Swāmī Śivānanda
1887–1963 · Paṭṭamaḍai, Tamil Nadu to Rishikesh · Yoga and Vedānta
Kuppuswāmī, born at Paṭṭamaḍai in Tamil Nadu, trained as a doctor and served the sick in Malaya before renouncing the world. He came to Rishikesh in 1923, took sannyāsa and, after years of austerity and service, founded the Divine Life Society in 1936.
He taught a “yoga of synthesis” — combining karma, bhakti, jñāna and rāja yoga — summed up in his motto “Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise.” He wrote some two hundred books, and his many disciples spread yoga and Vedānta across India and the world.
1887–1963 · Rishikesh · Divine Life Society, 1936