YOGALife I Summer 2010 - Sivananda Yoga

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The Influence of Swami Vishnudevananda in the West The Influence of SwamiVishnudevananda in the West By Swami Mahadevananda Swami Vishnudevananda was sent to the West in 1957 by his guru and teacher, with the words “people are waiting for yoga”. He set off with 50 rupees in his pocket, a young man full of vision, discipline and supreme faith in the teachings that he had absorbed under the guidance and tutelage of his teacher, the saint Swami Sivananda. He was unsure of where he was going, nor exactly what he was going to do, but he knew he would be guided and he had no hesitation in stepping into what for him was the vast unknown. Within a few years he had established his first yoga centre, in Montreal, then his first ashram and within a short thirty years a world-wide organisation, dedicated to the teaching of yoga. This organisation is now considered one of the largest and most successful in the world, a huge accomplishment considering the impact that yoga is continuing to exert on the population in the West. It is estimated that some thirty million people in the US Swami Vishnudevananda was a pioneer and a visionary. He was one of the first to teach yoga in the West. alone practise yoga on a daily basis and the numbers are incalculable in other countries throughout the world. Swami Vishnudevananda was a pioneer and a visionary. He was one of the first to teach yoga in the West, following the ancient tradition of passing the knowledge from guru to disciple. In 1969 he established the first Yoga Teachers’ Training Course in the West, not only to train yoga teachers, but to create leaders. The course focuses on inner discipline, where control of the mind and development of inner peace, contentment, generosity, love and compassion are part of the curriculum. Swami Vishnudevananda taught that world peace can only be achieved if there is inner peace within each individual. His mission was to train as many teachers as possible who would practice this inner discipline, but who would also be able to pass this knowledge on to others. To date over 25,000 teachers have been trained and the numbers are continuing to increase annually. 18 YOGALife I Summer 2010 In addition Swami Vishnudevananda carried out a mission of peace in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s he flew over countries in conflict, including Egypt and Israel, Pakistan and India, and Northern Ireland, in a brightly painted Piper Apache plane, distributing leaflets and flowers calling for peace. His missions were daring and courageous and through them he drew the attention of the world’s media to the folly of war. He made a record-breaking trip in a microlight aircraft over the Berlin Wall in 1983 when people were shot for such attempts. He is considered instrumental in the fall of the Berlin Wall as a result of this trip. He met with the Beatles in the mid-sixties and had a profound impact on George Harrison who in turn passed many of Swami Vishnudevananda’s teachings on to the hundreds of thousands of fans that followed the Beatles. Swami Vishnudevananda’s influence spreads far and wide and continues to grow. Sivananda Yoga Centres opened recently in Lithuania, Japan and Italy; Teachers’ Training Courses are being held for the first time in Thailand, Vietnam, and Poland. His legacy of peace for both the individual and for the world is incalculable and his message becomes ever-more powerful as the world faces escalating crises in society and the environment. Left: Swami Vishnudevananda’s Peace Plane in the 1970’s. Right: Swamiji piloting his Microlight plane over the Berlin Wall in 1983.
Swami Vishnudevananda giving a lecture (above) and helping students during a yoga class (right) The Influence of India in theWest The influence of India on the West through the ages has been well-documented. The spiritual power that emanates from India throughout the world is known to all scholars of history. The Hindu religion is considered the oldest of all living religions, with its revealed scriptures going back many thousands of years. Its tenets are considered universal truths that are as relevant today as they were in the past. It is for this reason that India has acquired a powerful spiritual presence on earth and is considered to be the heart of spirituality in the world. Sages, god-men and women, saints and seers have abounded in the history of India and continue to do so. This force is felt throughout the world and has a powerful effect on maintaining spiritual life in a world that is becoming increasingly materialistic. Western nations are descendants of the original Aryans originating from the Indus Valley. The ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome owe much of their language to Sanskrit and their philosophy to the Upanishads and the Vedas, the ancient texts of Hinduism. Christ is considered to have spent many years in northern India practising the spiritual teachings of the great sages of the time. In the words of Swami Sivananda “India is a spiritual country. India never conquered territories or annexed dominions. Military conquest is not her ambition. She wants her children to have Absolute Independence. She does not call upon them to rule over others. She wants them to have conquest over internal nature. She wants them to possess brilliant divine virtues, moral stamina and inner spiritual strength, born of wisdom of the soul. Non-violence is her weapon to gain the spiritual conquest and the conquest of the minds of others. India is the sacred land with holy rivers and powerful spiritual vibrations. India is the land of yogins and sages, rishis, philosophers, saints and high intellectuals. The doctrines of Indian philosophy are sublime. Its ethics are soul elevating. Its scriptures are wonderful. It has an eternal message to give to a world rent asunder by hatred, dissension and war — the message of cosmic love, truth and non-violence.” Swami Mahadevananda is the Yoga Acharya (spiritual director) for the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre Ashrams and Centres in India, Canada, Italy and Japan. YOGALife I Summer 2010 19
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