Swami Sivananda Saraswati (Sep 8, 1887—Jul 14, 1963) was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a well known proponent of Yoga and Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai which is in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism. He lived most of the later part of his life in Rishikesh. He is the founder of The Divine Life Society and author of over 200 books on yoga, vedanta and a variety of other subjects. He established Sivananda Ashram, the location of the headquarters of The Divine Life Society (DLS), on the bank of the Ganges at Shivanandanagar, at a distance of 3 kilometres from Rishikesh Town, (Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, U.P., India).

Sivananda was born Kuppuswamy in Pattamadai near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India as the third son to his parents on 8 September 1887.

Upon graduation he practiced medicine and worked as a doctor in Malaya for ten years, with a reputation for waiving his fee for poor patients needing treatment. Over time, a sense that medicine was healing on a superficial level grew in him, urging him to look elsewhere to fill the void, and in 1923 he left Malaya and returned to India to pursue a spiritual quest.

Upon his return to India he visited Banaras, Nashik, to Rishikesh in 1924 where met his guru, Swami Vishwananda Saraswati. It was Vishwananda who initiated him into the Sannyas order.

With some money from his insurance policy that had matured, he started a charitable dispensary at Lakshmanjula in 1927 and served pilgrims, holy men and the poor using his medical expertise.

After a few years, Sivananda went on an extensive pilgrimage. Sivananda visited important places of pilgrimage in the south, including Rameshvaram. He conducted Sankirtan and delivered lectures during his travels. He visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and met Maharishi Suddhananda Bharati. At the Ramana ashram, he had the Darshan of Ramana Maharshi on Maharshi's birthday. He sang bhajans and danced in ecstasy with Maharshi's bhaktas. He also went on pilgrimages to various places in northern India including Kedarnath and Badrinath. He visited Kailash-Manasarovar in 1931.

Sivananda founded the Divine Life Society in 1936 on the banks of the holy Ganges River.

In 1945, Swami Sivananda created the Sivananda Ayurvedic Pharmacy, and organized the All-world Religions Federation. He established the All-world Sadhus Federation in 1947 and Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948. He called his yoga the Yoga of Synthesis.

Swami Sivananda's disciple Swami Chidananda is the current President of the Divine Life Society in India and was appointed by Swami Sivananda.

A prolific author, Swami Sivananda wrote exactly 296 books on a variety of subjects: metaphysics, Yoga, religion, western philosophy, psychology, eschatology, fine arts, ethics, education, health, sayings, poems, epistles, autobiography, biography, stories, dramas, messages, lectures, dialogues, essays and anthology. Yet his books emphasized the practical application of yoga philosophy over mere theoretical knowledge. He was known to have said "An ounce of practice is better than tons of theory. Practice Yoga, Religion and Philosophy in daily life and attain Self-realization."

Swami Sivananda's Yoga, which he has significantly called the 'Yoga of Synthesis', effects a harmonious development of the 'hand', 'head' and 'heart' through the practice of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.

On the 14th of July 1963, the Great Soul Swami Sivananda entered Mahasamadhi (departure of a Self-realized saint from his mortal coil) in his Kutir on the bank of Ganga, in Shivanandanagar.