From Jiva to Shiva: The Rainy Season, the Three Scriptures and the Witness Within

Morning satsanga with Sri Swami Jyotirmayananda, Monday, October 12, 2026.

The satsanga opened with invocations and the meditation verse on Lord Rama, the Lord of the Raghu dynasty, whose complexion is like a blue lotus, tender and delightful in appearance, with Sita seated at His left side. After the Hare Rama mantra, Swamiji read a poem that calls the seeker to lift oneself by oneself. You are yourself the object of your quest, the goal of your life, the bliss beyond strife, the absolute Self. You become your bitter enemy when you degrade your mind by impurities and egoistic vanities, and you become your best friend when you elevate your mind by satsanga, service and meditation. Live to unravel your divine glory, to end the misery, to discover your essential nature, Satchidananda, existence, knowledge, bliss absolute. Live to attain Self-realization.

The Jiva Concept and the Shiva Concept

God, Swamiji taught, is your essential nature. When ego shines, one is deluded by the world of mortality. All who come into the world ultimately perish; the great kings of history have gone. That is the ego-based movement, filled with moha. The real goal behind it all is to discover "I am Brahman," and the more one develops that insight, the more gracious one's dealings with others become, because "you are growing in the image of God."

So allow the mind to get away from the jiva concept, and allow the Shiva concept to enter. Do not keep bringing to mind how miserable and how weak you are; bring to mind how great you are. Instead of Jivoham, I am the jiva, the seeker affirms Shivoham, I am Shiva; Soham; Satchidananda Swarupoham.

That insight, Swamiji said, is real sannyasa. "All souls are reflected suns." When the reflected sun realizes "I am the sun," it becomes the Raja, the king, standing behind all the reflected suns with goodwill. Such a state of mind promotes universal brotherhood.

The Rainy Season and the Three Scriptures

Turning to the Ramayana, Swamiji spoke of Chaturmasya, the four months of the rainy season. During that time priests give the scriptural message to devotees, and since the rains keep everyone in, it is easier to stay cozy in satsanga.

In that season three great scriptures are studied: the Upanishads, the Gita and the Brahma Sutras, with all related scriptures. All the Upanishads one reads, Swamiji explained, prepare one to gain insight into "Who am I?" Since the Upanishads are many, the divine plan was to give the essence of all scriptures in the Gita, in only eighteen chapters. People remember many of those chapters and recite a whole chapter every time they take their food, because the Gita is easy; it is a song, a melody. Finally, the Brahma Sutras give deep, intuitive insight into "I am Brahman."

Scriptures, Swamiji said, awaken divine memory. That is why the extension of the Vedic scriptures is called smriti, memory. But sumiran, remembrance, is not recollecting one's old experiences; it opens the door to the vision of wisdom. Spend your time bringing to mind the prayers and the insightful stotras from the Mahabharata, from the Gita, from all the scriptures. They are not contradictory. The more one engages the mind in prayer, the greater the inner revelation of "Who am I?"

Sita and Rama Remembering

In the story, Sita spends her time remembering her experience with Rama, and Rama spends His time remembering His experience with Sita. This, Swamiji cautioned, does not mean two personalities, male and female. Sita and Rama are one. The soul and sanmati cannot be separated. "The separation has been due to ignorance." When one has sanmati, there is realization of who one is, the realization "I am Brahman."

Of that remembering Swamiji said, "Rama is remembering his own lila." What you remember about God, he said, is your own glory; all the glory of God is you.

The Witness and the Two Movements

Swamiji then spoke of sakshi bhava, the attitude of the witness: an internal state of vision that sees two movements. One is being drawn by karma. You never know how situations will change. There is a wonderful family, and suddenly someone falls, is taken to the hospital, and you watch the person dying and can do nothing about it. That is the sakamya mind, the mind of desire. The project of sadhana is to develop the glory of nishkamya, freedom from desire. No matter how things happen, led by karma, the soul within has only one destiny: to discover "I am Brahman."

Karmic destiny, Swamiji taught, deprives one of one's spiritual destiny. That, he said, is what Rama's state expresses. Rama has all power, and yet karmic destiny seems to have taken that power away, and how to be united with Sita now fills His mind. Essentially one is Shiva, but when separated, one lives as the jiva, and how miserable that state is. With sakshi bhavana one discovers the cause of it all. Due to ignorance one has lost one's health and runs into big hospitals, constantly driven by disease. With sanmati one no longer needs the hospitals.

The Grace of Navaratri

The satsanga closed with a prayer for the shower of grace of Durga Devi, Lakshmi Devi and Saraswati Devi in this season of Navaratri. The grace of Durga Devi, Swamiji said, is shakti. Then sanmati and the jiva are together, as Shiva and Parvati, in the triumph of dharma. So celebrate Navaratri. The satsanga ended with the Tryambakam mantra and the peace prayers, sarve bhavantu sukhinah and asato ma sadgamaya.

Terms in This Satsanga

• jiva — the individual soul, the limited concept the mind is asked to leave behind.
• Shivoham — I am Shiva; the affirmation that replaces the jiva concept.
• sannyasa — renunciation; in its real form, the insight that one is Shiva.
• Chaturmasya — the four months of the rainy season, given to satsanga and scripture.
• smriti — memory; the extension of the Vedic scriptures.
• sanmati — right understanding, from which the soul cannot truly be separated.
• sakshi bhava — the attitude of the witness that sees the movements of karma.
• moha — delusion; the force behind the ego-based movement.

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