Swami Sivananda

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"Perfection of the individual leads to the perfection of mankind ultimately. Spread the doctrine of
selfless service. Inspire all to follow the path of Yoga and attain the Goal of life, fine health and
long life." It is not through rules and regulations and restrictions that I tried to help the seekers
after Truth. Stage by stage, I gave instructions through letters, periodicals and valuable
publications to all the students for creating some spiritual vibrations through collective prayers,
common meditation, Bhajans and Kirtans. For spiritual progress, it is not number that counts.
Even a single sincere student can move the world and bring light and knowledge to the world.

The following letters written to my students between 1936 and 1940 will clearly explain how I
started a dynamic campaign all over the world and established over 300 Branches of the Divine
Life Society.

(1) Importance of Collective Sadhana

"Evolution is quicker through collective Sadhana, mass prayers and common meditation. The
purpose of Divine Life Branches is not amassing wealth, name or fame. It is just to bring peace
and harmony to the world by creating spiritual vibrations at various centres. Organise weekly
meetings. Invite friends who are spiritually-inclined. Clear the doubts of the devotees. You can
have a library with philosophical books. Invite learned men of your place to give discourses.
Occasionally print my "Twenty Important Spiritual Instructions" and other leaflets for free
distribution. Thus you can lay the seed for a Divine Mission. It will grow slowly and bring spiritual
good to the world. This will contribute a lot to your own evolution and to the uplift of mankind as
well."

"Never be disheartened or diffident. There are many who have started a Branch of the Divine Life
Society in their own homes. The members of the family join together in the morning and evening
for common prayers and conduct Bhajans and Kirtans. The spiritual vibrations thus created bring
peace and prosperity to the entire family. Do something among your own selected friends, even
with two members."
After a little reflection he added, "Nurses serve patients in the hospitals, but there is no inner
purification for them, because they do not have the proper feeling when they serve."

The Master then noticed that some Ashram inmates had also joined in the Ganga Puja and were
offering bael leaves to the holy river.

"Each person is offering only his own bael leaves to the Ganges. How grand it would be if one
had the feeling that he alone was offering the worship through all hands! How much more
effective that worship would be!" he remarked.

A most effective way in which the Master served people was to pray for them. He had great faith
in healing through prayer and through utterance of the Lord’s Name. He called it "Namapathy."

Noticing a sick person, or reading an obituary report, or observing a lame dog, or an ant
accidentally trodden underfoot, the Master would breathe a hidden prayer with a feeling heart. In
the Ashram he regularly conducted Kirtan and collective prayer on behalf of devotees on their
birthdays, or when they were sick, or when they desired success in some undertaking. After
invoking the Lord’s aid for the specific purpose, the Master would invariably pray in a general way
for the welfare of the person concerned.

"May Lord bless Sri ... with health, long life, peace, bliss and prosperity; with health, long life,
peace, bliss and immortality."

And most importantly, after listing the persons for whom prayers were being conducted on a
particular day, the Master would never forget to add at the end, "And for the whole world at large."

Whenever there was a calamity, or threat of calamity, like famine, flood, war, rail accident or
earthquake, in some part of the world or the other, the Master organised collective prayer.

It was the first week of November, 1946. Tension ran high in most North Indian States. There
were countless rumours that the Muslims were coming to Rishikesh to murder Hindu Sadhus.
The Master called the Ashramites to the Viswanath Mandir and suggested that everyone should
do Japa of Om Namasivaya, and that a Homa be performed after five lakh repetitions, to restore
Hindu-Muslim unity. Even before the Japa was completed, order was restored in trouble-ridden
Bengal and Bihar, and the relationship between the two communities started returning to normal.

Again, during the occasion of the Master’s Golden Jubilee more than a hundred devotees
assembled in the Ashram and made their offerings to him, with shouts of "Sivananda Maharaj Ki
Jai" rending the air.

This time the Master chided them, "Don’t be emotional in anything, even in your prayers and
praises of the Lord. Have full control over your feelings and emotions. The bliss of the Self cannot
be fully manifested in dancing and bawling out."