POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND

Dear Reader,

This is a word document typed for transmission of soft copy among the like minded
to get enlightened from and propagate the thoughts preached by Swami Sivananda
and written by Shri N.Ananthanarayanan. The booklet is published by Bangalore
Divine Life Society, 131, Thyagi Ramanjulu Naidu Road, (Chick Bazar Street, Tasker
Town), Swami Sivanandapuram, Bangalore 560051

HAVE IT. SHARE IT.

GOD BLESS YOU.

***
UNIVERSAL PRAYER

O adorable Lord of mercy and love!

Salutations and prostrations unto Thee
Thou art Satchidananda
Thou art Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient
Thou art the Indweller of all beings

Grant us an understanding heart,

Equal vision, balanced mind,
Faith, devotion and wisdom
Grant us inner spiritual strength,
To resist temptations and to control the mind
Free us from egoism, lust, greed, anger and hatred
Fill our hearts with divine virtues

Let us behold Thee in all these names and forms

Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms
Let us ever remember Thee
Let us ever sing Thy glories
Let Thy name be ever on our lips
Let us abide in Thee for ever and ever

- Swami Sivananda

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 1 of 10
POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND

It is common knowledge that good health and economic security are a “must” for peace of
mind. But having both, many are still in a state of perpetual mental restlessness. Do you
belong to this category? If you say “Yes” then read on. The chances are that your trouble is
mostly of your own making and therefore avoidable. Let us see how.

Do you interfere too often in the affairs of others? May be they are wrong. But why should
you be disturbed on that account? Do not criticize anybody or anything. God has not
delegated to you the authority to sit in judgement over others. All men act the way they do
because they are prompted that way by the God within them. It is a good rule to mind your
own business to keep your peace.

Mind your own business. An excellent dictum to follow for the man who prizes peace of mind
above everything else. Nothing in this world requires your attention. There is a God to look
after everything. In fact, He looks after you as well. Do not forget this fact.

Let me repeat: Mind your own business. Do not criticize anybody or anything. Criticism is
tantamount to blasphemy. Why? Because whatever happens, happens by the Will of God.
Nothing can happen without the concurrence of God. The fact that something has happened
– no matter whether it is good or bad from your point of view - is in itself proof positive that it
has had God’s approval. And if you criticize the happening, you are questioning the Will of
God, the Wisdom of God, the Justice of God. Do not do that. You will keep your peace.

God sees things by the whole. Man sees things by parts. God sees happenings over the
three periods of time. Man sees events only in the present, isolated from the past and the
future. That is why man sees discord where God sees harmony. Man sees lack of logic
where God finds perfect logic. Put yourself in the place of God. Feel you are God. Feel that
the entire universe is your creation and operates by your Will. At once you will feel
tremendous peace and strength surging within you.

You say others insult you without reason, injure you without cause. Even if that is true, do
not get agitated. Face the situation calmly. You will find that calmness can be a powerful
weapon to overcome difficult situations. Shut your eyes to insults. Let others think what they
like, say what they like. This is a world of ignorant people. You be wise. Be humble before
everybody. Be humble in every situation. This will be possible if you give up the idea of
inferiority and superiority and learn to see God in everybody and everything. “God wills it so.
So be it”. Say that to yourself and keep quiet in the face of insults. Be unruffled. If you put up
with insults, you will grow in humility and purity. You will grow spiritually rich.

Do not develop ill-feeling inside your heart for the man who has insulted you or injured you.
This is worse than open anger. This is mental cancer. Do not nourish grievances. Forget and
forgive. This is not just an idealistic maxim. This is the only way to retain your peace. The
habit of nurturing grievances is highly injurious to one’s own self. You will lose sleep. You will
poison your blood. You will develop blood pressure and neurasthenia. After all, the injury or
insult was done to you once. Now it is past. It is all over. It is the spilt milk. Why do you want
to perpetuate the misery of that injury or insult by constantly remembering it? Why do you
want to feed the dying embers of hatred and ill will? Is it not high foolishness? The span of
human life is so short that you cannot afford to waste time and life in such trifles. Get over
the bad habit. The best way to do so is to keep yourself ever busy in any work which
absorbs your interest.

