When a Swami is initiated, his master gives him a spiritual name in Sanskrit that indicates a remarkable and profound attribute of the disciple’s nature and mission on life.

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When a Swami is initiated, his master gives him a spiritual name in Sanskrit that indicates a remarkable and profound attribute of the disciple’s nature and mission on life. This formal initiation symbolizes the death of the old way of living and the rebirth to a new life that leads to wisdom. Swami is a Sanskrit word that literally means one who knows, who is master of himself. Swami is not necessarily a monk or priest. Being a swami is more a way of life, a philosophy, rather than a religion. Swami is one who has set aside all of the limited, worldly pursuits, so as to devote full time effort to the direct experience of the highest spiritual realisation, and to the service of others along those lines. Renunciation is not anti-world, in any sense of the world being a bad place. Rather, it is a matter of priorities. It is setting aside what interferes, so that one can fully concentrate on the highest spiritual realisations. A Swami must have total integrity, so as to live with the Absolute as his only authority; this is possible only through giving up the individual ‘I’. In this way one becomes free of Ego and open to the underlying wisdom that governs all phenomena. When a wave subsides in the ocean is it giving up its individuality, or gaining the vastness of the unlimited existence of the ocean?  A Swami renounces the individual ties; he is attached to none, meaning he is free claiming anything from others, neither loyalty, nor love and admiration. This process of dis-identifying with ‘me and mine’ rests on the dis-identification with the physical body and thus includes celibacy. Serving others, supporting life in every way without expecting a reward, is akin to the sun shining selflessly on the world. Some say this is the reason for the customary orange/saffron clothes of a Swami. Others say the orange clothes are a reminder of the fire, the fire of knowledge that burns away wrong knowledge, the fire of hardship (ascetics) that burns away desire and attachment!
Har Har Bhole Namah Shivaya !