Sugriva and Bali: Rama Kaj and the Steps of the Soul
In the morning satsanga of October 7, 2026, Swami Jyotirmayananda taught that the strength of Hanuman turns every duty into worship and every challenge into Rama kaj, the work of Rama, and traced the steps by which the higher self rises over the lower.
The satsanga opened with a meditation on Lord Rama, the lord of the Raghu dynasty, his complexion like a blue lotus, a powerful bow and arrow in his hands. After the Hare Rama mantra, Swamiji read a poem.
Countless clouds have danced in the sky with lightning, thunder and rain; countless birds have sailed through it without leaving their tracks behind. Civilizations have come and gone, and Milky Ways have dwindled into nothing. But the sky remains ever the same, sustaining and supporting all, unaffected. That sky, Swamiji explained, is the Self. "Pure awareness, that's the sky." And the poem closes on the seeker: "You are indeed the sky," the immortal, innermost Self.
Skill in Action
Swamiji then turned to the strength of Hanuman. It brings skill, he taught: skill to perform your duty and to turn your action into the worship of God. When you have that strength in the performance of your duty, you bring no mistake into it; there is perfect precision.
But when Hanuman's strength is lacking, you are drawn by mundane illusions. You use your intellect to handle your problems, and no matter how intellectual you are, you are unable to resolve them. "Rather, you create the problem," within yourself and in others. When spiritual strength is there, all that is difficult, or seems impossible, becomes spontaneous, easy, sugam. Therefore, Swamiji said, enrich yourself with Hanuman upasana, and see the miracle.
The Work of Rama
Hanuman's strength, Swamiji continued, directs you to Rama kaj, the work of Rama, which is your soul's ultimate goal. With that strength you need not worry how to act, or how to handle your feelings, your willing or your knowledge. "Your action becomes karma yoga." Your willing movement becomes raja yoga, and the personality becomes a blend of integral yoga.
God and the entire creation have a divine purpose, and realizing God and developing bhakti, Swamiji taught, is Rama kaj. What gives you that is not all the knowledge of scriptures but prema, love. The three worlds you live in, practical, sentimental and intellectual, all come into harmony with it.
Service to the feet of Rama, he said, means growing in the image of God. "See where God is going." Look at His foot and grow in that image; that is part of seva.
Sugriva and Bali
The deeper sense of Rama kaj, Swamiji explained, is allowing your higher self to dominate your lower self, and not coming under the control of the lower self. Sugriva is the higher self; Bali is the lower. The power of the lower self is boundless, because it is the power of ignorance and its afflictions: ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred and the fear of death. You work so hard and gain so much fame and name, and with one slip it all goes away. Rama kaj is to remove that ignorance.
The strength of Hanuman enables the higher self to rise up and confront Bali. This confrontation is not easy. You go through terrible challenges, and Sugriva will be beaten up many times.
Love Without Expectation
Do not hold any expectation of God, Swamiji cautioned, as though loving Him were a bargain for something in return. Love God, but not to fulfill your ego's expectation. If you do, ego develops, and the lower self wins. The more you develop surrender to God, the greater is your spiritual success. When you have surrendered and ask for nothing, you become like the flute of Krishna, an instrument in the hands of God, and your personality brings out a melody of prem.
The end of that movement is vishva bandhutva: the entire world becomes your very dear relatives. "Everyone becomes your friend." To develop it, "Let your higher self win over the lower self." That is why satsanga and the guidance of the Guru are important. "Do not despair." Hanuman's strength does not allow you to despair, because you are becoming an instrument in the divine hand.
Swamiji described the shift from "I am this," which is egoism, to "I am That," the Supreme Self. The selfish movement leads you to the cremation ground. A saintly mind instead sends out constant goodwill, praying for the happiness of all. "You don't keep an account in your mind."
The Surgeon and the Patient
Swamiji taught that even when a devotee does terrible karmas, the love of God does not go away, and that love sublimates the negative. A patient may beg the surgeon, as proof of love, to send him away from the hospital; the surgeon goes on loving the patient whatever he says. Such words only bring out the symptoms, and give the surgeon a better opportunity to cure.
The Steps of Spiritual Progress
Swamiji then traced the steps of spiritual progress that come with Hanuman's strength. The first is aspiration, free of ego expectations, drawn from satsanga and the guidance of the Guru. The second is vichara, a reflective thinking process that is pure, with nothing negative in it. The third is tanumanasi, in which the afflictions of ignorance, egoism, attachment and fear come to be thinned out. The fourth, sattvapatti, is enlightenment, and after it the steps become spontaneous.
In the next step you can help people in their various activities and not be touched by them. Apply oil to your hands, Swamiji said, and then cut plantains and jackfruit; all their gummy sap will not stick, because your hands are oiled. Working with people, handle their problems, help them, and be untouched. In the step after that, you no longer have to think how to handle any of it; nothing sticky remains, and all of it has become Sri Rama. The last step is turiya, the fourth, the transcendental, the absolute: mukti.
All of this is allegorical, Swamiji concluded. When you develop devotion to God, God wants you to realize Him. To the devotee, "God says, I'm yours." The satsanga closed with a prayer for the grace of God to shower over all.
Terms in This Satsanga
- Rama kaj — the work of Rama; in this satsanga, the soul's ultimate goal.
- sugam — easy; what the impossible becomes with Hanuman's strength.
- upasana — worshipful practice; Hanuman upasana enriches the seeker with strength.
- vishva bandhutva — the whole world as one's own kin.
- tanumanasi — the step in which the afflictions are thinned out.
- sattvapatti — the step of enlightenment, after which progress becomes spontaneous.
- turiya — the fourth, transcendental state; mukti.
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