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 2 of 10
You can gain peace of mind if you actively follow a calling or profession, or even hobby,
which holds your interest. You will then have a sense of fulfillment, of achievement.
Remember the proverb: Man does not live by bread alone. If you can afford it, and if you
value peace of mind more than money, you would even do well to take to a calling or job
which you like but which is monetarily less rewarding than one which you dislike all the time
but monetarily more rewarding.

Do not aspire for worldly glory, worldly recognition. This is the surest way to mental and
physical restlessness. Why do you crave for recognition by others? The “others” are mostly
ignorant people. The most successful men of the world are often men of little real wisdom.
Why do you place so much value on their recognition? Instead, aspire for God’s blessings,
the blessings of wise men, of saintly souls. That is worth earning, worth striving for.

Do not attach much importance to public opinion. Public opinion is often wrong. Attach
importance to moral values, codes of conduct, scriptural teachings, opinion of saints and
holy men. You can never go wrong.

Jealousy often disturbs peace of mind. Are you jealous of somebody? Jealousy is a canker.
It is incorrect to imagine that ‘A’ has blocked your promotion in office or that ‘B’ has ruined
you by competing in the same business. Again and again remember: no one can make or
mar your career. Your career and your life are shaped by your previous Karma. If you are
destined to rise, not all the world can stop it. If you are not so destined, not all the world can
help you to come up either. Each man is governed by his own destiny. Each man’s life is
independent though seemingly interdependent with the lives of others. Remember this.
Understand this point well. Never again be jealous of others or blame others for your
misfortune.

May be, you are fed up with your environment which disturbs your peace. Instead of trying to
change the environment – the chances are you may fail – change yourself for the better.
Purify yourself. As you do this, even the environment which has remained bad for you, may
be for years, will mysteriously begin to dance and change for the better. The more you grow
in purity, the more congenial and harmonious the environment will become. Do not ask,
“How ?”. Try and experience. Try and experience, friend.

Put up with things. What cannot be cured has to be endured. Endure cheerfully. Learn to live
with a hundred inconveniences, annoyances, irritations from morn till midnight. You will gain
patience, in inner strength, in Will-power. You will turn a disadvantage into an advantage.

A prime cause for losing one’s peace of mind is dependence on others even for one’s basic
needs. Paradhinam Prana Sankatam. Dependence is pain. Independence is bliss. Become
self-reliant. As far as possible, of course. If you earnestly try, you will discover that there are
many areas left in which you can become self-reliant. Learn to wash your clothes, sweep
your room, cook your food, type your letters. You need not do them daily, but in an
emergency, these small talents will come to your rescue.

Do not evade responsibilities. Do not shirk. You cannot gain peace of mind that way. You will
only gather more worries, because the thought that you are shirking your duties will corrode
your mind and take away what little peace there is. Rather, face your responsibilities to the
best of your ability. But – and this is important – do not add on to your responsibilities
everyday by taking additional loads on your own egoistic initiative. In colloquial terms, this is
what is called “purchasing trouble”. Rather, cut down your external activities more and more,
consistent with your responsibilities. Yearn to spend more and more time in an inward life of
prayer, introspection and meditation. Perfect peace of mind arises when the mind itself dies

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 3 of 10
down. Mind means thoughts. Thoughts mean restlessness. The lesser the activity the fewer
the thoughts. The fewer the thoughts the greater the peace of mind. Thoughtlessness is the
highest state where perfect peace reigns.

Have regular hours of Meditation. Meditation calms down the mind. It induces quiescence in
the mind. If you meditate earnestly for one hour, even during the remaining twenty-three
hours, the tendency introduced by meditation in the mind persists and the mind does not
oscillate as much as before. Gradually increase the period of daily meditation. This will not
interfere with your daily work, because meditation increases your various faculties and gives
you the capacity to turn out more work in less time.

