"How to Spend Your Holidays" by Swami Sivananda

1. In the whirlpool of fleeting sensual pleasures you have forgotten the purpose of life and goal. You live more for the body than for the soul. In your pursuit after the phantom shows of worldly vanities, you have annihilated the spiritual instincts and longings of the soul. What a sad state! Mysterious is Maya! Mysterious is Moha! Open your eyes now. Wake up from the long slumber of ignorance. Realise the ultimate Reality and enjoy eternal bliss. 

2. Spiritual wealth is the real inexhaustible wealth. Spiritual knowledge is the real knowledge. Spiritual life is the real life. Aspire. Know the Self and be free. Regain the Divine Glory. Meditate and realise the Immortal Atman the Indweller of your heart, the Inner Ruler, the self-existent, self-contained, self-luminous imperishable Soul.

3. Raja Janaka realised his Self within the twinkling of an eye. Raja Khatwanga attained Self-realisation within a Muhurta or forty-eight minutes. Raja Parikshit achieved the final beatitude of life within a week. You can also have Self-realisation within a week if you thirst for God and if you apply yourself diligently to spiritual Sadhana in right earnest with the right attitude of mind. 

4. Holidays are not meant for playing cards, idle gossiping, feasting, sight-seeing or aimless wandering. It is very difficult to get a human birth. The aim of life is to attain God-consciousness. Holidays must be well spent. Every second must be utilised in worship and meditation. Delay in Self-realisation is practical death. You have wasted already your life till now. Will you waste the remaining portion of your life also? Will you waste your holidays also? Now wake up. Gird up the loins. Whenever you get holidays start your Sadhana with zeal and enthusiasm and march direct to the goal.

5. Here is a daily routine for you. Follow this tenaciously with faith and earnestness. You can select a quiet solitary room for you in your own house. If you can conveniently manage, you can do your Anushthana either in Rishikesh, Prayag, Benares or Nasik or you can select any convenient place on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada or Kaveri. You will have pure spiritual vibrations in these places. These vibrations will help a lot in your spiritual practices.

The mind will enter into the meditative mood without any effort. You can put a small grass hut here. Live on milk and fruits. If you find it difficult to live on the regimen, you can take a little rice, vegetables, Dhal and bread. Live alone. Observe complete silence for a week. Shut yourself in the room. Plunge yourself in Japa and meditation. You can do Japa of either Om, Om Namah Sivaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Hari Om, Sri Ram, Gayatri, according to your taste or temperament or repeat your Guru Mantra. Have sleep for three to four hours. You must get up at 3 or 4 a.m.

6. If you are not able to spend the whole time in Japa and meditation, you can combine Kirtan and study of religious books such as the Gita, the Ramayana, the Bhagavata, the Upanishads, etc. Whenever the mind gets tired take to Kirtan for one or two hours. Then study religious books. Then write your Ishta Mantra in a notebook for one hour. This will be a sort of relaxation for the mind. Again sit for meditation. Then again have Kirtan, study of books and Mantra-writing. Rotate in this manner. Have as many sittings as you can. You will have good spiritual experiences.

7. Wake up from your long sleep of ignorance. Get knowledge of the Self. O wanderer in the quagmire of Samsara! Go back to your original abode of eternal peace the fountain of infinite Joy and power, the spring of boundless ecstasy, the source of life, the origin of light and love, the immortal blissful Brahmic seat of illimitable splendour and pristine glory. Fill the mind with thoughts of Self. Saturate your feelings with purity and divinity. Let the Light of lights shine in every hair on your body. Let the infinite Godhead vibrate in every cell of your body. Let every breath sing the song of infinity and eternity with Soham or Shyam or Ram!

8. On some holidays you can arrange for a Sankirtan Sammelan or Religious Conference. You can invite great men, Sadhus and Sannyasins for Kirtan and lectures. On such occasions feed the poor, Sadhus, Sannyasins, Mahatmas, Brahmins and students. Publish some leaflets and pamphlets on Bhakti, Yoga and Vedanta for free distribution. Thousands of people will take part and get spiritual benefits. This is a wonderful way of spending the holidays by which the whole city will be spiritually benefited. 

(An excerpt from "Easy Steps to Yoga: Chapter 1, Section 5")