smile shone. This smile materialized as Swami Sivananda: the powerful flow of God's Divine Fragrance came down and became Sivananda. I caught His fragrant breeze which became the fragrance of my own soul. Whoever He sends to me is only partaking of His rose Petals! Be blessed. Soar!
May 1967 - Message 3
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Reverence to Guru is a guarantee for our growth. Humble surrender to his benign will unifies us. Worshipful adoration of his sublime character sublimates our human passions and prevents the unhealthy and selfish attachment. Concentration upon the guru's precepts starts our sadhana-proper. In proportion to this concentration, all the worldly interests gradually leave us and we find ourselves in sacred union with the Beloved Soul.
The thrill of this sublimation of personal feelings knows no words of description. It liberates from previous likes-dislikes; it removes frustrations; it makes us fearless through the new awareness of Guru's Presence, Guidance, Love, Protection - everything which the heart can dream about.
May our chosen Ideal dwell in the very core of our hearts in all moments of our lives. Even in sleep, the Guru should be remembered, for he is the beat of our hearts and the essence of our lives. Sat Guru Jaya!
June 1966 - Message 1
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In God I live and move,
In god I have my being,
Direct is my contact with Him
Through worshipful receiving.
My Wisdom is Guru - how can I err?
He is my thoughts - how can I be mistaken?
I waste no time, for Gurudev
Designs the Life Divine -
And is the only Doer.
My Guru works through me,
So I am always working rightly -
The right things do I think,
The right way and in moments right.
My work is always done
Only because it is not "mine" -
All work is Gurudev's.
My thoughts are fresh and strong and clear
Because I think in prayer-form,
And prayers are the Handiwork of Guru.
These prayers have the power of an eagle
Yet gentle are they as a dove,
They go forth in the Master's Name -
So how can they return unsolved?
Such prayers do accomplish
That which I wish -
They prosper in the things
Whereto I send them,
For God and Guru do the work,
I only pray and wait and watch and love -
And thank!
June 1966 - Message 3
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Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya
My Gurudev left
His uncomfortable garment
Which was worn out
And put on a luminous
Beautiful sparkling Mantle
This Mantle is made
Of untearable luminous tissue;
It does not tear or wear;
It is extremely lovely;
It is golden and light;
It has blue and rose;
It has the rainbow of colors,
Just as His sacred heart was many-colored.
My Lord, forgive my despair,
Now I am healed.
Because I think of Thee only,
Not my pain.
May Thy Power be transmitted
To this miserable world.
May I, Thy servant, disciple and lover
(Yes, my loveable Lord,
I love Thee even as the Gopis did),
May Thy devotee -
Sivananda-Valentina
Acquire Thy Peace,
Strength and Wisdom.
May this be transmitted
Now to all those who
are near and dear and
Who need it most.
Oh, my adorable Lord,
Bless this week.
Om Namah Sivaya.
August 1963 - Prayer first week
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