So much of our modern yoga journey begins on the mat—seeking balance, strength, and peace. But beneath the asanas lives a deeper longing: the soul’s quiet call to remember its source. In this episode, we step beyond posture practice to explore yoga as a complete spiritual map. Together, we’ll travel through the four great yogas—action, knowledge, meditation, and devotion—and rediscover the luminous thread that unites them all in the heart of Bhakti.
Yoga's Hidden Treasure Revealed
The Living Tapestry of the Yoga Universe
It’s invigorating to breathe in the fresh, crisp air of a universe alive and rich with meaning, but oh my gosh! There are so many personalities in the yoga universe! Are they all gods? Who is who? Who’s in charge? And what’s up!
For those unfamiliar with the yoga terrain, this can be confusing, off putting, or even shocking. At the threshold of our exploration it can appear surreal. When we investigate further, we find a logical, reasonable, awe-inspiring perspective!
To make sense of these personalities and all that is going on, we must refer to the metaphysical foundation of the yoga mandala. Therefore we necessarily have to speak about Reality with a capital R.
Stay with me for a philosophical minute, it won’t last long and it’s interesting.
Let’s start with a definition. Ultimate Reality is that which is independent, self-existent, and the final ground of all existence. From this definition alone, plural ultimate realities are impossible. There cannot be many realities, many gods.
If there was One Reality and then another, either they would limit one another or they would depend on some shared principle that unites or differentiates them. In either case, neither would be ultimate, something else would stand above or between them. That which is ultimate must be one without a second, otherwise it would be conditioned by relation. Further, the Absolute cannot be one among many, because “many” requires mutual exclusion, and exclusion requires limitation.
These are classic arguments and we stand on them and the Bhagavatam to assert that Reality is one. Reality is the supreme spirit whole, nondual, without a second, all-powerful, independent, and self manifest. The Katha Upanishad (2.2.13) states:
Among all the eternal, conscious beings,
there is one Supreme Being who supplies the needs of everyone else.
The wise souls who worship him in his abode
attain everlasting peace. Others cannot.
This begs the question, If Reality is one, how can there be variegatedness?
Understanding the One Supreme and the Many Divine Forms
We can note that multiplicity can exist within reality but not at the level of the Absolute itself. So variegatedness within the worlds does not negate the position of a nondual Absolute. The one Supreme is not impotent. He has unlimited power, which he employs in a multitude of ways to manage the spiritual and material planes of existence.
We learn that the Original Person enjoys in his own commonwealth, and he expands and empowers others to take care of all matters outside his home. When we have the means, don’t we also hire competent people to manage our affairs so we can relax and enjoy life? The Supreme Person organizes his affairs by employing different features. They’re known as:
Expansions
Shaktis
Avataras
Representatives
Let’s consider one after another. By doing this, we’ll encounter the most well known personalities in the yoga mosaic. It’ll help us make sense of them and see the whole.
Expansions
What do we mean by expansions? Literally, the Original Person expands himself into a variety of forms that are as powerful as he is. Some are just absorbed in the happiness of divine play, others teach lessons to the world, and some do both at the same time.
Let’s consider a couple of expansions we hear about.
Lord Rama is a well-known and beloved expansion of the Absolute. Perhaps you’ve heard of the epic, Ramayana, which Indians have recited for millennia. Millions of children are raised with bedtime stories of Lord Rama. It’s common in kirtan to hear the chant jaya rama, sri rama, jaya jaya rama.
Rama is known for his virtue, purity, chivalry, steadfastness in the face of adversity, and winning over the forces of evil. Rama lives with his wife, Sita, Hanuman, and his family and friends on the spiritual planet called Ayodhya. He comes to this world to call the devoted to him.
Hanuman, Rama’s devoted servant, performs extraordinary acts of devotion for Lord Rama. Perhaps you’ve heard of Hanuman. Even in the West, he’s quite famous. He’s well loved and inspires millions to follow his example, even today. We have the highly popular song, the “Hanuman Chalisa.”
The Supreme Energies: Shakti and the Divine Feminine
Further, the Sweet Absolute has several primary expansions that manage the material world.
One is the Vishnu known as Paramatma – the Great Soul or Oversoul. He is the Lord who sits with us in the heart. He has accompanied us throughout all our lifetimes, and is the voice of wisdom calling us to choose better and join him.
