Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda continues the Yoga Vasistha, Upasama Prakarana, Section 35, where Sage Vasishtha tells Rama how Prahlada, through profound reflection (vicara), came practically to the state of enlightenment. Because he arrived there, whatever he practiced along the way is important for eve

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda continues the Yoga Vasistha, Upasama Prakarana, Section 35, where Prahlada gives spiritual aspirants a practice of affirmation for enlightenment. The section opens on a single, startling claim: when the Self is known, all is known.

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, opens sutras fifteen through eighteen of Patanjali’s Samadhi Pada with a single disarming image. The mind, he says, is like an umbrella. You carry it into the rain, you use it, and when you come home you set it down at th

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda continues the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6 (Atma Samyama Yoga — the yoga of self-control, the yoga that leads to enlightenment), covering verses 32 through 35. The chapter, Swamiji notes, gives the essence of Raja Yoga.

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda continues his lecture series on the Ramcharitmanas (Tulsi Ramayana), Balakanda, Doha 192 onward, using the birth of Lord Rama to answer a question every sincere seeker eventually asks: if divine grace is boundless, why does it feel so unevenly received?

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda continues the Yoga Vasistha, Upasama Prakarana, Section 35, with Prahlada’s own reflection on the glories of the Atman. This is not abstract philosophy. It is a direct answer to a very ordinary fear: that we have to earn our way back to God, or that we have drifted too far

Show a camel a bed of tender flowers and a thicket of thorns, and it will walk straight past the flowers to eat the thorns, blood on its lips and all. It isn’t that the camel can’t feel the thorns. Its taste has simply changed — what should repel it now draws it in.

Three priests in old India heard that a wealthy household across the river was giving a great feast. They were poor and hungry for good food, and unwilling to pay the boatman’s fare. So they waited until dark, slipped into an unattended boat, and rowed. All night they rowed, certain the far shore wa

In this class on the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, continues his commentary on Chapter 6, Adhyatma Yoga, taking up the 28th and 29th verses — the description of the Yogi whose mind rests always in Samadhi, and the vision that follows fr

Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, continues his exposition of the Tulsi Ramayana with one of the most structurally rich passages in the Balakanda: the gods’ prayer to Lord Vishnu, his vow to incarnate as the four sons of King Dasharatha, and the sacred fi

In this class on the Yoga Vasistha, Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, continues his commentary on the Upashama Prakarana (Sections 33-34) with one of the most quietly radical moments in the entire text: the moment Lord Vishnu offers Prahlad any boon he de

From a lecture by Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, a direct disciple of Swami Sivananda, we receive a profound examination of the Upasham Prakarana from the Yoga Vasistha. When daily stress and inner doubts arise, the ancient scriptures provide a lasting cure through devout meditation and an