Swami Sivananda (1887-1963)
This great spiritual Master from India renounced his medical profession to embrace a spiritual life. In 1930 he established in Rishikesh (Himalayas), where people soon gathered to hear his teachings and so an ashram (spiritual community) was born. Founder of the Divine Life Society (1936) and Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy (1948), he wrote more than 200 books on spiritual subjects.
His teachings are still passed down in a traditional way and have been spread to millions of people around the world by the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. His message of love and selfless service can be summarized with “serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize”.
Swami Vishnu-devananda (1927-1993)
An world-renowned authority in Hatha Yoga, when he was a young soldier he read an article by S.Sivananda that struck him and lead him all the way to Rishikesh to meet the Master. He arrived there with an arrogant and skeptical attitude, but soon understood that that was his path, so he stayed in the ashram for 10 years, practicing and teaching yoga.
In 1957 his Master gave him his blessing and sent him to the West to spread the teachings of yoga, and there he established several International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. Throughout his life he was very active in promoting world peace and understanding, starting from the spiritual growth of each single person; with this aim he founded the True World Order and the Teachers’ Training Course.
He summrized the ancient philosophical teachings of Yoga in the 5 points of Sivananda yoga; his motto was “health is wealth, peace of mind is happiness, yoga shows the way”.
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