Always be doing something positive, something worthwhile. Do not waste time wandering,
“Shall I do this? Or shall I do that?” You will spend days, weeks, months - why, years – in
that futile mental debating and end up doing nothing. Don’t plan too much. The planning is
done by God. Be doing something good all the time. Allow no gap in your concrete activity.
You can never do enough to take time for rest. Let there be no spare moments, no wasted
moments in your life. Even a few careless moments can pull you down in life. Time is life.
Value your time and spend it most profitably.

Even if you are resting physically, do not keep the mind vacant. Occupy yourself in healthy
reading or Japa or mental prayer. All havoc starts in the mind. Harsh words and evil deeds
originate in the mind. Keep the source clean. The river of your life will flow as crystal.

Doing things gives self-confidence. It does not matter if you fail the first time. You can rectify
your mistakes and succeed the next time. Sitting back in the chair and worrying will lead to
nothing. It will only make you a total pessimist.

Some people get upset when they attempt to do something good and obstacles come in. It is
natural for obstacles to crop up in the way of any good work. They come to test the mettle of
the performer of the good work. They come to test his sincerity, his patience, his faith. You
will experience that the stronger your resolve to do something worthwhile, the more powerful
the opposing forces. Do not feel frustrated. Do not give up. Do not yield. Overcome the
obstacles by faith in God and faith in yourself. You cannot win laurels in any field without
undergoing tests and tribulations. It is unfair to expect a Degree while showing unwillingness
to undergo a qualifying test.

If you fight shy of obstacles, then you can do nothing worthwhile in life. You can at best
vegetate, but that is not living. Living, to be true, must be purposeful. You must have goals to
reach, ideals to strive for. And goals cannot be reached without encountering opposition.
Such opposition should not upset your peace of mind, but should strengthen your will to fight
the battle of life heroically. It will be possible if you learn to accept these opposing forces as
an inevitable part of phenomenal life as unavoidable evil.

Never regret. Learn the lessons from your past experiences. Remember the lessons. Let the
lessons guide your future actions. But do not brood over the past. Do not regret. “If I had
done that, I would have become this… If only I had…” – it is all futile thinking, waste of time
and energy. Because worry depletes energy. Does nothing more. The fact is whatever
happened was destined to happen only that way. It could not have happened in any other
way. Everything, from the tiniest movement of a particle to the mightiest disturbances in the
universe, everything in the past, present and future, every cause and every effect, has been
ordained in a certain way by the omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent Will of God.
Things happen as they are destined to happen. Whatever Will be will be. No man has the
power to alter the course of God’s Will. Que sera sera is eternally true, universally true. To
regret, to brood is to show your cowardice in the face of the inevitability of events and to

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 4 of 10
disturb your peace of mind for nothing. Wisdom lies in seeing the working of God’s Will in
every happening and remaining at peace with yourself and the world.

Are you utterly selfish or do you think of others at least sometimes ? A selfish man can have
no peace. On the other hand, if you are selfless, if you serve others without motive, you will
feel great peace…. At once, Motiveless service yields pure joy. Make others happy. You will
begin to delight in their happiness. This is something which is open to everyone to
experience. Serve others in a small way or a big way as is given to you, but without thought
of rewards or recognition. Service for the sake of service. Service at every turn. Whenever
opportunity offers itself.

Almost twenty years ago, late in the evening, in a big city, out on my evening walk, I was
stopped by a girl in a quiet corner, in an imploring tone: “Bhai Saheb, Dar Lagtha Hai”. In a
moment, I sensed the situation. In that lonely place, she was being pursued by a Tongawala.
In her fright, the girl has lost all sense of direction and was searching for her house. I
reassured her, and in a little while we discovered that the house she wanted to reach was
well within a furlong of where we stood. I escorted her to her place and went my way. A
trifling good turn that cost me nothing, but the fullness and joy that I felt that day lingers fresh
in my memory even now. There are many ways in which one can help others at little or no
cost. Only a pure heart is required.

In life, the person who desires peace of mind should learn to discriminate at every stage.
What is right? What is wrong? What is possible? What is not? In a particular situation, what
is the course of action suggested by wise men? By the scriptures? By your won conscience?
How have great souls reacted in like situation? Introspection at every stage is necessary to
clarify the vision and to gain right direction. A mechanical life where one follows the natural
bent of mind and the natural call of the senses and emotions is only to walk straight into the
trap set by Maya.

