Sadhana

Description

To inspire, to awaken and to guide the seekers after Truth and God-realisation, has been the unique life-work of the great sage, Swami Sivananda. He has given us certain working methods, in as much as practical ways and means are more to be attended to, rather than mere theory. The spiritual life is to be built upon and sustained by three important supports, i.e., a well-conceived ideal, a definite programme of life and a background of thought.

For any of us, to proceed upon the spiritual life, the first requisite naturally goes without saying is that the individual should have an ideal. He should want something definite, he should aim at getting something concrete.

The second requisite is a well-laid and well-regulated plan of procedure or programme. After having conceived of the ideal which the aspirant wants to reach, as the haphazard procedure will not only take him anywhere but will also mean a fruitless waste of his precious energies, he should chalk out a definite and well-marked programme.

A well-conceived ideal and a definite programme of life and then a concrete background of thought to sustain him in his struggle to work out that programme—these are the three requisites which Swami Sivananda has advocated.

To sum up, in order to tread the path of spiritual life: (1) let the aspirant conceive of an ideal; (2) let him put up a general programme of life; (3) let him have Abhyasa and Vairagya and (4) let him take to a background of thought into which he can take refuge at times of external stress. And for all this, the help of this book is most invaluable; it is in fact, the greatest boon that we could offer to the aspirant-world. There is no aspect of Sadhana which has not been dealt with, no path which has not been presented, and no point of guidance that the aspirant’s peculiar difficulties need, which has not been elaborately dealt with.