Sivananda Saraswati was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of Vedanta.
19 Facts About Sivananda Saraswati
2.
Sivananda Saraswati studied medicine and served in British Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism.
3.
Sivananda Saraswati was the founder of the Divine Life Society in 1936, Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy and author of over 200 books on yoga, Vedanta, and a variety of subjects.
4.
Sivananda Saraswati established Sivananda Ashram, the headquarters of the DLS, on the bank of the Ganges at Muni Ki Reti, 3 kilometres from Rishikesh, and lived most of his life there.
5.
Swami Sivananda Saraswati was born as Kuppuswami to a brahmin family on 8 September 1887.
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Sivananda Saraswati's birth took place during the early hours of the morning as the Bharani star was rising in Pattamadai village on the banks of the Tamraparni river in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu.
7.
Sivananda Saraswati attended medical school in Tanjore, where he excelled.
8.
Sivananda Saraswati ran a medical journal called Ambrosia during this period.
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Sivananda Saraswati settled in Rishikesh, and immersed himself in intense spiritual practices.
10.
Sivananda Saraswati performed austerities for many years while continuing to nurse the sick.
11.
Sivananda Saraswati founded the Divine Life Society in 1936 on the banks of the Ganges River, distributing spiritual literature for free.
12.
Sivananda Saraswati established the All-world Sadhus Federation in 1947 and the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948.
13.
Sivananda Saraswati called his yoga the Yoga of Synthesis, combining the Four Yogas of Hinduism, for action, devotion, knowledge, and meditation respectively.
14.
Sivananda Saraswati travelled extensively on a major tour in 1950, and set up branches of the Divine Life Society throughout India.
15.
Sivananda Saraswati vigorously promoted and disseminated his vision of yoga, to the extent that his detractors nicknamed him "Swami Propagandananda".
16.
Sivananda Saraswati insisted on a strict lacto-vegetarian diet for moral and spiritual reasons, arguing that "meat-eating is highly deleterious to health".
17.
Swami Sivananda Saraswati died, described as entering Mahasamadhi, on 14 July 1963 beside the River Ganges at his Sivananda Saraswati Ashram near Muni Ki Reti.
18.
Sivananda Saraswati wrote 296 books on subjects including metaphysics, yoga, vedanta, religion, western philosophy, psychology, eschatology, fine arts, ethics, education, health, sayings, poems, epistles, autobiography, biography, stories, dramas, messages, lectures, dialogues, essays and anthology.
19.
Sivananda Saraswati's books emphasised the practical application of Yoga philosophy over theoretical knowledge.