Back in the late 60’s I was in a metaphysical bookstore and I saw a large box on a top shelf that was entitled “The Master Course”. I said to myself, “I want to be a master!” and bought the course. It contained 12 cassettes of Gurudeva speaking and transcriptions of the cassettes. I devoured the information over several months and took a trip down to his ashram and temple in San Francisco. After a puja (flower) ceremony worshiping the the Deities, Gurdeva spoke and asked if there were any questions. I asked, “Why is breathing emphasized so much in training?” I don’t remember the words of his response because I had no consciousness of them, because of the huge rush of energy that grabbed my attention when he spoke to me. That was the real answer to my question. I knew then that this was my guru.
Thus ensued fifteen years of formal training in Hinduism and a year as a Brahmachari (celibate) at the the end of which I received my Hindu Name, Jnana Sivananda, in the Hindu name-giving ceremony, the Namakarana Samskara. I was able to choose my last name, Sivananda, which translates to “God-bliss”. Gurudeva gave me my first name, Jnana, which translates to “wisdom”. Wisdom God-bliss loosely translates to Seymour Lovejoy.
I still feel a connection with Gurudeva, who passed in 2001. I was fortunate to go with him and others on a Northern European cruise earlier that year. I’m a supporter of Saiva Siddhanta Church and its current head Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, who had been in charge of my lessons so many years before. You can receive The Master Course in 365 daily emails by contacting the Church via the link in the previous sentence, or you can read it online here.
