Sivananda Yoga FAQ

Q 1:  Will not one be violating one’s Dharma by embracing Sannyas and by not discharging his duties to his parents and dependents? Are one’s relatives really dependent on him?

A: The notion that others depend on you is due to sheer delusion. God alone takes care of everyone. Being deluded, you think that you are supporting your kith and kin and undergo endless troubles, miseries and vexations. Even if you turn an anchorite, God will arrange everything and maintain your family. And no sin will accrue to you, provided you have intense Vairagya. Swami Ram Tirth had burning Vairagya; so he resigned his job, and leaving behind his wife and two young sons, took to Sannyas. Similarly, Lord Buddha renounced his kingdom and turned a recluse.

Q 2:  How does the power of concentration increase?

A: Concentration increases by curtailing your wants and desires, by observing Mouna for two hours daily, by remaining in seclusion in a quiet room for one or two hours daily, by practicing Pranayam, by prayer, by increasing the number of sittings in meditation in the evening and at night, by Vichar.

Q 3: Please explain what is meant by Cosmic Consciousness?

A: It is a state of consciousness in which you are aware that God is all that there is, and what is more, that God is the link that connects all individuals. God is the Consciousness that illumines the entire creation. Realization of this Consciousness/God liberates one from bondage to passing phenomena, from the illusion of names and forms. This is the state of God-realization or Self-realization. After God-realization, the individual is completely merged in the Cosmic Consciousness, or God. It is like the rivers entering into the ocean; they lose their identity and you can no more distinguish the waters of the Ganges from the waters of the Godavari. The appearance of the world vanishes in the Reality of God, just as when the lamp is brought, the snake which appeared to be vanishes in the rope that exists.

Let your eyes look with kindness, your tongue speak with sweetness, your hand touch with softness. – Sri Swami Sivananda