Biography Of 125 Year Old Swami Sivananda
“For the salvation of his own soul, and for the good and happiness of the many, the Sannyasin is born in the world”
– Swami Vivekananda.
Swami Sivananda is a Kashighats yoga guru who practices and teaches yoga. The Indian government bestowed the Padma Shri to the 125-year-old on March 21. He is the award’s oldest recipient to date. Swami Sivananda Baba is a restless guru who is entirely engrossed in God and works exclusively for God via service activities, continually giving forth holy vibrations to the members of the SivanandaParibar (fellowship), assisting them in spiritual freedom.
Swami Sivananda Baba, who is completely immersed in God and a restless sage working only for God through serviceful activities and continuously sending forth the divine vibrations to the members of SivanandaParibar (fraternity) helping them in the liberation of their souls.
Birth | 8 August 1896 |
Age | 125 years |
Profession | Yoga teacher |
Religion | Hinduism |
Awards | Padma Shri Yoga Ratna Award BasundharaRatan award |
Birth
- 8th August 1896 – Sylhet District – Sub-division Habiganj – P.S. Bahubal- Village Haripur – Sivananda baba was born in a Bengali Brahmin Goswami family. His parental forefather Thakur Bani was a great saint of Sylhet. His father was SrinathGoswami and Bhagabati Devi was his mother.
Childhood
- Swami’s parents had to beg for money from door to door. They used to first offer the food to Lord Narayana and then subsist on Prasad, which was never enough to satisfy their need. Sivananda, as a small child, experienced the excruciating suffering of hunger. Since his childhood days, he was very brilliant in his studies. His father, mother, and sister all died within three months of each other when he was six, leaving him alone. He subsequently traveled to Kashi, where he got Guru Omkarananda’s teaching, learned yoga, and began serving on the ghats. He was dubbed the “living embodiment of Yoga, Dhyan, and Seva” because of his disciplined lifestyle.
Life At Nabadwip
- His parents entrusted OmkaranandaGoswami, a Vaisnava saint and ‘Sadguru’ (genuine spiritual teacher) residing in Nabadwip, with their 4-year-old boy for his physical, mental, and spiritual growth.
Passing Away Of Sister, Mother And Father
- Baba’s Guru sent Him to Sylhet two years later to see His parents. When Sivananda returned home, he discovered that his older sister and playmate had died of hunger and famine. By the rule of fate, his mother died before daybreak after a few days, and his father died barely 2 hours later after sunrise. Sivananda retreated to Guru’s Ashram, his lone refuge in this world, together with the ‘SalagramSila’ revered by his father and the ‘Sivalinga’ worshipped by his mother, after conducting their death rites.
Education And Spiritual Initiation
- Omkarananda Baba gave Sivananda His ‘Mantra Diksha’ (spiritual initiation), and also provided for both his temporal and spiritual education. Sivanandarecognised and declared “The World is My Home” as a result of ‘Gurukripa’ (Divine blessings of Guru), rigorous meditation, and sheer endurance. My dad and moms are the folks who inhabit it. My faith is to love and serve them.” Then He dedicated His entire life to the welfare of all beings, to the glory of God’s name, and to the Vaishnavas’ services (“Jibe Daya, Name ruchi, Vaishnavaseva”).
Guru
- OmkaranandaGoswami, His Spiritual Master, passed away his earthly body in December of 1959. Despite the fact that it was a big shock to Sivananda Baba, He gradually recovered and began His mission of selfless service to people in various parts of India who were suffering from bodily, mental, and spiritual difficulties.
Life At Vrindavana And Vanarasi
- Sivananda Baba started living at Vrindavana on and from 16th January 1977 and left Vrindavana in 1979. In 1979, Sivananda Baba came from Vrindavana to live permanently in Varanasi (Kashi-Basa).
Sadguru Sivananda Baba
- People came to know Sivananda Baba as a Sadguru who could regulate the pressures of speech, mind, wrath, tongue, stomach, private parts, and money after He remained hidden for a long period. Baba is a devout follower of the path of devotion, devoid of all lusts and cravings. He has a uniquely attractive feature in that he does not think about or want money, a common name, popularity, or happiness. Except for a ‘Haritaki,’ Baba refuses to accept any type of contribution (Myrobalan). When it comes to His daily necessities and sustenance, Baba is always apathetic. He is always living in His own spiritual realm, surrendering His entire self to God.
