Divine Life Society
Religious Organization
The Divine Life Society (DLS) is a Hindu spiritual organisation and an ashram, founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati in 1936, at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, India. The Society has branches around the world, with its headquarters in Rishikesh.
History
In 1936, after returning from a pilgrimage, Swami Sivananda stayed in an old hut on the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh. The King of Tehri Garhwal granted him a plot of land to construct the present day Shivanandashram. Chidananda Saraswati served as president of the society from August 1963 to 28 August 2008, while Krishnananda Saraswati served as the General-Secretary of the Society in Rishikesh from 1958 until 2001.
Sivananda's disciples have started independent organisations in Mauritius, the United States, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, South America, and Europe.
Vegetarianism
Sivananda insisted on a strict lacto-vegetarian diet for moral and spiritual reasons, arguing that "meat-eating is highly deleterious to health". Divine Life Society thus advocates a vegetarian diet.
Teachings
Sivananda outlined 20 spiritual instructions for people of any religion:
Brahmamuhurtha: Waking up early in the morning during
Asana: Sitting in an appropriate asana for half an hour to three hours
Japa: recitation of a mantra
Dietetic Discipline: Eat sattvic food
Meditation: Have a separate meditation room or area in the home
Svādhyāya: Study religious books from half an hour to an hour daily
Elevate the Mind: Recite shlokas before performing japa
Brahmacharya: preservation of the vital force
Charity
Have Satsang: "association with holy people"
Fast: Fast on Ekadashi or the appropriate days for one's religion
Japa Mala: Keep a rosary and chant at every opportunity
Observe Mouna: Be silent for a couple of hours daily
Discipline of Speech: Speak a little, what is true, and what is sweet
Be content: have mental detachment and share with others
Practice Love: control anger and serve the sick and poor
Be self-reliant
Have self-analysis: understand one's mistakes and try to correct them
Do your duty
Remember God: remember God at all times
The teachings of yoga are explained at length by Swami Sivananda. Yoga is "the process by which the identity of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul is realised by the Yogi."
Departments
The headquarters for Divine Life Society is Sivananda Ashram in Uttarakhand.
The public source identifies “Divine Life Society” as religious Organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Divine, Life and Society.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2745607. VIAF identifies the subject as 159169367. The Library of Congress control number is n83177648. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1963, 2008 and 1958.
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This entry incorporates text from “Divine Life Society” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.