Swami Sivananda also known as Sivananda Saraswati was a proponent of Vedanta and Yoga and a Hindu spiritual teacher. He was born on September 8th, 1887 in Pattamadai, Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu state. He was known originally as Kuppuswami. As a student he studied medicine and worked as a physician in British Malaya for many years after which he took up monasticism or spiritual life. He lived near Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, for a major part of his life.
Swami Sivananda became associated with Vishwananda Saraswati his Guru, in the holy town of Rishikesh. Swami Sivananda was initiated into spiritual life by his Guru after which he gave him the title, Swami Sivananda Saraswati. After attaining the title Sivananda hardly left the holy town Rishikesh and explored the inner worlds of consciousness and practices different types of Yogas for the next ten years. He wrote numerous books on philosophy and yoga and became an expert in Yogic science.
In 1936 he started the Divine Life Society with the purpose of rendering selfless service and disseminating spiritual knowledge to the people. He founded Yoga –Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948 and has also authored more than two hundred books on Vedanta, Yoga and a range of other subjects. The Sivananda Ashram which is also the head quarters of the Divine Life Society (DLS) has been founded by Swami Sivananda close to Rishikesh.
Swami Sivananda strongly believed in Yoga of synthesis and always to ‘Be Good, Do Good’. He died at the age of 75 years in July 14th 1963, in Shivanandanagar, Rishikesh on the banks of the River Ganga.
