(From the book “Japa Yoga” By Swami Sivananda)
There can hardly have been a more colourful opening to a month than March 2018, when Holi fell on the very first day of the month. The festival of colours is celebrated in India and all along the latitude of the world wherever Indian tradition is cherished. Celebrations start on the eve of Holi, called ‘Holika Dahan’, followed by ‘Rangwali Holi’ the next day, and are worthy of special attention as they are braided closely by religious, scientific, spiritual and philosophical outlooks.
Question: What is detachment and how do we love with detachment?
Answer: Detachment means detachment from suffering and the causes of suffering. This is one of the great teachings in yoga.
Have you realised what a precious gift and veritable divine power this human birth is? Do you not feel that life is meant for the fulfillment of a most sublime purpose? Truly it is meant for the attainment of a lofty goal, namely divine perfection and perennial peace and bliss. You all know quite well that life is not merely the act of breathing, digesting, eliminating, thinking, feeling, knowing, willing, etc. Life is not meant for eating, seeing, sleeping and dying miserably in the end.
Dear graduates, congratulations on what you have achieved, for the effort, courage and energy you have brought to accomplish the teachers’ training course.
You listened, you put in the time and energy. From here on in, you can give yourself the credit that you can do it. This is how you learn not to buy what they are selling in the world – get rich, get smart, get this, get that. I have trained people who are billionaires and they were suicidal. You have learned the difference between a life with yoga and a life without yoga.
That is true. Swami Vishnudevananda showed us how to overcome fear through his body language. He did not hesitate to stand up for what was right.