Gurugram May 2023 | Preface

Om Namah Sivaya
Blessed Self
Spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere. With temperatures getting warmer, nature is blossoming, bringing fresh energy and new hope.
It was again a dynamic month with many teachers’ training courses taking place throughout the organisation with inspired groups of students. Attendance seems to be picking up everywhere for classes and courses. The Ashrams and centres continue to attract sincere spiritual seekers, eager to take on the path of yoga to transform their lives.
The energy of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda is felt strongly everywhere, guiding us in our sadhana and service.
We wish you inspiration and strength on your path.
OM and prem
Swami Kailasananda for the Acharyas of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres.

Join us for the monthly Sivananda “Meditation for a Peaceful Planet” on Sunday 4th June, 2023 at 2pm CEST. Check our website for information. https://sivanandaorleans.org/unite-for-a-healthy-planet

Donations: Your donations and financial support would be very gratefully received by any of the International Sivananda Yoga Centres and Ashrams. Please contact any Sivananda Ashram or Centre on how to proceed.

Your strength should not be the strength of gun and bank-balance. It should be the invincible strength born of wisdom and discrimination. – Sri Swami Sivananda

2023 Update

SIVANANDA YOGA Teachers’ Training Courses are available both Online (TTCOL) and in-person in residence. Please check with each TTC/ATTC location for any TTCOLs.
Please check with each TTC/ATTC location whether COVID-19 has affected your selected course.

The SIVANANDA YOGA Teachers’ Training Courses are available either online (TTCOL) or in residence, depending on the location. Please check with each TTC/ATTC location whether your selected Teacher Training Course is available online or in residence as some Ashrams have opened, while others remain closed. Thank you for your patience as schedules change during COVID.

To view all 2023 TTC/ATTC/SI courses on the Sivananda website: https://sivananda.org/teachers-training/programme-calendar/

See the full list of other international courses and events: https://www.sivananda.org/

Do not hate the evil-hearted, the jealous and the selfish. It is they who promote your salvation. – Sri Swami Sivananda

From Discourse IV: “Kaivalya Pada – On Realisation”

IV.8 tataḥ tad-vipāka-anugṇānām-eva-abhivyaktiḥ vāsanānām
From these (threefold Karma) is manifested fruition that corresponds to the desires or tendencies.
Commentary:
Each person enters a life situation according to his past Karma. His reaction to the situation is determined by his desires or tendencies. If he wants power or material wealth he will eventually receive them, but he must then suffer the pain that goes with them. If he wants only liberation, he must go through the discipline to achieve it, and that goal will be achieved.

Obstacles and unfavourable circumstances are God-sent chances to make you more steady and strong in will. – Sri Swami Sivananda

Chapter VI: The Yoga of Meditation

VI.26 yato yato niścarati manaścañcalam asthiram
tatastato niyamyaitad ātmanyeva vaśaṁ nayet

From whatever cause the restless, unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it and bring it under the control of the Self alone

Commentary:
Here the Lord gives the method of controlling the mind. Just as you drag a bull again and again back to your place when it runs out, so also you have to drag the mind to your point of concentration or centre repeatedly, when it runs towards external objects.
If you feed the bull with cotton seed extract, sugar and plantains, it will not run away but remain at your place. Even so, if you make the mind taste the eternal bliss of the Self within little by little through practice of concentration, it will gradually abide in the Self only, and not run towards the external objects of the senses.
Sounds and objects only make the mind restless and unsteady. By knowing the defects of the objects of sense-pleasure, by understanding their illusory nature, by cultivating discrimination between the Real and the unreal, by developing dispassion, and by making the mind understand the glory and splendour of the Self, you can wean it away entirely from sense-objects and fix it firmly on the Self.

Do not be hasty. Restrain your emotions. Think quietly. Have a serene mind. Act prudently, cautiously, intelligently. – Sri Swami Sivananda