Daily Life
- Baba gets out of bed at 3 a.m. on a regular basis. He spends virtually the whole day devoted to religious chores, prayers, the Divine Name, thinking well of everybody, donating money to the needy, and so on, and goes to bed at about 9 p.m.Rice with cooked veggies is in his everyday meal. His modest techniques of living a disciplined and well-regulated life, including early morning Yoga, oil-free boiled food, and selfless devotion to mankind in his own way, have given him the longest life free of sickness and strain. Rather than lecturing, he uses his life to serve as an example. He doesn’t consume sweets or anything that has been fried in oil. FAVORITE WORK: Sivananda Baba is a friend to those who are downtrodden, destitute, deprived, sick, fallen, and suffering. His favorite task is to serve people without expecting anything in return.
A Born Saint
Sivananda Baba is a born Mahapurusha, endowed with fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the Yoga of knowledge, charity, self-control, sacrifice, Vedic study, austerity, uprightness, non-injury, sincerity, utter lack of anger, self-sacrifice, tranquillity, liberty from slander, generosity to beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, and lack He, like Brahma, began His ‘Tapasya’ (Penance) as a child solely for the benefit of mankind. He bends down to all humans, regardless of age, since He can sense the presence of living Narayana (God) in everyone. “Vasudevah Sarvamitisa Mahatma Sudurlava,” says the narrator. Sivananda Baba is a man with a very open personality. Throughout his life, he has been a believer in positive thinking. ‘The world is my home, the people who live in it are my dad’s and mothers, and loving and serving them is my religion,’ he believes.
According to a document from the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Padma awardees, he is still working to aid the poor in several parts of the country, including North East India, Varanasi, Puri, and Haridwar, Nabadwip, and others. For the last 50 years, Swami Sivananda has treated 400-600 leprosy-affected beggars in Puri with dignity by personally visiting them in their hutments. Vv”He regards them as living Gods and provides them with the greatest resources possible. He organizes various resources such as food, fruits, clothing, winter coats, blankets, mosquito nets, and cooking utensils based on their specified needs,” the report stated. He urges others to provide various products to the impacted individuals in order to help them feel the joy of giving so that they would be driven to give more in the future.
Swami Sivananda’s long and healthy life has drawn international attention, as has his devotion to encouraging his people to get COVID vaccines after immunizing himself at the age of 125. Corporate hospitals across the country have provided complimentary master health check-ups to assess the structural and functional status of his vital organs and systems, as well as to monitor his lifestyle. Swami Sivananda has been honored with various awards including the Yoga Ratna Award in 2019 at Bengaluru. On June 21, 2019, World Yoga Day, he was the country’s oldest elderly participant at a yoga demonstration. On November 30, 2019, Respect Age International presented him with the BasundharaRatan Award for his contributions to society.
Interview
- The other reason for the yogi’s longevity, according to him, is the yoga he performs every day, he revealed in an interview with AR Rahman. “It is critical that everyone maintains excellent health.”Every morning, I practice on an empty stomach,” Sivananda continued. The brief virtual conversation ended with Rahman promising the yogi that they would meet in person eventually. “I was meant to come to Varanasi when filmmaker AanandRai asked me, but I couldn’t make it at the time,” Rahman said. But I’ll be there soon, and I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you face to face.” “You see very few nations displaying their culture well,” Rahman remarked, “yet our country has a 5,000-year-old culture.” “We need filmmakers to reflect our country’s strength and beauty, not simply its poverty,” says the author. Our country’s ambassadors are filmmakers, artists, and musicians.” “He performs a lot of mixing at Chennai’s Prasad Studios,” Rahman said, recalling his meeting with Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. ‘You’re sitting in an AC studio, but just beyond the walls of this studio is a narrative waiting to be told,’ he used to say to filmmakers.
Video Documentry
Virtual Bharat’s latest video in a 1000-film journey of India’s untold stories takes us to Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, on International Yoga Day. The film tells the story of Swami Sivananda, an elderly man who confidently answers, “Do you know who I am?” 123! When asked his age. Swami Sivananda, the world’s oldest living person, was born on August 8, 1896, and is currently 124 years old! The Guinness Book of World Records has yet to recognize him as the world’s oldest man.
Swami Sivananda, like many other Indians, even those decades younger, has no legal documentation of his birth other than a temple registry listing his birth date. India’s passport officials have cited this as proof of his age. When the team asks whether he has anything to prove his age, he shows his passport as well as his Aadhaar card. “You may bring a doctor if you want evidence!” he asserts.
With timeless elegance and piercing quick wit, he takes the team through his daily routine. Every day, he practiced two hours of yoga, ate two simple meals of dal, roti, and sabzi (vegetables), and studied the Gita for the remainder of his time. He feels that it is because of his discipline and simplicity that he has lived to such a ripe old age.
