Readings

I AM PAIN - THY TEACHER: Swami Sivananda Saraswati, Author of 300 Books www.sivananda.org
Simplicity is Graceful: Daily Meditations, Swami Sivananda, Daily Meditations, Sivananda Press. Durban, South Africa 1986, pp. 161-162.

I Am Pain, Thy Teacher

Oh man, you curse me, blame me,

You hate me and frown at me

You think I am cruel and heartless,

You try to slay me with anesthetics,

With chloroform and bromides,

You attack me with sedatives and opiates.

You phone doctors,

You run to the hospitals;

You fly to Vienna and hill stations,

You wire to your friends and relatives

You approach the saints of the Himalayas

for remedies and herbs.

You do Maha Mritunjaya Japa (prayers) and

Havan (give sacrifice).

You burn incense and pray - To kill the teacher

Who warns you, Who comes to help and bless you.

I am not your enemy, I am your friend,

I am a messenger of God,

I am an angel from heaven, to teach you wisdom,

To instill in your heart mercy and dispassion.

To turn your mind towards God.

To destroy your intense clinging

To things earthly and mundane,

That are perishable and illusory.

I am your guide and silent teacher;

I AM PAIN - the best thing in this world.

I am an eye-opener, soul-awakener

I am an inspirer and thriller,

I come to remind you of God,

To point to you the divine path,

To make you desist from evil ways,

To make you practice good habits;

You have really misunderstood me,

I am only the absence of pleasure

I co-exist with pleasure;

I am the starting point of philosophy,

I am the cause of man's exertion,

I am the cause of man's aspirations,

I set the minds of philosophers to think,

I make the Yogis start spiritual practices,

I made the sages practice meditation,

I make a worldly man a superman.

You failed to observe the laws of health,

The rules of hygiene and right living.

You took Rajasic (passionate) and

Tamasic (stale or bad) foods,

You took meat, fish and eggs;

You were not regular in doing exercise,

You did not do Pranayama (breathing exercises) and

Asanas (Yoga exercises),

You did not pray and meditate,

You were immoderate in taking food,

You did not bask in the sun,

You slept in ill-ventilated rooms,

You took too much of sweetmeats,

You drank impure water,

You hated and injured your neighbors,

You were lustful, malicious and greedy,

And so suffered strokes and heart attacks,

You married a third time,

You were a heavy smoker in the club,

You drank liquor and took drugs,

You took bribes and cheated,

You twisted the truth in courts

And thereby sent innocent men to prison,

You charged your patients heavily -

And so I come to you.

To heal, to teach, to guide.

Understand now at least

My secret and good nature,

My interest in your well-being;

Practice simple living and high thinking,

Observe the laws of health and hygiene,

Adopt a wel-balanced, vegetarian diet,

Practice non-injury, truth and celibacy,

Read holy books and scriptures,

Love all and be kind to all,

Forgive and forget quickly,

Serve all with affection, See the Lord in all,

Repeat the Divine Name at all times -

It will protect and guide you,

Then I will depart and leave you

I will not trouble you any longer.

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Simplicity is Graceful

Sivananda (author of 300 books)

Simplicity is freedom from duplicity, affection or pretension. In dress, in food, in character, in style, in manners, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. There is beauty and majesty in simplicity. It is nature's first step and the last of her arts.

Be what you say and say what you are. Write as you speak and speak as you think. Be simple like a child. The door of Moksha will then be opened to you.

The greatest of truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest of men. Goodness and simplicity are indissolubly united. A simple, frank man is the most agreeable man. Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars into the kingdom of God.

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