The modern system of medicine churns out doctors who manage to heal the wounds on the physical level, but somehow they are not too successful with the scars that mar the psyche. But Dr Kuppuswami was a doctor with a difference. He started his professional life as a doctor of medicine, but gradually realising the depth of the anguish of humankind got involved with the soothing and healing of the soul. He was later on known as Swami Sivananda Saraswati. Early life Kuppuswami was born on September 8, 1887, into a Tamilian household in a town called Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, situated in the southern part of the country. As a young lad he excelled in both academics as well as gymnastics. And as is the practice, in most Hindu households, the entire family would gather for the daily prayers. His parents Vengu Iyer and Parvatiammal, were devotees of Lord Siva and young Kuppuswami would join them in offering prayers to their household deity. In fact, Kuppuswami's father traced his roots to the 16th century saint and scholar, Appayya Dikshitar. After completing his matriculation, Kuppuswami joined the Tanjore Medical Institute where he excelled and soon came to be known as one of the brightest students on the campus. In fact, while still in his first year he would be invited to attend surgeries by his teachers. Turning point Having become a full-fledged doctor, he began his practice. Soon he decided to go to Malaysia. He joined a hospital there and also started a private practice simultaneously. Thanks to his charitable side, a lot of poor people began flocking his clinic as he would waive his consultancy fee for them or give them medicines for free. Thus his name spread afar and he came to be known as a doctor with a kind heart. Having acquired both fame and wealth, the doctor still felt unfulfilled. There was a void in his life, which he was unsure how to fill. He started contemplating on the meaning and purpose of life and would often be lost for hours in introspection. The man of medicine finally realised that it was much more important to soothe and heal the soul, rather than curing the surfacial wounds of people. To the Himalayas Finally the troubled doctor decided that he must seek an answer to the nagging problem of how to heal the misery and suffering of humankind. Since time immemorial several sages and monks have offered prayers to the gods and contemplated on the meaning of life and means to make it wholesome and fruitful in the scenic and tranquil environs of the lofty mountains. They have borne tremendous suffering, bearing biting cold in their attempt to seek answers to their quest. And the Himalayas is where the doctor decided to head. The first stop on his journey to the Himalayas was the holy city of Varanasi (also called Benaras), where he spent some time. From here he moved further north arriving at another holy city Rishikesh, located in the northern Indian state of Uttaranchal, sometime in 1924. It was in Rishikesh that he met his guru Swami Vishwananda. So, powerful was the spiritual aura around Kuppuswami that Swami Vishwananda immediately took him in his shelter and initiated him into sanyas (the holy order of monks who have renounced all worldly pleasures). On June 1, 1924, Kuppuswami became a sanyasi (a wandering monk) and came to be known as Swami Sivananda Saraswati. He settled in an area in Rishikesh called Swarg Ashram. After taking the vow of sanyas, Swami Sivananda Saraswati began observing extreme penance and would be lost in deep prayer (sadhana), sometimes for as long as 16 hours in a day. He endured all sorts of physical hardships and continued his sadhana for more than a decade. But despite his long periods of meditation, the doctor in him still found time to look after the ailing monks in the ashram and offer them medical succour. In fact, he even opened the Satya Sevashram Dispensary to serve the monks and the passing pilgrims. Teachings of Swami Sivananda Swami Sivananda's teachings were simple, doing good unto others. He saw God as omnipotent and believed that the sacred texts of all religions were the same in essence. He believed that God resided in oneself and that one could find him by leading a simple, selfless life, always ready to make sacrifices for others without expecting anything in return. He used to say that, "One can find God in their own heart by being honest and leading a simple living". His Books Swami Sivananda was a prolific writer and he personally wrote, in his own hand, over 200 books on Yoga and Philosophy. In fact, it is said that even at the time when he was meditating for the period of 10 years and observing strict austerities, he used to still write on the inside of envelops or any other scrap of paper he managed to come across. A lot of his disciples were drawn to him thanks to these books. His followers -- Swami Chidananda and Swami Vishnudevananda In 1963, Swami Sivananda left his mortal remains, passing on the baton to his followers Swami Chidananda and Swami Vishnudevananda who took the message of their guru to all corners of the word. The latter set up 40 Yoga-Vedanta centres in the United States of America, Canada and the Bahamas. Swami Vishnudevananda established the True World Order with its headquarters at the Sivananda Yoga-Vedanta Ashram at Val Morin, in Canada's Quebec district. It was here that the first Yoga World Brotherhood Convention was held in 1969. – Vandana Mohal Archive