Shivabalayogi - Spiritual Philosophy: The Yoga Vasistha

Spiritual Philosophy: The Yoga Vasistha

When devotees inquired about Shri Shivabalayogi’s spiritual philosophy, Swamiji referred them to the Yoga Vasistha. "Read the Yoga Vasistha," he would say, "Swamiji’s philosophy is fully expounded in that scripture." The Yoga Vasistha is a dialogue between Sage Vasistha and Sri Rama, in which Vasistha explains that time and space, indeed all visions and thoughts of the mind are simply illusions. The pure consciousness of the Self is the only reality, eternal, all-pervading and existing in itself. To escape illusion and experience this One reality, the mind must be brought into thoughtlessness (samadhi). All that remains is the experience of Supreme Peace. Swamiji described it as follows:

"He (meaning the jangama devara) asked me to keep watching in between the eyebrows, so I just went on watching. I saw all the things happening: then all the happenings stopped. Suddenly I realized that my attention was on 'That' which was making it happen. Then the attention settled on 'That' which was watching. Boundless Supreme Peace was there. Amazing happiness was there. It was so 'tasty' that one wouldn't ever want to be away from that."

Shri Shivabalayogi’s approach is consistent with the Vedanta tradition, and the Yoga Vasistha is considered to be a principal exposition of the advaita vedanta philosophy (of non-dualism). Swamiji taught that the purpose of life is to attain Self-realization, by performing sadhana (spiritual practice) and overcoming the illusions and imaginations of the mind. He also taught that meditation can be used to relieve tension and live a peaceful and stress-free life in the world.