The Divine Yogi

The incarnate Shivabalayogi that devotees knew is like the day in that his life and blessings were public and visible.  The cosmic Living Yogi is like the night sky, mostly unseen but powerfully inspirational.

Most spiritual traditions allow for planes of existence, a cosmos of higher (and lower) spiritual worlds which are all interconnected.  Saints, gods, celestial beings, angels and mischievous spirits are all part of the family of creation.  We are resources for each other.  It is on such a cosmic level that Shivabalayogi has many more qualities worth admiring and contemplating.  They include his one hundred eight names.

If there is such a thing as God realization, then one who has attained it could claim to be God, or at least a pure reflection of God.  This is how we understand claims of divinity by many mystics and yogis who have experienced union with God.  Swamiji said as much.  If a person successfully complete tapas, they can become God.  When Swamiji explained the meaning of the Vedic chant, guru brahma, guru vishnu, guru devo maheshwara, he said not that "guru is like God" but that "guru is God."

There are worlds of the gods.  Shivabalayogi spoke about them and every day he offered worship to them.  He told stories about yogis and ancient rishis traveling to celestial realms, and he gave devotees experiences of such spiritual realms. 

This cosmic realm is the context for the one hundred eight names of Shivabalayogi.  We can admire and take personal inspiration from what Shivabalayogi made of himself in his physical body, and we can revere the infinite possibilities of one who has realized the Self.  Each of the one hundred eight names represents a quality of the Self, a quality that Shivabalayogi embodied, and they make impressive reading: Lord of Creation — One Who Teaches the Science of Happiness — One Who Is Ever Present between Our Eyebrows — One Who Is the Form of Silence — Destroyer of Our Faults — God of Gods — Happiness and Divine Bliss — Destroyer of Karma — Incarnation of Shiva’s Divine Play — Destroyer of Love and Hate — Protector of the Poor and Unhappy — Easily Attained with Devotion.

Such consciousness is not limited by number, time or space.  As written in the ancient prophesies known as the nadis, “This soul is a Universal Guru.  Swamiji has no beginning and no end.  His astral body will be here until the end of the age.”

The true beauty of admiration for Shivabalayogi, both as an incarnated person and as a cosmic being, is that he represents our own good qualities.  Perhaps now we see only a feint reflection of Shivabalayogi in ourselves (or ourselves in Shivabalayogi), but we all have moments of deeper recognition and awe when we sense that we are expressions of the divine.

The warning and example that Shivabalayogi gave us was to retain a humility that we are not God until we attain final Self realization.

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The Living Yogi, Perspectives on the Shivabalayogi Mission Today
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