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About Sri Swami Vishwananda

Swami Vishwananda is a spiritual Master, born in 1978 into a Hindu family on the island of Mauritius. From early childhood, he showed a great interest in religious traditions and spirituality. Since his early years, he has lived in the conscious presence of God and the Saints. His unique personality soon began to attract many people who would come to him looking for his advice and blessings. After finishing his schooling he began to follow his vocation as a spiritual teacher completely and he accepted invitations to Africa, Europe and other parts of the world.

Swami Vishwananda embraces all religions and cultures. A special love binds him to Jesus Christ and His message, which is imbued with unconditional love and acceptance. Swami Vishwananda’s natural ease in connecting elements from western tradition with Hindu spirituality, gives people access to a very personal experience with the Divine, regardless of culture, gender or age.

"We are all brothers and sisters and come from the same God. Our true identity, hidden behind our emotions and thoughts of daily life, is our soul, our own true Self. To achieve outer unity with all our brothers and sisters, we have to achieve unity within, between body, mind and soul. We have to accept and love ourselves the way we are now, with our physical body, emotions and thoughts and at the same time strive for the Soul. Mankind needs to remember that all people come from the same source and all will go back to the same source."

In 2000/2001, Swami Vishwananda set up, in his home country Mauritius, a Chapel for the Holy Mother adjacent to a Temple dedicated to the Indian Saint Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. Since then, other spiritual centres across the globe have developed.

Central to the work of Swami Vishwananda is providing and teaching various spiritual techniques and practises which help to cultivate Bhakti within the spiritual aspirant. Such practises include Darshan (blessing), Satsang (regular prayer), ceremonies such as Yagna (fire ritual) and abishekam (bathing ritual), meditation, singing, and Yoga practises as well as Mudras and Mantras.

Often Swami Vishwananda points out that one needs a lot of patience and perseverance on the spiritual path and that no quick results are to be expected – as in daily life. He does not wish people to be dependant on him; rather He wants them to trust God and the Guru (teacher) within their own self.

"We should always use our common sense. It is of no use to take off and 'fly around', we have to stay grounded and also do our work on this earth. We have to proceed patiently and with respect to the Divine and to ourselves."

There is a deep connection that Swami Vishwananda feels for Christian Saints as well as spiritual Masters from the East. He studies their lives and teachings and passes on this knowledge to others. It gives him great joy to spend time painting icons of Saints, whose lives are an example of true devotion and surrender to God and also a source of inspiration to spiritual aspirants. The painting of icons, as well as the practice of various ceremonies, prayers and singing all help deepen our inner connection with the individual Saint or Divine aspect to which the activity is dedicated.

"Saints love everyone in the same way. They see that everybody is part of God and His creation. For them the question about race, culture or religion doesn’t rise. We should take their example. Our planet and all life on it were created through love, preserved through love and will return to love."

In 2005, Swami Vishwananda founded the "Bhakti Marga" order, which embraces both Hindu and Christian elements. The community is orientated to the teachings of Holy scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and other timeless teachings of various Sages and Saints.

"Through the ages many teachers, Saints & Sages have lived. Their message was in its essence always the same, yet wrapped in different words, languages & traditions. What we lack in this world are not the teachings on God-realisation; what we lack is people’s will to really go within and put the teachings into practice. Especially in today's world, there exist a lot of distractions that lead to 'outer attachments' that are finite and cause suffering again and again when lost. People should become aware of the 'inner attachments' that are eternal and cause no suffering."

"God is always there – like the sun shining through a window. It is up to us to draw the curtains and open the window."

It is Swami Vishwananda's wish to help others to find the way to their own inner divine light. Many people asking for his advice in spiritual matters as well as in daily life are deeply touched in their hearts when meeting him. He encourages everyone to follow the intuition of their own heart. He is a human being who loves God with all his heart, and has the ability to bring God closer to others in a very direct and simple way.

"All kinds of expectations bring pain. Because the one real expectation, the real thing that our soul wants, is the True Love of God. And we can only find this True Love of God through devotion within our heart. You can go to a Master and the Master can show you the way. But it’s upon each one of you to really desire God. To really yearn for God. Because as long as you don’t yearn for God, as long as you don’t really want Him, you will always be searching. You will always put one foot in one place and the other foot in another place."

"To find this real Love, and realize this deep connection with God within oneself, we must practice bhakti, devotion. When you surrender yourself wholeheartedly and say, "God I want You. Reveal Yourself to me!" – then God will reveal Himself. He cannot say No to you, because your Self cannot hide from yourself. This higher consciousness, that you have deep inside of you, can be revealed when your mind is centred on God. So yearn for God. Call from deep inside your heart, 'God reveal Yourself to me! I know You are deep inside somewhere. From time to time, I do feel You. I know You are here. But I would like to feel You constantly; all the time.' Isn’t that what each one of you wants, to feel the Love of God all the time?"

* quotes are taken from various of Swami’s speeches

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