He says, “Yoga brings mental tranquility and contentment,” noting that he has neither desire, disease, nor depression—the three Ds for which he has no time or room in his life. Yoga, he believes, is the secret to a happy existence. Swami Sivananda having lost both of his parents at the age of six and was taken under the wing of a spiritual guru who guided him throughout the globe. As he names the countries he’s been to, his eyes gleam… Luxembourg, Austria, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands, to mention a few… There are around 50 in total! That was his first yoga experience. He continues to practice yoga to this day, and the film showcases his incredibly flexible body for someone so young.
When we ask him what the key to a long life is, he grins and says, “This is the Kalyug; all of us are greedy.” “It’s unthinkable to live for 125 years!” Swami Sivananda goes about his day with a smile on his face, proclaiming that he has no time for anything else: “I am not only the world’s oldest but also the happiest living man!” A man brightens as he tells the world that happiness and simplicity are what kept him going after nearly two pandemics.
His Popular Teachings
Always avoid antibiotics. Indiscriminate use of miracle drugs antibiotics is the root cause of many complicated destructive diseases. (08.07.2016)
Please make a habit of giving.(Pune, 26.04.2017)
When we see the earth from space we cannot find any division of the state. Similarly, when we reach the highest platform of spirituality, we cannot find any division of religion. We should not sacrifice our future gains for the sake of our present needs. (27.05.2017)
Guru is greater than God. God might be able to give you certain things you want of the World, but if you ask God to grant you liberation, God has to take the form of Guru to grant you liberation from the bondage of birth and death.
Selfless love is the only way to obtain peace, pleasure, prosperity, and happiness.
Our commitment is to a disease-free nation.
Our humble and whole-hearted request is not to send your financial donation to the Ashram, our only sincere prayer is to send your physical, mental, and spiritual donation to the Ashram.
Selfless benevolence alone is the supreme virtue.
A sound brain, sound mind, and a sound body is very essential for promotion in spiritual life. (23.12.2013)
Initiation is a spiritual process by which a man is perfectly and eternally united to God-head Sri Krishna. All are gods and goddesses but Sri Krishna is God-head.
Baba is a bosom friend of God. That is why his all desires are granted by God automatically. So from this very moment, you should try your best to become a good friend of God.
Please try to be cheerful in adverse circumstances.
Sivananda Baba is the instrument in the hands of God. (11.03.2007)
God is the whole. You are an infinitesimal part of the whole. So you are God.
Prevention is better than fighting against the disease.
Make a habit of walking in the early morning at least for one hour taking a glass of water. Then perform free hand exercise.
The unnecessary conversation is harmful to both body and mind.
Make a habit of walking in the early morning at least for one hour taking a glass of water. Then perform free hand exercise.
We spend our health to get our wealth & then with might & men, we labor hard to spend our wealth to get our health again.
Mental flexibility is very essential for promotion in the spiritual world.
The world is my home. Its people are my fathers and mothers. To love and serve them is my religion.
Selfless service is the golden way to God-realization.
A moment’s good company will enable the human being to cross the worldly ocean.
Our present life is determined by the activities of our past life. Our future life will be determined by the activities of our present life.
God will surely favor us all if our motto is noble
Selfless service is the direct worship of God.
Love and loving care supply the base of human life.
Guru has combined in himself the embodiment of all gods and goddesses. (17.11.2013).
People try to create an outwardly perfect life but the quality of life is based on the inner life. (01.12.2012)
Top 13 Interesting Facts About Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda is an Indian monk whose passport, when checked at the Abu Dhabi airport, revealed him to be 124 years old.
The elderly man lost both parents before he was six and was given away by his relatives to a spiritual guru, whom he traveled with around India before settling in Varanasi.
I avoid taking milk or fruits because I think these are fancy foods. In my childhood I slept many days on an empty stomach,” he said.
India’s passport authorities confirmed Sivananda’s age from a temple register, the only record many Indians even decades younger have of their date of birth.
Despite his apparent age, he remains strong enough to perform yoga for hours at a time.
He is now applying to Guinness World Records to verify his claim. It currently lists Japan’s Jiroemon Kimura, who died in June 2013 aged 116 years and 54 days, as the oldest man to have ever lived.
He is the oldest man to have ever lived putting his longevity down to no sex or spices and daily yoga.
Fit and without any medical complications, he lives independently and even travels alone on trains.
Having witnessed three generations now passing by, all that this man craves at the end of the day is happiness and peace.
“Earlier people were happy with fewer things. Nowadays people are unhappy, unhealthy, and have become dishonest, which pains me a lot,” said the 124-year-old man.
Swami sleeps on a mattress laid on the floor with a wooden slab as a headrest.
He grew up amidst extreme poverty and eventually adopted the life of a disciplined celibate.
This man here has been among the very few centenarians who have lived through the last three centuries.
Sarang Chouksey
Writer
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