and closing the eyes. But sadhana can happen through dhyana (meditation), through bhakti (devotion) and through seva (service) and in so many ways when one is able to surrender to the Guru." The dhyana meditation technique taught by Shri Shivabalayogi is as follows: Sit, closing the eyes. Concentrate the mind and sight in between eyebrows. Do not move your eyeballs or eyelids. Keep watching there by focusing the attention. Do not repeat any mantra or name. Do not imagine anything. Do not open eyes until the duration of meditation is over. On other occasions Shivabalayogi did refer to Mantra practices, for example he spoke of hearing the Omkara, the divine sound of Om pervading the universe. He also referred to his use of a Mantra of the sun. The idea was that the whole process would happen spontaneously in the presence of the Guru, and with his blessing. He describes how the crowning accomplishment at the end of tapas was the vision and realisation of the divine form. 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, ultimately seen, simply illusions. The pure consciousness of the Self (Cit-Akasha, the space of Consciousness) 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 a state of perfect control and freedom from distracting thoughts (samadhi). All that remains is the experience of Supreme Peace, with the potency of all creation. 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