Swami Sitaramananda is a senior disciple of Swami Vishnu-devananda and is the current director of the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm in Grass Valley California. She has been teaching Yoga, meditation and positive thinking for more than 20 years in US and in India. She is originally from Vietnam and met with Swami Vishnu devananda in his ashram in Val Morin, Quebec, Canada 25 years ago, when she was working as social worker. She became an ordained  Swami in 1985 of the Saraswati order of Sankaracharya lineage and has been serving consistently since then as a swami and spiritual teacher (acharya)  in the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers.

Q. At what point in your life did you begin your spiritual journey?

A. I started my spiritual journey at 28 when I was still a social worker. I realized that one needs to change oneself before attempting to help the world. I realized that Yoga can give me a tool to make myself strong so that I can help the world.

2. Since you’ve come to this path, what did you get from it?
   The Yoga Life gives me complete fulfillment. Physically and mentally I was able to do much more work and not get sick or burned out. Emotionally, I become more happy and open, and spiritually of course I feel the inner connection with God and the meaning of my life.

3. How can  people recognize God,  see God and  touch God and how can we benefit from it?
   We need to turn within to find God. We can only turn within when we realize that chasing things outside is not going to give us the Peace and Happiness we are looking for. God can be found and felt when we become humble and we start to listen to the inner voice of our heart instead of the loud voices of our senses and the demands of our egoistic ambitions and desires.

4. How can the path of Yoga  help us?
   Yoga is practical. It can guide us step by step how to control our body and mind, and bring us back to our physical, mental and spiritual health. It will make us calm down and look within to realize our perfection and our unity with all.

5. What do people suffer from and why do they suffer?
   People suffer from not knowing themselves and thinking wrongly that they are these separate and imperfect individuals. Realizing our unity and completeness will help us remove all the negative emotions and thoughts that come from this consciousness of separation and of fragmentation. For example : hatred, anger, jealousy, envy, desire, lust, depression, fears, anxieties etc… Yoga helps to realize this by giving us the direct experience of positive feelings and thoughts of joy, peace, love, forgiveness, courage, strength, patience, harmony, understanding, contentment, respect.

6. Since thousands of years, so many religions have come to show the ways to people, many people follow religion but still they are unfulfilled. Why?
   Sometimes people follow religions externally and blindly without understanding the basic spiritual teaching of religions in daily life. People are unfulfilled by religions because they are still looking outside of themselves and not inside of themselves.

7. What is the main goal of all religions?
   Spirit is one, the ways to understand that one basic truth are many. We need to see through the differences and find the teaching of Oneness , Unity and Love in all Religions.

8. What is the best thing in this world and how can people achieve it?
   The best thing in this world is Peace. Peace leads to Happiness. People can achieve inner peace by turning within, learn to calm and control the mind and understand that the mind is restless and always projects happiness externally.

9. What would you advise if someone wants to be happy and have peace of mind in his/her life?
   I would advise the person to lead a simple life in company of people of similar ambitions (satsanga) , and practice daily Yoga and meditation, under the guidance of a spiritual teacher or Yogi.

10. What is enlightenment and how a man can reach it?
    Enlightenment is the state of clarity of a purified mind that is devoid of selfishness, ignorance and desires. It is a state of perfect understanding

that I am the essence of all things, that nothing is separated from me, that I am Existence , Knowledge and Bliss Absolute.

12. All the people in the world want to be happy, nobody wants sadness or suffering , what I the solution for it?
    There is no magic solution or global solution. Everyone needs to come to realization that suffering and sadness are our own creation, that one has the capacity to find happiness but one has to raise above one’s own habit and transform him or herself with courage . One needs to look within and find the way to freedom from suffering oneself and not looking out and deplore the conditions of the world. Once one realize one’s own mistake, and change consciousness, the world of suffering becomes illusions.

13. You are a disciple of Swami Vishnu-devananda. Who was he and what he did?
    Swami Vishnu-devananda is a great Yogi and Master. He has great devotion to his Master, Swami Sivananda and selflessly work for the Peace of Humanity, training thousands and millions of people in Yoga through his organization, the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta centers. He is also very selfless, offering his own life for teaching the way to Peace to the world by himself performing many dangerous Peace missions (peace flights over Suez Canal, Belfast, Berlin wall, etc..).  He is a loving and enlightened swami and Yogi that practice the motto” be in the world and out of the world”.

14. Can you please explain the 5 points of Yoga.
    Swami Vishnu-devananda teaches the Yogic life in a simple 5 points system: proper exercises (yoga asanas) , proper breathing (pranayama), proper relaxation (sarvasan), proper diet (vegetarian) , positive thinking and meditation (vedanta and dhyana).  He presents the classical teaching of Yoga in a down to earth manner. If we practice integrally these 5 points together in our daily life, we will automatically change consciousness and become more healthy, peaceful and aware.

15. Many people do Yoga but not all of them can get the full benefit of Yoga. Why?
    Many people do Yoga externally, like a set of exercises for external benefits like fitness, concentration etc… they do not realize th spiritual dimensions of Yoga. That is why they can not fully benefit from their practice of Yoga.

16. Which branch of Yoga is more useful?
    We need to practice all the Yogas together. Swami Sivananda formula is “little..little” means, we need to blend in our daily life, little meditation, little Yogic asanas, little selfless service, little devotional practices, little self study, little reading of scriptures. To be balanced and to grow in all aspects, we need to practice all the yogic paths together.

