Sivananda Saraswati and the comparison of Gurus Old and New

The difference between modern gurus and the gurus of yesteryear

There is a great difference between the modern gurus and the older ones, and that is an understatement. Their hands are also very different.

In this blog I have analysed the hands of an ancient guru, the Shirdi Sai Baba, who died in 1918 (birth date unknown). He is now a Saint or Godman. His hands are far superior to the hands of the other modern gurus that
I have studied like that of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (born 1956), Sathya Sai Baba (born 1926), Swami Ramdev (birth year unknown but he couldn't be older than sixty), “Bhagwan” Osho Rajneesh (1931-1990) and Swami Nithyananda (born 1978).

Keen as I am to analyse the hands of more gurus of yesteryear, hardly any of their hand photographs are available for study.

Last week a reader requested me to read Swami Sivananda's hands. There were some blurred black and white ones available but nonetheless, I decided to write whatever little I could see from the photographs. Swami Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh (1887-1963) is revered by many, and his disciple Swami Chidananda (1916-2008) is too. I came across a fairly good photograph of the hands of Swami Chidananda.

Sivananda of Rishikesh

Sivananda's broad palm, large hand, straight fingers, pronounced knots, large low-set thumb, a high and large Mount of Venus and long Mercury finger were visible. The stronger these signs, the more intense the reading. His thumb, for example, is not just a little above average in length, it is extremely long. This means that his leadership qualities are very well-developed. Such thumbs are rare and belong to people who have tremendous self-control (and this is borne out by the shape of Sivananda's hand as well) and have the ability to control others. They are ruled by the head and are extremely strong, determined people. They are independent thinkers.

These qualities make them natural leaders. There is a strong purpose behind their will, a purpose to do good for humanity. They put others before themselves and they do so because they have a huge amount of love and compassion within them. It is a love which encompasses all living things.

The other signs on Sivananda's hand show his broad thinking (again far above normal) which eschews pettiness and narrow-mindedness. It tells you that this man was thoughtful and analytical. A man who was able to see the details as well as get the larger picture.

One cannot help but wonder: Would Sivananda have become a great saint if he had been born in modern times? Or are our times so corrupt that even good men turn into materialistic beings? If not, then where are the great saints who are alive today? Why are saints like Sivananda or Shirdi Sai Baba not being born today? 

Swami Chidananda Saraswati 
There is some similarity in the hands of Sivananda and Chidananda. Chidananda also possesses very broad and large hands, and a very long low-set thumb. Thumbs like these cannot be found even on the hands of famous or successful people. They are very rare.

The qualities of the thumb that were mentioned in Sivananda’s case also apply here. This type of thumb denotes a strong character with great ability and desire to do good. The possessors of such thumbs have limitless selfless love to give to all living things, and this tells you of a kind of greatness that is not commonly seen.

Chidananda’s persona is a little different from that of Sivananda in the sense that Chidananda had great tact, cleverness in speech and more refinement. His third phalanges show that he was more ascetic and simpler than Sivananda, and far less interested in being honoured. He was not at all attached to the world of comforts. He is also a deeper thinker but Sivananda's hands reveal more charisma and magnetism of personality. Certainly, Sivananda was better able to accommodate different views and would, therefore, be a better leader.


Comparison with Sai Baba of Shirdi

The Shirdi Sai Baba also had hands similar to the hands of Sivananda and Chidananda, but even better. This enhances all the qualities. The real plus in Shirdi Sai Baba's hands was his profound wisdom, and this is unlike that seen on any other guru's hands. He was also more ascetic and simple. His love was amazing because it was a calm, serene love, of the kind that is without fire and passion but all-encompassing, understanding, and bottomless.


The modern gurus' hands are not as good

If one compares the hands of Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi, born 1953) to the great saints of the past, they seem quite ordinary. There aren't any good photographs of her hands on the internet but what is clear is that she has an ordinary thumb.

Osho Rajneesh's hands show compassion, wisdom and creativity, but his love was not broad enough to encompass all, and this was one of his greatest weaknesses. His hands show that he was manipulative, selfish and headstrong.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's hands show compassion but the thumb also shows a headstrong nature and this takes away the balance from his personality. He is all too human. His Mount of Moon is out of balance if compared to his other mounts, giving him excessive imagination and sensitiveness and a certain moodiness. He has a love for a comfortable life as well. He may be a good and wise man with leadership qualities and love to give people, but he is not like the ancient gurus.

Swami Ramdev has a fairly good thumb, but his weakness lies in his too strong a desire to be rich and famous, as evident from his dominant Apollo (ring) finger. This can be a great quality in an ordinary person as it can drive people to be successful, but this characteristic doesn't sit too well with our idea of what a Guru should be. His hands show his humanitarian nature but his love is not all-encompassing enough. It is interesting to see that his left passive hand (inherited qualities) is better than his right active hand. This means that when he started out he was a more perfect guru. 

(The hand one writes with is the active hand, and it can be left or right.)

In Sathya Sai Baba's case (he is different from the Shirdi Sai Baba, a modern version of him) his right hand is better than his left, which means that he developed his personality for the better over the years. He was not born with a humanitarian outlook but he developed it. Overall he has an average thumb. His Mercury (little) finger shows a certain cunning, and arrogance is also visible on his hand. His hands do not show a great personality, nowhere as great as the Shirdi Baba's hands.

Swami Nithyananda has the most ordinary hands that I have ever seen on a guru. There is nothing remarkable about his hands. I do not see any particular love for people or humanity, nor strong willpower, or wisdom.


Hand readings of Spiritual Leaders from different parts of the world: including the Pope, the Ayatollah, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa and Indian Spiritual leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru), Shrimad Rajchandra's hands or Swami Prabhupada of ISKCON.

Hand readings of other authors and Spiritual Leaders: Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's hand reading or Dr. A.P.J. Kalam’s hand reading  or Paulo Coelho's hand reading

Check out the hand readings of Spiritual Leaders from around the world.