Swami Sivananda Saraswati born at Pattamadai Tamil Nadu in 1887, is our moola guru. After serving as a medical doctor in Malaya, he renounced his practice

Paramahamsa Swami Satyananda Saraswati was born in Almorah in 1923. He joined his Guru, Swami Sivananda Saraswati, in Rishikesh (UP), and adopted the Dashnami

Paramahamsa Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati was born in Rajnandgaon (MP) in 1960. He traveled overseas at the age of 10, establishing Ashrams and Yoga Centres in Europe, 

Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati (Satsangi) was born in 1953, in Chandornagore, West Bengal. From the age of 22, she experienced a series of inner awakenings which led her to her guru, Swami Satyananda. 

Human life is the only life where man is given freedom of action. Do not therefore waste time but start on your journey. Carry with you the luggage in the form of blessings and instructions of the Guru.

Always cherish this thought within that you are nobody. Whatever there is, is only that Power, that you are only the medium. Never forget that while one force desires to manifest itself through you, the other desires to efface you.

First know him to be the Doer in all ordinary matters. Slowly as this practice matures, you will be convinced that you are the same entity.

If the disciple wants to be enlightened, he will find an enlightened Guru. There is no doubt about it.

The attitude of a disciple should be: ‘I am nothing. I am the medium. I am the channel’. This attitude has to be perfected day in and day out. This is bhakti or total self-surrender.

A disciple has to empty himself

Guru and disciple may live anywhere, but there is an unseen connection between them.

Individual mind is only a concept, it is nothing. There is no individual mind, only universal. Since you are part of the universal mind, the guru can converse with you from any point and at any point.

When you feel you are in touch with divinity, you are very much in touch with your Guru.

Once the link with guru is established, time cannot change it, nor death eradicate it. It is a permanent union. Guru stays with you life after life.

Gurus are those who descend with the particle of divinity from the higher realm of awareness to our plane of consciousness.

There is no need to escape life. Live it, live it fully. Live it blissfully. Harmonise it. Awaken your infinite potential. This is the very essence of Sannyasa.

Whatever a Sannyasin does, whether he has possessions or not, whether he lives in an ashram or under the open sky, his inner feeling should be of renunciation as much as he is able.

Actually, the ultimate role of a Sannyasin is to have absolutely no role. This means that though he may perform a useful role in society, internally he feels no role. This is perfection in Sannyasa life, to play a role without any identification with it.

In order to receive Guru’s grace, you must live constantly in communion with the Guru.

Initiation is a very sacred commitment between Guru and disciple.

Guru can love everyone because he sees one in all. In the same way, whoever your Guru is, you have to see all Gurus in him.

The aim of a Sannyasin is to attain perfection, to refine his body-mind so that it becomes a perfect instrument.

Face the storms and earthquakes! Don’t be shocked, don’t fall down. Keep on standing majestically.

Surrender is not giving up your freedom, but receiving your freedom, like a king.

When you surrender to Guru, you give your limited self away and receive it back again in fullness.

The Guru-Shishya communion is the most enduring type of relationship mankind has ever known. It transcends experiences and emotions, and continues to work in its own non-rational way even after death.

The test does not lie in how much Sadhana you have practiced but how alive are you to your Sankalpa.

A Sadhaka must always remember his Sankalpa (firm resolve).

Rest is rust.

You have a great mission to fulfill, for that every step of your life is a mighty system of preparation.

You don’t have to defend yourself. You have to equip yourself with a greater form of awareness. That greater form of awareness makes you brave, bold and it gives a meaning, an understanding to every experience in life.

Work purifies the soul.

A true Guru does not make the disciple renounce the world but his limited self.

Even if you only live the life of a Sannyasin for fifteen days, it will enrich you with very deep and abiding experiences and it will create a new type of mind, personality and man.

Simple life is a veritable blessing, because it makes one free from cravings and desires, which cause suffering and pain.

With total abandonment of desires comes their complete fulfillment.

First you practice egolessness before your Guru and when you practice this for sometime, it becomes your nature. When it becomes your nature, you can practise it with anybody and everybody.

The real Guru is within you, he is known as Sat Guru. The external Guru acts as a catalyst and explodes the experience of the inner Guru.

Guru represents the full moon because Guru represents the highest order of illumination for which a disciple is striving. The full moon represents total enlightenment.

Sannyasa means accepting the challenges of life and fighting it.

Let people come forward for Sannyasa and Karma Sannyasa. Respect all systems, all philosophies and all religions, that is the only way for growth in spiritual life. You should see no difference in the different paths and that is how you go ahead in spiritual life.

Gurus do not perform miracles for they are beyond the psychic plane, high up on the spiritual plane, where they never exhibit Siddhis (psychic powers).

You are the full time servant of mankind.

Surrender to Guru or to God does not mean that your life is paralysed. It only means that there is no difference between you and the Guru.