Swami Satchidananda

The Greatest Victory

Gurudev Sivanandaji used to say that we should watch our thoughts because they create habits. Once you develop a habit, it becomes your character. And then your character becomes your destiny. So, it all originates with your thinking. That is why it is so important to...

Be Unshakeable

When you make a spiritual commitment—what kind of commitment is it? And why do you make it? A spiritual commitment doesn’t have to be to become a swami, a minister. Particularly in the spiritual field, what are you committed to? Not to an organization or an ashram,...

The Light of Infinite Consciousness

All there is, is Infinite Consciousness. There is neither the perceiver nor the perceived. This is the great silence. This is the birthless and deathless state. All that we call unconscious, subconscious, conscious, and superconscious are the different states of...

Beyond the Meditation Cushion

The great South Indian sage Thiruvalluvar said, “What is tapasya (penance)?” Tapasya doesn’t mean go and close your eyes and meditate. That’s easy, comfortable. Tapas means to burn. A spiritual seeker is supposed to practice tapasya.  Thiruvalluvar says, “The more you...

The Path to Spiritual Ripening

Everything takes its own time to mature, including one’s spiritual maturity. Just because you pray a raw fruit will ripen, it won’t ripen overnight. Imagine that you plant a seed and you just sit there and pray, “Please seed, I have planted you and I hope you will be...