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Trancenet: Comparing TM to Sivananda

Sivananda's Career

SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA
Born on the 8th September, 1887, in the illustrious family of Sage Appayya Dikshita and several other renowned saints and savants, Sri Swami Sivananda had a natural flair for a life devoted to the study and practice of Vedanta. Added to this was an inborn eagerness to serve all and an innate feeling of unity with all mankind. His passion for service drew him to the medical career; and soon he gravitated to where he thought that his service was most needed. Malaya claimed him. He had earlier been editing a Health Journal and wrote extensively on health problems. He discovered that people needed right knowledge most of all; dissemination of that knowledge he espoused as his own mission.

It was divine dispensation and the blessing of God upon mankind that the doctor of body and mind renounced his career and took to a life of renunciation to qualify himself for ministering to the soul of man. He settled down at Rishikesh in 1924, practised intense austerities and shone as a great Yogi, saint, sage and Jivanmukta.

In 1932 he started the Sivanandashram. In 1936, was born The Divine Life Society. In 1948 the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy was organised [cf. MIU "Forest Academies"]. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge and training of people in Yoga and Vedanta were their aim aad object. In 1950 he undertook a lightning tour of India and Ceylon [cf. The Maharishi's early "lightning tours"]. In 1953 he convened a 'World Parliament of Religions'. [This was the year that the Maharishi's master died, he would have been in and around Rishikesh. Also the Maharishi's attempts at a "World Conference of Spiritual Luminaries."] He is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples all over the world, belonging to all nationalities, religions and creeds. To read his works is to drink at the Fountain of Wisdom Supreme. On 14th July, 1963 he entered Mahasamadhi.

Kropinski Trial: Similarities between TM and Sivananda's Japa

1. I am a Swami of the Saraswati order in the Shankaracharaya line, and am fully knowledgable and expert in the theories and practical techniques associated with teaching meditation. I have taught meditation internationally for the past 30 years in North and South America, the Carribean, Europe, The Mediterranean, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, etc. and maintain 30 teaching centers, and affiliated groups under the name Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

2. I hereby state and fully affirm that any Bija mantras or alleged Bija mantras used by the defendants various organizations have been in public domain for centuries. They are commonly known in India and parts of the west. They can be located in books which I and other authors have published and can be found in almost any free library. They are not the trade secrets of any particular organization. Many of the Bija Mantras are listed in my book, Meditation and Mantras. My Guru, H.H. Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, listed these mantras in his work, "Japa Yoga" in the section on Bija Mantras. (see attached copy)

3. The effortless, passive repetition of these mantras is not unique to the practice of the defendants programs, and is common in all meditative practices. Here I guote points 8 and 9 from the 14 points of meditation outlined in Chapter 2 of my book, "Meditation and Mantras":

   8. Allow the mind to wander at first. It will jump around, but will eventually become concentrated, along with the concentration of prana.

   9. Do not force the mind to be still. This will set into motion additional brain waves, hindering meditation. If the mind persists in wandering, simply disassociate from it, and watch it as though you were watching a movie. It will gradually slow down.

4. If an individual who is unqualified or unprepared to begin meditation uses a bija mantra, negative physiological or psychological effects can occur.

5. The Yoga sutras of Patanjali and the practice of the formulas which result in siddhis are common practices taught throughout India. Many translations of the Yoga Sutras can be found in many libraries throughout the world. The Raja Yoga sutras have also been introduced to my students through my book "Meditation and Mantras" as taught by my own Guru, Swami Sivananda. Further the goal of Yoga is not the obtainment of siddhis, and these powers are not to be sought as an end in themselves. Patanjali himself warns in chapter 3 of the Raja Yoga Sutras:

   (37.) From that comes intuitional hearing, thought, sight taste and smell.

   38. Te samadhau upasarga vyutthane siddhayah:
   These are obstacles to the state of samadhi, though they are considered powers to the mind which is worldly.

   Patanjali makes it clear that the siddhis described above are but temptations and distractions from the superconscious state. They only appear attractive to those who are steeped in worldliness, egoism and the desire for power. Seeking these powers can bring many physiological and psychological problems to the individuals concerned.

6. Translations of the Rig Veda - Mandalas 1 thru 10 and translations of the Jaimini Sutras are not the private, unique secret information of any particular organization, but rather are part of the scripural heritage of India and are commonly known and publicly used.

7. The information regarding the mantras, techniques and scriptural books listed above are most definitely not a copywritable unique body of knowledge, nor are they the trade secrets of the defendants various organizations. Rather they are an integral part of the rich cultural and scriptural heritage which belongs to India.

8. It is my opinion that if anyone purchased goods or services from the defendants organizations with an impressions to the contrary, then those individuals were defrauded.

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