Constantly discriminate between the Preyo-Marga and the Sreo-Marga, the Pleasant Path
and the Good Path. You will have to do this again and again every time the mind tempts you
to follow the ways of the world, to imitate others. This desire to imitate is exceedingly
powerful and overpowers even a wise man. Worry not about finding money to buy a scooter
(when you have no need for a scooter) just because all your friends come on scooters. Do
not bother about how to send your son to the States only because your neighbours have
sent theirs to California and Cambridge.

Keep away from temptations of all sorts. Do not walk into places of temptation and then
struggle to resist temptation. It will tax your will unnecessarily. Even if you succeed in
resisting the temptation, it may leave a craving in the mind. Craving induces restlessness.

Do not multiply your wants and then feel like a beggar. Reduce your wants and feel like a
king. Why should you enter a cloth shop and see many varieties presented before your eyes
when you have enough clothing at home? Either you will buy unnecessary things. Or feel
sad, “Oh, I don’t have this. Ah, how I wish I could buy that!”

Peace of mind and material greed are incompatibles. They do not go together. Make your
choice.

Reduce your wants to the barest minimum consistent with your general external activities.
The fewer the wants and possessions the greater the peace of mind. Possession gives pain.
The point is so obvious that it needs no explanation. Hire a taxi rather than own a car. Live in
a rented flat rather than possess your own house.

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 5 of 10
Most of us suffer, not for want of right knowledge or wisdom, but for want of exercise of that
wisdom, in our daily life. If you want peace of mind, at once stop doing all those things which
you know you should not do. And, equally important, start doing all those things which you
know you should do. This will set you on the right track, and when you are on the right track,
God’s Grace will flow into your life and make it more and more sublime. You will gain peace
of mind and radiate peace all around you.

Faith has to be exercised. Love has to be exercised. Selflessness has to be exercised.

Charity has to be practised. Dispassion has to be practised. Devotion has to be cultivated.
These qualities, these virtues do not arise in you overnight. They have to be assiduously
cultivated before they can become a natural, a habitual, an integral part of your being.

If you hate others, if you injure others, if you abuse your servants, if you taunt your children,
if you ill-treat your wife at home and subordinates in the office, if you cheat people in
business – if you do all these and much more and still expect peace of mind, you are asking
for the impossible. Also, you do not deserve it. A man who disturbs the peace of others has
no right to expect peace of mind for himself. So mend yourself.

Peace of mind arises out of spiritual growth. It is true that spiritual growth is an inward
process, that spiritual life is an inward life. But it is equally true that such inward growth is
greatly aided by external support and greatly marred by external incompatibles. Hence they
prescribe Sattvic diet, Sattvic dress, Sattvic reading, Sattvic company, Sattvic environment,
Sattvic habits in general. Hence they prescribe prayer and pilgrimage, Svadhyaya and
Satsanga, fasts and festivals. Do not give up these powerful external aids. Rather resort to
them purposefully for quicker evolution. When you have advanced enough they will drop off
by themselves.

When you are in utter despair, turn to our lofty scriptures. Or read the works of great souls.
Or take leave for a month and go on a pilgrimage. Or visit a holy place and stay there for a
fortnight or a month – spend the time in prayer, Japa, Kirtan, meditation, long walks. These
are the methods to revivify your shattered mind and body and give yourself a new joy and
confidence. Some people take to drinking and loose living, vainly imagining that they can
forget their worries this way. Impossible. Their cure is worse than the disease. Sleeping
tablets? They solve no problem. They only perpetuate your weakness of will to face up to
realities. Suicide? Utter foolishness. You will turn into a ghost. More trouble than being a
human being.

Keep on adding to your peace of mind. Do not stagnate. Do not worsen. Stagnation is also
bad, because it often leads to worsening at some point. Improve the quality of your life.
Inward richness is real richness. Let your wealth be inbuilt. Let the wealth of your children be
inbuilt. Great teachers say that a man has to be judged not by what he does, but by what he
is. Cut out all worldly ambition. In its place, develop intense ambition to grow spiritually to
grow in saintliness. Replace all petty desires, ambitions by this one ideal.