17. How can we deal with our mind as we know we are always slave to it.
    First, we need to know that the mind is not us, that it is only our instrument. We need to detach from it and start to study its specifics. Then we need to learn to concentrate the mind, by Yoga and meditation, and by doing so, realize our inner nature . We then will get stronger , and will eventually become the master of the mind instead being the slave to it.

18. Tell us about the Sivananda ashram in California and the program which you have?
    The Sivananda ashram Yoga Farm in California was founded by Swami Vishnu devananda. It was his separate place for seclusion. It is situated on 80 acres of land in a valley, with many shrines and a pond in the middle that Swamiji dug out long time ago. The ashram is established since 1971 in the area called the Sierra Foothills, 3 hours north of San Francisco. We have the same daily schedule of Yoga classes and satsangs like any Sivananda ashram around the world. We also have many courses and special workshops listed in our website www.yogafarm.org It is a small ashram and you feel like in a spiritual family. When Swami Sitaramananda is at the ashram, she conducted daily satsangs and teachings. There is also an Ayurvedic clinic at the ashram and courses in Vedic astrology as well.

19. Give some advice from the great spiritual men that have changed the world?
    I would say the great spiritual advice is :” serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize” from Swami Sivananda. All the great spiritual people serve and love.

20. How does Yoga work for someone who is very religious and devoted to his/her religion , what ever it is?
    You can practice the principles of Yoga which are not contradictory to any religious teaching. The practice of Yoga will help you to understand your own religion and appreciate your own religion better.

22. You are a Raja Yoga teacher for many years and you are much sincere in your sadhana and meditation, would you p-lease explain what is meditation and someone can achieve the goal of it?
    Meditation is a state of consciousness when you are steadily dwelling on the truth of who you are or on the consciousness of the Divine , and will not be disturbed by the changing phenomenas and comings and goings of the world. You can achieve this state of consciousness by starting to question your self, looking for something beyond your normal consciousness, become a good person, be willing to practice self discipline , then learn to control the body (asanas) , the breath (pranayama), the senses (pratyahara) and the mind( dharana concentration) as well as the emotions (positive thinking). The detachment will come by itself and meditation will come automatically when one becomes more detached and focused.

23. In one of your lectures, you said if someone can do real meditation in hald an hour, he/she can reach to Samadhi but sometimes to reach to this, 40-50 years is necessary to practice, so what is the shortcut to reach to Samadhi?
    There is not shortcut to reach to Samadhi. You have to start to build up the strength of the mind by starting step by step to concentrate the mind and purify the mind from all distractions and impurities. It is not important to think about time because time is relative to your state of mind. If you are more focused, your mind is more powerful and you can achieve high state of consciousness instantly.

However, one should not look for results or shortcuts because these are impurities and obstacles. One should practice without expectation because Samadhi can not be an external goal but an inner experience that is timeless.

24. For many years you have practiced meditation and every year you go to the Himalayas for deeper practice, please tell us your experiences ?
    I enjoy the pure vibrations of the Himalayas and I like to be in the place that is so much loved by Swami Vishnudevananda and Master Sivananda. I feel more connected with them when I am in the Himalayas. It is also a tapas (austerity) experience for me as it forced me to face sadhana alone without any distractions.

Even in ashrams, there are lots of distractions and business. Seclusion amidst the

High vibrations of the Himalayan yogis seems to be something that attracts me.

25. Tell us about intuition . What is the way to attain it.
    Intuition comes from purification of our lower mind. Intuition is also beyond intellect. It comes naturally when we become proficient in meditation.

26. Yoga has 4 branches. Which if them is more useful and how can we practice in daily life . Explain each of them.
    Classical Yoga has 4 different ways how to lead you to Self realization or God realization. They are: the way of selfless action (Karma Yoga), the way of sefless love or devotion (Bhakti Yoga) , the way of controlling the mind (Raja Yoga) and the way of Self enquiry (Jnana Yoga). Sivananda Yoga teaches the combination of the 4 paths as we all have body and desires for actions, heart, mind and intellect. Hatha Yoga is part of Raja Yoga as Hatha Yoga helps you to control the mind by controlling the body and the breath. Hatha Yoga is the practical aspect of the science of mind control. Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the scripture on Hatha Yoga giving you details about asanas and pranayamas.

The important scripture that teaches the 4 paths of Yoga is Bhagavad Gita.

27. How possible for people to live a material life and live a spiritual life too?
    People cannot live a material life and a spiritual life simultaneously. They should live a spiritual life first and the material life will be taken care of as it is treated as karma yoga or service to God.

28. When will you come to Iran?
    Thank you for the invitation. Right now, my schedule is fully packed so I do not know when I can visit Iran. I am happy though to teach Iranian students when you bring them to India. They are very serious, sincere  and intelligent students.

I congratulate you for your efforts in bringing Yoga and Sivananda teachings to Iranian students.

29. Do you have a message for the readers of our Yoga magazine?
    My message is : Serve, love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize”, the same message given by Swami Sivananda.

30. Two years back you published a book , would you please give more details about it and tell us if you have written any other book.
    “Darshan” is a poem book about my life with Swami Vishnu devananda ji and my spiritual journey. I wrote it in 2003 during my seclusion in Gangotri Himalayas. I have written since then many more poems which I have lost and many articles that are sometimes published in Yoga Life magazine. I am in the process to reedit the serie of booklets on “Positive thinking manual” ; “ Karma Yoga manual” , “meditation and its obstacles”.

Om Tat sat- Neyyar Dam, India  February 2006

Swami Sitaramananda