When Swami Sivananda Radha first came to the land where Yasodhara Ashram now stands, she saw gemstones shimmering along the beach on Kootenay Lake. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds – the ordinary beach rocks revealed themselves as something precious and extraordinary, their colours and surfaces transformed by the light.
As she took in the whole scene, the lake and mountain range mirrored a landscape she had known well at her guru’s ashram in India: the Ganges River, flowing through Rishikesh, much like Kootenay Lake at the foot of the mountains.
This to her was a sign that she had arrived at the right place. A place to establish her ashram, the first ashram in Canada, where her spiritual teachings could take root and grow. This was a place for her to take the sacred yogic teachings given to her by her guru, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, and make them available to seekers in Canada and beyond.
Reflecting on the influence of her guru, she writes:
“When I met Swami Sivananda Saraswati, he opened the door and my life began. I was already forty-four years old. Until then, I had been like everybody else – a zombie, going from this thing to that, thinking they were the right things to do. I really didn’t know that there could be a purpose in life, and yet there was an undercurrent that was always saying, ‘There must be more to life. My god! It’s just constant repetition. This cannot be all there is to it’” (Time to be Holy).
Indeed, Swami Radha had already lived an extraordinary life before meeting her guru at the age of forty-four. Born in Germany, she pursued a career as a dancer and lived through two world wars, losing both her parents and her husband to the devastation of war.
There is something deeply moving about remembering her life. Even after experiencing profound loss, and at an age when many might hesitate to begin again, she continued to search for a new direction in life. She eventually left behind the familiar and embarked on a path that would lead her to build a new life and establish an ashram in Canada.
There is something deeply hopeful in her story: a reminder that life does not have to be defined by what has come before. Even amid loss and uncertainty, we can continue to grow and find the courage to shape a different future.
The Guru Lights a Spark
In Radha: Diary of a Woman’s Search, Swami Radha shares her experiences of first arriving at the Ashram in Rishikesh. This was not easy for her, as she was entering a completely unfamiliar world and was confronted with the discipline, expectations and infrastructure of the Ashram. Yet, beneath the difficulties, something in her was beginning to awaken. She had come to India searching for something she could not yet fully name, and her meeting with her guru, Swami Sivananda, would give direction to that search.
What’s striking is that her spiritual journey did not begin with certainty. She did not arrive already knowing who she was or what she was looking for. She arrived with curiosity and it was through her experiences at Sivananda’s Ashram that those curiosities transformed into tangible questions. Her guru did not simply give her answers; he sparked something in her that led her to transform her life completely.
Along the way, she encountered many spiritual teachers who shaped and expanded her understanding of yoga and evolution. Her Indian music teachers introduced her to the power of mantra and devotional music, teaching her how sound and vibration could move through the body. With her Indian dance teacher, she discovered another way of expressing devotion. Through the careful movements of the hands, fingers, head, and body, she learned that dance could become a form of prayer.
Her encounters with Anandamayi Ma, Papa Ramdas, Ramakrishna, Dilip Kumar Roy, Indira Devi and others undoubtedly shaped her understanding of spirituality and the many paths through which it could be experienced. Each encounter offered her something different, gradually expanding her understanding of yoga beyond a single practice or tradition.
Rather than following one fixed path, she was learning through many forms of spiritual expression, through sound, movement, devotion, meditation and the inspiration of teachers.
Becoming a Spiritual Mother
Eventually, when her visa expired and the time came for her to return to Canada, her guru, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, asked her to “be a spiritual mother to all.” She writes about how initially this was a difficult task for her, as she still carried unresolved tensions with her own birth mother. Still, she took his words to heart and began to explore what it might mean to be a spiritual mother to all.
She discovered the importance of allowing her students to explore and develop their own ideals. For her, being a spiritual mother meant offering guidance and support while allowing others the freedom to find their own way.
“You can be a spiritual mother only by becoming the handmaiden of Divine Mother. This means finding out what Divine Mother means to you. Of course, She is all your ideas of perfection and beauty and love, and many other wonderful things” (Time to be Holy, Swami Sivananda Radha).
Next Generation of Seekers
Today, her legacy carries on through Yasodhara Ashram. Each night, as residents, karma yogis and guests gather in the Temple of Light, a temple she once dreamed of as a little girl, they chant together in gratitude for all that Swami Radha has given. Nearly all of the elder teachers at the Ashram are her direct disciples, carrying forward the spark she kindled in them, just as she carried the spark of her own guru, Swami Sivananda.
Her teachings continue with each satsang, each workshop and each person who picks up one of her books with a desire to learn. Her words continue to invite people to look inward, question themselves and discover their own path of evolution. In this way, her legacy is not simply something preserved in the history of the Ashram. It is something that continues to unfold through the people who come here, practice here and carry what they learn into their own lives.
The spark does not remain with one person or even in one place. It moves from teacher to student, from one generation of seekers to the next, each person carrying it forward in their own way.
In her final message, Swami Radha said, “Keep the Light going. The Light will give you understanding and insights. But it will also help you to discover your own divinity and the source of Light within yourself.”
Centre of Light Practice
Find a comfortable seat and in your mind’s eye focus on a dot of brilliant white Light. Let this spark of Light flood your mind, fill you entirely, ripple out to those who are close to you. Fill the place you are in, and spread it out to the community, the city, the country, continent and the whole world. See everyone and everything in the Light and then draw the Light back into the space between your eyebrows. Sit quietly.
Watch this short film about the fascinating life of Swami Sivananda Radha, newly digitized by Timeless Books:
Blog by Katie Taher.