Who is a saint? He who lives in God or the Eternal, who is free from egoism, likes and dislikes, selfishness, vanity, mine-ness, lust, greed and anger, who is endowed with equal vision, balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, righteousness and cosmic love, and who has divine knowledge, is a saint. Saints and sages are a blessing to the world at large. They are the custodians of superior divine wisdom, spiritual powers and inexhaustible spiritual wealth. Even kings bow their heads at their lotus feet. King Janaka said to Yajnavalkya, O venerable sage! I am grateful to your exalted holiness for obtaining the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads through your lofty and sublime instructions. I offer my whole kingdom at the feet. Further, I am thy servant. I will wait on thee like a servant. The present work has been divided into thirteen sections. Saints do not strictly belong to any clime or country and no geographical limits can stop their influence from overflowing the boundaries. They belong to the whole world. Hence, to attach to them any provincial basis is to facilitate the easy understanding of the spiritual current started by each separately and by all conjointly for the spiritual regeneration of the land.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Swami Sivananda
Born on the 8th September, 1887, in the illustrious family of Sage Appayya Dikshitr an several other renowned saints and savants, Sri Swami Sivananda had a natural flair for a life devoted to the study and practice of Vedanta. Added to this was an inborn eagerness to serve all and an innate feeling of unity with all mankind. His passion for service drew him to the medical career; and soon he gravitated to where he thought that his service was most needed. Malaya claimed him. He had earlier been editing a health journal and wrote extensively on health problems. He discovered that people needed right knowledge most of all; dissemination of that knowledge he espoused as his own mission. It was Divine dispensation and the blessing of God upon mankind that the doctor of body and mind renounced his career and took to a life of renunciation to qualify for ministering to the soul of man. He settled down at Rishikesh in 1924, practised intense austerities and shone as a great Yogi, saint, sage and Jivanmukta. In 1932 Swami Sivananda started the Sivanandashram. In 1936 was born The Divine Life society. In 948 the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy was organized. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge and training of people in Yoga and Vedanta were their aim and object. In 950 Swamiji undertook a lightning tour of India and Ceylon. In 953 Swamiji convened a 'World Parliament of Religions'. Swamiji is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples and creeds. To read Swamiji's works is to drink at the fountain of Wisdom Supreme. On 14th July, 1963 Swamiji entered Mahasamadhi.
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