Once you have set the ideal for yourself, begin to be true to yourself. Bring about a greater
and ever greater measure of co-ordination between your thought, word and deed. Say what
you think and do what you say. Shed all hypocrisy. Remove all hypocrisy from your life.
Hypocrisy is the sworn enemy of peace of mind.

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 6 of 10
On the material plane, compare yourself with those who are less fortunate than you and on
the spiritual place compare yourself with those who are more fortunate than you. This will
induce material contentment and awaken in you spiritual discontent. That way lies progress
and peace. But if you do the other way round, viz., compare yourself with those who are
materially more well-off and spiritually inferior – and many do just that – it will bring in the
disastrous effects of material discontent and spiritual pride. A sure way to hell indeed.

Stick to a few tested friends. Do not multiply acquaintances. Do not become intimate with
anyone. Familiarity breeds contempt, disturbs emotions, upsets peace of mind.

Talk only with purpose. Abstain from all unnecessary talk. Speak measured words. Even
innocent, well-meant words are quite often misunderstood and they produce discord. Never
go to advise any-one in any thing… unless you are asked to… Mind your own business.

Never argue. Never enter into an argument. Why do you want to win an argument? It offers
you no tangible benefit. It will only inflate your ego, wound the other man and lead to friction
between friends.

Let the other man hold his opinion. There are incorrigible idiots in this world who can never
be converted, who can never be made to see sense. Do not waste your time and breath on
them. You will only suffer exhaustion and earn enmity.

Have no expectation. Because expectation leads to anxiety and often to disappointment.

You wait for the postman day after day. And ultimately he does not bring that important letter
which you are expecting from your friend. Your frustration knows no limits. Why all this
mental torture? No expectation, no disappointment. Whatever you are destined to enjoy or
suffer, you will enjoy or suffer. Neither you nor anyone else can add to, or take away, from
your quota of enjoyment or suffering. Knowing this, why should you waste your energy and
time in anxiety? Forget the past. Have no thought for the future. Live in the present. To the
best of your ability, discharge your responsibilities as they present themselves before you.
There is a God to take care of the results.

Some people say, “I do not care what happens to me. But I am worried about others”. This is
another kind of ignorance. Those who say like this are deceiving themselves. Do not worry
about your son’s madness or your daughter’s running away with someone. By all means, do
all you can to minimize life’s tragedies, but do not worry on iota. Each individual is governed
by his past Karma (despite all the ‘rationalists’ in the world) and no one has the power to
alter anyone else’s fate by so much as a hairbreadth. Even when A seems to be helping or
harming B, it is God (nay, it is B’s previous Karma) which is working through A and not
himself. Once you have understood this, you will not worry about others or about yourself.
Worry saps energy and wastes time. It is effeminacy. The man who worries betrays
ignorance of spiritual laws.

No one is interested in you. Remember this point well. Don’t expect the world to rush to your
rescue in every bad situation. It will just not happen. Be up and doing, with faith in God. If
God supports you and all the world opposes you, you will still succeed. But if you lose God
and gain all the world’s support, you will yet fail. Gain God’s friendship. It is the greatest
wealth. Once you have that, peace of mind is yours. You now have everything. Fear has fled.
Anxiety has disappeared.

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 7 of 10
See God in all. Feel unified in spirit with everyone and everything. You are not separate from
the rest of creation. God is just another name for that mysterious life principle in you. Call it
Life, call it Consciousness, call it Existence. This mysterious principle is all-pervading,
eternal, one without cause and effect. Feel happy. Think, talk and walk in a manner befitting
the grandeur of thy inner Being, the God within you. Shed all meanness, crookedness,
cunningness, selfishness which are hallmarks of a degraded man. Feel one with all in spirit.
Your life will begin to move along right line, Your spiritual evolution will be rapid. You will
have all the peace of mind you want.

