A Great Guru And His Ideal Disciple

Shivananda Saraswati (or Swami Shivananda) (Dr. Kuppuswami) September 8, 1887 – July 14, 1963 was a yoga guru, Hindu spiritual master and follower of Vedanta. He was born in Pattamadai, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, and adopted the name Kuppuswami. He studied medicine and worked as a doctor in British Malaysia for some years before becoming a monk.

He founded the Society for the Divine Life (SGL) in 1936 and the Forest Yoga Vedanta Academy in 1948, and published more than 200 books on yoga, Vedanta and other subjects. He established the Sivananda Ashram, headquarters of the SGL, on the banks of the Ganges at Muni Ki Leeti, three kilometers from Rishikesh, where he spent most of his life.

Sri Swami Shivananda wrote 296 books on subjects such as metaphysics, yoga, Vedanta, religion, Western philosophy, psychology, eschatology, art, ethics, education, health, aphorisms, poetry, letters, autobiography, biography, short stories, drama, messages, lectures, dialogues, essays and anthologies. His books focus on the practical application of yoga philosophy rather than theoretical knowledge.