Born as Swammy Kuttan Nair on December 31, 1927 in Kerala, Swami Vishnu-devananda did many different things before he achieved this name. After school he was an engineer in the Indian army during which he stumbled upon the ideas of Swami Sivananda who was one of the most prolific yoga teachers who ever lived. He then left the army to find the ashram of Swami Sivananda and became a school teacher. Within a year he became a monk and was given his name Swami Vishnu-devananda. For ten years he lived at the Sivananda Ashram before he was given the position of a Professor of Hatha Yoga. Hatha yoga is the use of various postures for exercise to control the body and maintain unity within the Self and the Being (Devananda 155).As described in his book The Sivananda Companion to Meditation: How to Master the Mind and Achieve Transcendence, aside from his position at the Ashram and his eventual voyage to the Western world, Swami Vishnu-devananda was renowned for his piece in peace: “In 1969 he founded the True World Order to create unity and understanding between the peoples of the world”(Vishnu-devananda 155). Two years later he flew a small plane over troubled countries and dropped flowers and leaflets of peace from the plane and to the people on the ground below (Vishnu-devananda 155).
Swami was a professor of Hatha yoga at the Sivananda Ashram in India, but he was also a master in Kundalini Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Jnana Yoga. Respectively each are described in Hinduism The eBook An Online Introduction by Hillary Rodrigues as such: Hatha is “ Yoga involving the performance of specific yogic postures and breathing techniques” ( Rodrigues 549), Kundalini Yoga is “the path of awakening latent cosmic energies within the body”(553), Raja Yoga is “Royal yoga; Pantijali’s yoga”(560), and Jnana Yoga’s focus is transcendental knowledge(550). By combining these different styles he was able to create a yoga that is suitable for many and achievable by anyone who put in the time and effort.
In The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu Devananda it is said that yoga “balances, harmonizes, purifies, and strengthens the Body, Mind, and Soul of the practitioner” (Devananda x). These are achieved during the growth period known as the “anabolic process” (x). Devananda believed in a triangular model of life. The first point of the triangle is birth, the second growth, and the third death(x). Yoga is to be practiced during the growth cycle. It is through 5 basic yogic principles anyone can achieve balance, harmony, purity, and strength. They are: “(1) proper exercise; (2) proper breathing; (3) proper relaxation; (4) proper diet; and (5) positive thinking (deep philosophy) and meditation.”(xi). Exercise forces the body to be limber and flexible as well as increases circulation. Proper breathing: “connects the body to its battery, the Solar Plexus, where tremendous potential energy is stored” (xii). This energy can then be released for rejuvenation of mind and body. Proper relaxation cools down the system after it has been over worked and allows the body and mind to go to a calm serene state (xxi). Proper diet is for fueling the body. Yogic diets are typically vegetarian and are foods that are easily digested (xiii). Positive thinking: “(deep philosophy) and meditation put you in control. The intellect is purified… nature is brought under conscious control through steadiness and concentration of the mind” (xiv). Together these elements form the basis for Swami Vishnu-devananda’s yogic principles.
Meditation is a key factor in yoga. Vishnu-devananda said much of mediation in many texts. In one such text Meditation and Mantras he describes just how important he believes meditation is in accordance to a person:
Without the help of mediation, you cannot attain Knowledge of
the Self. Without its aid, you cannot grow into the divine state.
Without it, you cannot liberate yourself from the trammels of
The mind and attain immortality.
Meditation is the only royal road to attainment and freedom. It is
a mysterious ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, from error
to truth, from darkness to light, from pain to bliss, from restlessness to
abiding peace, from ignorance to knowledge. From mortality to
immortality.( Devananda 1)
Swami Vishnu-devananda brought this idea of meditation as well as his other ideas over to North America where his practices would slow down the hectic lives of the citizens down.
In 1957 Swami Vishnu-devananda arrived in America. He saw a people who did not take the time to relax and live healthily. As a Professor of Hatha Yoga he desired to do something for these people and their hectic lives. This is why he developed the idea of the “Yoga Vacation” as described in the Sivananda Companion to Meditation: How to Master Mind and Achieve Transcendence by Swami Vishnu-devananda. The idea was to allow people to come to a place to rest their body, mind and spirit (Devananda 155). According to the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres the hectic lives we live today can be improved through simple daily activities: silent meditation and mantra chanting and spiritual lecture (Sivananda 1).
In Devananda’s book Meditation and Mantras he states that people search for happiness in external objects for satisfaction. These satisfactions are only short term though. The challenge to attain full happiness is to gain access and control of one’s internal world. Swami Vishnu-devananda believes that by slowing down all the internal conversation we are having at any given moment and focusing on the good things, that is how we can live a more effective peaceful life (Devananda 2). This is where meditation comes into play. Meditation channels positivity and rids destructive thought. Meditation loosely, is invoking a certain feeling, while remaining conscious. A feeling such a compassion is focused on and all negative thought is pushed out in order to allow it to take complete precedence (4). Mantras are used to develop the ability to concentrate while mediating. “OM” is sometimes recited by the practitioner during meditation (6). Devananda believed the optimal time to practice yoga is dawn and dusk because the atmosphere is charged with spiritual force at these times(10).
Swami Vishnu-devananda was a great teacher and writer on yoga and its practices. He supplied many places and many people with the knowledge of Yoga and also a knowledge of peace. His teachings of Hatha yoga were only a small part of his contribution to mankind. He will be regarded for years to come as a master of yoga and of peace for his plights against the angst of mankind.
Related Readings
Thomas McEvilley (1981) An Archaeology of Yoga. Harvard Press. http://0-www.jstor.org.darius.uleth.ca/stable/20166655
Ian Whicher (1998) Yoga and Freedom: A Reconsideration of Patanjali’s Classical Yoga. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. http://0-www.jstor.org.darius.uleth.ca/stable/1399829
Sarah Strauss (2002) The Master’s Narrative: Swami Sivananda and the Transnational Production of Yoga. Indiana: Indiana University Press. http://0-www.jstor.org.darius.uleth.ca/stable/3814692
k. Satchidananda Murty (1961) Yoga: Path to Freedom from Suffering. Philosophy Education Society Inc. http://0-www.jstor.org.darius.uleth.ca/stable/20123866
Bibliography
Rodrigues, Hillary (2006) Hinduism– The eBook, Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Books, Ltd. Print.
Vishnu-devananda, Swami (1995) Meditation and Mantras. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Print.
Vishnu-devananda, Swami (1988) The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga. New York: Three Rivers Press. Print.
Vishnu-devananda, Swami and Swami Sivananda (2012) Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre. Val Morin, Quebec, Canada. (Accessed March 24 2012). http://www.sivananda.org/publications/books.html
Vishnu-devananda, Swami (2003) The Sivananda Companion to Meditation: How to Master the Mind and Achieve Transcendence. New York: Gaia Books. Print.
Related Research Topics
Swami Sivananda
4 path yoga
Pantajali Yoga
Ashrams
Article written by Michaela Thompson (Spring 2012), who is solely responsible for its content.