Each day when you get up in the morning, pray to God for just two minutes. Surely you can
afford that much time for your Creator every day. “O Lord! Use me today for working out Your
Will in whatever way You deem fit. I make myself hollow and lay myself at Your disposal”. I
heard a song on the A.I.R. years back. One line still lingers in my memory. All can repeat it in
the morning before getting up from bed: “Aaj Meri Gati Tumhari Arti Ban Jaye (May the
course of my life today become an offering unto Thee, my Lord!)”. If you say that, and
remember your prayer to the Lord throughout the day, you will think twice before indulging in
a wrong act or taking a false step. Rather you will like to fill the day with as many good
deeds as possible so that there may be more flowers in the garland that you offer to the Lord
at day’s end.

Accept every experience in life as it comes. Do not grumble. Do not grudge. Do not feel sad.
Do not feel glad either. Rest serene. If you gloat over something, you are inviting trouble.
There is always action and reaction on the relative plane. If you laugh now, you will have to
weep later. On a level ground, if you want to make a mound, you can do so only by making a
pit to dig out the earth to make the mound. There is no mound without a pit. No smile without
a tear. So remain level always. Remain serene always. Serenity is superior to boisterous
giggling and laughter and the so-called happiness which only hides sorrow for the moment.

Learn to accept. Accept every happening in your life as the Will of God. “O Lord! Thy will be
done” – let this be your only reaction to every twist and turn in life. God is your real friend. He
is your greatest well-wisher. He gives you various experiences – good and bad – only to
mould you, chisel you, shape you into an effective instrument for the working out of His Will.
Allow yourself to be shaped by His divine hands. Abandon yourself to His Care.

Do not struggle. Do not oppose. Allow yourself to be tossed by God’s Will. Become a straw
in the cosmic wind. Have no individual ego. This you can do only if you recognize the
existence of God and the Will of God imperatively, only if you learn to see the absolute
supremacy of God’s Will over all human initiative and endeavour. Humility is not weakness. It
is strength. The more the humility the greater the accretion of strength. Your life will flow
smoothly, because you offer no resistance to God’s Will. There will be no friction. There will
be no failure too, because you do not attempt to achieve anything by your own choice and
Will. But your life will turnout to be a tremendous success, because God’s wisdom and
strength will enter the vacuum of your being emptied of your egoism and fill it in the same
manner as air rushes into a vacuum and fills it. This is the Law.

The fundamental mistake that people without peace of mind make is to imagine that the
whole world is made for their enjoyment and that everything and everybody in this wide
universe should subserve their individual ends and that the whole world should bend to their
plans. Do not try to extract enjoyment from this world. You can as well extract nectar from a
cobra’s fangs! You will meet with disappointment, frustration, failure, misery. Rather know
the world for what it is. The world is made for your experience, for your evolution. Grow wiser
and spiritually richer with every experience. Experience is education. Experience is the
greatest teacher. It is only the fool who thinks that this world is made for his pleasure. Says

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 8 of 10
the scripture: Anityam Asukham Lokam. Asasvatam-Duhkhalayam. Read your scriptures
with respect. Ever remember their teachings. Live by their teachings. There is no other way
to peace of mind.

Lastly, believe utterly in the unreality of the world. Believe, because all the seers of yore
have proclaimed in no uncertain terms that the phenomenal world is only a dream world and
that phenomenal experience is only a dream experience. And remember: they said that only
after personally experiencing the unreality of the world and the Reality of pure
consciousness. They were not fools. Nor are you wiser. Even when confronted with bitter
experiences, tell yourself: “All this is unreal. I am Pure Consciousness. I am God”.

Hari Om Tatsat.

THE YOGA OF SYNTHESIS

The yoga of Synthesis is the most suitable and potent form of Sadhana. In the mind there
are three defects, viz., Mala or impurity, Vikshepa or tossing and Avarana or veil. The
impurity should be removed by the practice of Karma Yoga. The tossing should be removed
by worship or Upasana. The veil should be torn down by the practice of Jnana Yoga. Then
only is self-realisation possible. If you want to see your face clearly in a mirror, keep it steady
and remove the covering also. You can see your face clearly in the bottom of the lake only if
the turbidity is removed, if the water that is agitated by the wind is rendered still, and if the
moss that is lying on the surface is removed. So too is the case with Self-realisation.

