From the Archives of Swami Jyotirmayananda
There is a question in the Yoga Vasistha that has a way of staying with you: “How can Lord Shiva, who delights in the dance of Goddess Parvati, be entertained by the dance of a monkey?”
Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, the last direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, uses this single verse to point at something the soul already knows but rarely admits. The mind is a monkey — restless, scattered, jumping from one fragment to the next. But the Yoga Vasistha does not ask you to destroy it. It asks what happens when that same mind is touched by God. “When touched by God,” Swamiji teaches, “impossible doesn’t exist for it. The same mind that sustained your despair, your sense of weakness, impossibility — that same mind now develops a profound confidence. Unshaken.“
Sections 57 and 58 of the Sthiti Prakarana — the Section on Steadiness — show exactly how that transformation happens.
The Cinema Show: World as Mental Projection
“Every experience in the cinema show — you are not looking at anything steady. You’re looking at fragments of so many things happening together. And your mind creates an illusion that is all a continuous story. But it is not so.”
Swamiji points to the screen behind the projections. Pure consciousness — chit, absolute awareness — is undisturbed, unaffected, always present. The projections of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, come and go across it. “No matter what type of projection you are facing, the reality behind it is your consciousness.” Allowing that understanding to steep into the heart, he says, is the project of all spiritual sadhana.
Integral Yoga: Four Limbs, One Body
The Yoga Vasistha does not prescribe a single path. It describes one integrated movement with four aspects: karma yoga (action), bhakti yoga (devotion), raja yoga (will and concentration), and jnana yoga (wisdom).
“You cannot just move only your legs. The whole body wants to go with it.” Swamiji makes the point plainly: a spiritual life built on one limb alone will not stand. And the practice is not separate from daily life. “You are practicing yoga in handling your daily duties, in dealing with people around you, near and dear ones, in dealing with your own problems coming from your body and mind. All that is yoga — if you are doing it with that type of inner faith and inner awareness.”
Matri Deva Bhava: Seeing God Through the Eyes of Your Dear Ones
One of the most quietly powerful teachings in this section is matri deva bhava — let mother be your God, let father be your God, let the child be your God.
“When you look into the eyes of your dear ones — going to the pupils of the eyes — who is looking through those eyes? That is the secret of developing the ideal form of relationship.” The point is not merely devotional. It is a training of perception. When the habit of seeing the Divine takes hold in the nearest relationships, with all their friction and imperfection, it gradually extends outward — into strangers, into adversity, into the whole of life.
The Divine Dance vs. The Monkey Dance
“How can Lord Shiva, who delights in the dance of Goddess Parvati, be entertained by the dance of a monkey? Much in the same way, how can one who delights in the bliss of the Self be attracted by the pleasures of the senses?”
Swamiji is not asking us to shut out the world. “If you want to digest your food, you have to have things that delight your tongue. But in every delight, allow your mind to understand that the source of that delight is God.” The question is where the fascination lives. “Allow your mind to become fascinated by the divine dance.” Everything else, however intense, is the monkey dance — short-circuited energy going nowhere.
The Hamsa and the Crane
“While a crane, seated by a muddy pool of water, revels in feeding on decaying objects — the swan seeks its delight in soaring through the blue sky and drinking from the sacred lakes of the Himalayas.”
The Sanskrit word Hamsa means swan. Swamiji points to what it encodes: So’ham — “I am That.” “That ‘I am That’ enters your feeling. You rise beyond all illusions.” Both the crane and the swan are images of the same mind. The question is which one we are feeding with our attention.
The Sage and the Ignorant: Eternal Bliss vs. Polluted Pleasure
“Why do the ignorant delight in polluted pleasures of the senses? A sage experiences eternal bliss through self-realization.”
Swamiji does not make this harsh. He is practical: “If you bring in love of God — if your performance of duties is offered in that spirit — then all your activities, no matter how hard they may appear, become a joyous development.” Like the mountain climber who, having climbed small hills, looks forward to bigger mountains — not with dread, but with eagerness. “Challenges will not bring despair or discouragement. Rather, they will build up an inner strength. You look at a challenge as a leela. God is going to work it, and he is going to give me the credit.”
Section 58: The Enlightenment of Kacha
Vasistha now brings the story of Kacha — ka implying action and yogic movement, cha pointing toward increasing effulgence, the flash and shine of the soul discovering its own light. He is the son of Brihaspati, the guru of the gods.
“O Rama, listen to the utterances of Kacha.” Through Kacha’s story, Vasistha teaches the same truths — but now through a life lived, not a principle stated.
Savana: Listening That Goes Past the Swab
“Are you really listening? That requires practice. Because our mind has already made up certain ideas, certain views, opinions — the mind has already made up. So when you are listening, you have already put a swab on your ear.”
Savana is the art of listening without that swab. As the mind becomes increasingly purified, “listening goes deep into your heart.” Doubts dissolve — not by argument, but because the teaching actually lands. This is how Kacha began.
Asambhavana and Manana: The Foxy Obstacle
“You start studying the Upanishads, the Vedas. But hardly do you go into the study when you say to yourself: I’m studying it for my next birth. This birth I don’t have time for that.”
Asambhavana — the sense of impossibility — is the mind’s own insurance policy against transformation. Swamiji calls it “the mind using its own foxy insight.” Manana, sustained reflection, is what dissolves it. “What you have listened to, now you have assimilated. It takes its own time. Cows eat — after eating, they chew the cud.” That digestion is manana. “The same mind that sustains your despair, your sense of weakness, impossibility — that same mind now develops this profound confidence. Unshaken.”
Nididhyasana: Ocean First, Waves After
“You sit by the ocean and your mind goes after waves — curious where that particular wave is going. That’s the illustration of the normal mind going after objects of the world.”
Nididhyasana — Vedantic meditation — is the mind that has understood: “No matter what wave, it is the ocean. You don’t have to wait for the waves to go away to see the ocean. You are always seeing the ocean. Ocean first, waves after.” This is brahmakaravritti — the mind colored by Brahman, everywhere it turns. And this is how Kacha attained enlightenment. “As a result of his repeated practice of listening, reflecting, and meditation, he came to the conclusion: the Self alone is real. The world is a mere illusion. Thrilled with joy, he spoke.” His words became the verses that close this section — the ecstasy of a mind that has finally, completely, woken up.
Scholar’s Corner
- “Vasanakshayavijnanayoreka eva pratibandhanam” — The destruction of vasanas and the dawn of knowledge are one and the same obstacle overcome. — Yoga Vasistha, Sthiti Prakarana, Section 57
- “Savana-manana-nididhyasanaih sakshatkaranam” — Direct realization comes through deep listening, reflection, and unbroken contemplation. — Yoga Vasistha, Sthiti Prakarana, Section 58
- “He became like the sky from which the clouds of delusion have been scattered by the mighty wind of wisdom.” — Yoga Vasistha, Sthiti Prakarana, Section 58 (on Kacha’s enlightenment)
Glossary
- Vasana
- A deep mental impression formed by repeated thought and action; the root of habitual suffering.
- Hamsa
- Swan; encodes So’ham (“I am That”); the purified mind at home in its own nature.
- Matri Deva Bhava
- “Let mother be your God” — the practice of seeing the Divine through the eyes of love.
- Savana
- Deep listening; hearing the teaching without the swab of preconception.
- Asambhavana
- The sense of impossibility; the mind’s resistance to its own liberation.
- Manana
- Sustained reflection; the slow digestion of what has been heard.
- Nididhyasana
- Unbroken contemplation of the Self; brahmakaravritti — the mind colored by Brahman everywhere it turns.
- Integral Yoga
- The unified movement of karma, bhakti, raja, and jnana yoga — four limbs of one body.
- Leela
- Divine play; challenges seen as God’s own unfolding, not obstacles to it.
- Satchitananda
- Existence (sat), consciousness (chit), bliss (ananda) — the three aspects of the one Reality behind all names and forms.
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