- Swami Sivananda

FICTITIOUS DIFFERENCE

There is only an apparent, fictitious difference in bodies and minds. There are differences in
colour and opinion. But the Atman is the same in all. A thief, a prostitute, a scavenger, a king,
a rogue, a saint, a dog, a cat and a rat – all these have the same common Atman. Igonore
the false appearances and differences. Recognise the Essence or Reality only.

The one Atman appears to be many, just as the one sun appears to be many in various pots
of water. Many suns are false. They are merely reflections only. So also many Jivas are
illusory. The one Brahman alone is real.

The divine life that throbs in every atom of the universe dwells also in the hearts of human
beings. The soul of an ant is the soul of a man. The soul of sinner is the soul of a saint. The
soul of beggar is the soul of a mighty king. The ultimate Truth in Nature is the ultimate
Reality in man.

Whatever you see is God. Whatever you hear is God. Whatever you taste is God. Whatever
you smell is God. Whatever you feel is God. These are the manifest aspects of God. The
physical body belongs to Virat. The astral body belongs to Hiranyagarbha. The casual body
belongs to Isvara. Where is the little ‘I” now?

Have an integral cosmic vision. Behold unity in diversity. Break the barriers or dividing walls
through discrimination, enquiry and wisdom. Acquire the spiritual vision of oneness or unity.
Soar high in the realm of eternal bliss. Happy is he who has realized the oneness of the Self
and who is endowed with the sublime vision of the marvelous Atman.

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 9 of 10
Realise that the whole human race is one. Break up ruthlessly all illusory barriers that
separate man from man. Understand that the fundamental principles underlying all religions
are the same.

Feel your oneness with all. Feel your oneness with the sun, the sky, the wind, flowers, trees,
birds, animals, stones, rivers and oceans. Realise the oneness of life, the unity of
Consciousness. Behold the one homogeneous Self everywhere – in all beings, in all
animals, in all plants.

Realise your unity with all. Mix with all. The Parsis, the Americans, the Italians, the
Japanese, the Russians all belong to you. You also belong to them. Unite with all.

Realise first your unity with all the members of your family, then with all the members of your
community, then with all the members of your district, then with all the members of your
state, then with all the members of the whole nation, then with all the people of the whole
world. If you succeed in this attempt, then only can you realize your unity or oneness with
God.

Feel the Divine Presence in all creation. Learn to discriminate between the permanent and
the impermanent. Behold the Self in all beings, in all objects. Names and forms are illusory.
Therefore, sublate (negate/deny) them. Feel that there is nothing but the Self. Share what
you have – physical, mental, moral and spiritual – with all. Serve the Self in all. Feel, when
you serve others, that you are serving your own Self only. Love thy neighbour as thyself.
Melt all illusory differences. Remove all barriers that separate man from man. Mix with all.
Embrace all. Destroy the sex-idea and the body-idea by constantly thinking of the Self or the
sexless and bodiless Atman. Fix the mind on the Self while you work. This is practical
Vedanta. This is the essence of the teachings of the Upanishads and the sages of yore. This
is real, eternal life in the Atman. Put these teachings into practice in the daily battle of life.
You will then shine as a dynamic Yogi or liberated sage. There is no doubt of this.

- Swami Sivananda

SIVANANDA’S MOTTOS

Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise

Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate
Enquire “Who am I?”, know the Self and be free
Pracise Ahimsa, Satyam, Brahmacharya
This the foundation of Yoga, Vedanta

Adapt, adjust, accommodate

Bear insult, bear injury (this is the highest Sadhana)

Detach-attach, Detach attach

Detach the mind from the objects
Attach it to the Lord

Nothing exists, nothing belongs to me

I am neither mind nor body, Immortal Self I am
Work is Worship. Dedicate it to God
Even this will pass away
Balance your mind in pain and joy
Tat Tvam Asi, That Thou Art
Realise this and be free

POSITIVE AIDS TO PEACE OF MIND – By N. Ananthanarayanan, Bangalore Divine Life Society Page 10 of 10