Another Vishnu is part of the triad of the universal managers Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This triad is well known and their existence is acknowledged by all the traditions. Brahma is the secondary creator of the universe. Vishnu is in charge of the maintenance of the cosmos, and Shiva oversees the eventual destruction of it.
This next point will further boggle the mind: There are unlimited Vishnu and Narayana expansions of Sri Krishna. And they each have their own planet in the spiritual plane where their servants happily live with them.
Our next category of features of Bhagavan are his unlimited shaktis, or energies. It’s beyond the scope of this podcast to delve into these at length. But we can take note that I used the word “unlimited” to describe them. Yes, that’s unlimited. Try to imagine that.
These powerful energies perform many automatic functions in both the spiritual and material worlds.
Now, though there are unlimited energies, three are primary. In summary, the three main energies are:
Material Energy
Spiritual Energy
The Energy of the Soul
The material energy refers to the material world, time, karma, and the gunas, or controlling modes. This energy is personified as the powerful goddess Durga Devi, who is a well known, powerful goddess.
The spiritual energy refers to the spiritual planets, consciousness and its features of eternality, knowledge, and blissful love predominate the spiritual plane. Note the difference of these three qualities in contrast to the three binding modes of material nature in this world. This energy is personified as goddess Sri Radha, the fountainhead of all goddesses and the embodiment of prema, or divine love.
The energy of the soul is also called the marginal energy because we can choose to come under the shelter of Durga, material energy, or Sri Radha, spiritual energy.
I discuss all these energies, goddesses, the nature of shakti in general and Shaktiman, the possessor of these energies, in Bhakti Shakti: Goddess of Divine Love. I’ll include a link to that book in the description.
Other well-known goddesses, who are also shaktis of the Sweet Absolute, are Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. These goddesses have manifestations in the material and spiritual worlds and their functions are a little different in the different realms.
In the Tenth Chapter of the Gita, Krishna describes how his energies are present in the world in numerous ways.
Among lights, he is the sun
Among bodies of water, the ocean
Among purifiers, the wind
Among immovable things, the Himalayas
Among animals, the lion
At the end of his long list he says, “Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.”
Avataras, Devas, and the Real Personalities of the Yoga Mandala
The next category of manifestation is avataras, which are in addition to these expansions and shaktis. And here again, the Supreme has unlimited avatars.
You heard it: unlimited! It’s no wonder that we have so many personalities in the yoga universe and it takes a while to get our bearings.
Avatara is a Sanskrit word. Ava means “down,” and tri “to cross over.” So the word means “one who descends” or “one who crosses over.” In other words, an avatara is a transcendental being who isn’t of this world.
The Supreme repeatedly comes to this world from the uncreated world to give knowledge and call us to our spiritual potential.
Of the unlimited avataras, ten are famous. They’re known as the Dasavatars. These avataras trace the Divine’s presence in this world at various times in history.
The beautiful hymn, “Dasavatara Stotra,” appears at the beginning of Jayadeva Goswami’s masterpiece Gita-Govinda. I’ll share a link below to where you can listen to that Stotra.
The Western world is not familiar with most of these avatars, so we don’t often hear about them or find mantras or songs dedicated to them sung in Western kirtans.
Finally, we come to the representatives of the Supreme. They are celestial beings, known as devas, who are empowered to administer the material cosmos.
Some of the devas are Brahma, the secondary creator. Indra, the king of the celestial material realm. Other administrative devas are Agni, Surya, Candra, and Vayu.
The most powerful devas are Shiva and Parvati, or Durga Devi.
Lord Shiva is the greatest among the Supreme’s representatives. As we heard earlier, he’s a member of the triad of universal gods (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva), in charge of the dissolution of the universe.
The Brahma-samhita describes that the mundane egoic principle originates from Shiva, and he embodies the material causal principle. He is the form of Krishna in touch with the material energy, or Durga, who is Shiva’s wife.
Shiva and Krishna are not the same person, nor are they completely different. The same Brahma-samhita explains that the two are like milk and yogurt.
Milk is transformed into yogurt by adding a culture. Yogurt therefore comes from milk and is ultimately made of milk, but it’s not the same as milk and cannot be used in exactly the same way. In this analogy, Sri Krishna is milk and Shiva is yogurt.
The Bhagavata describes that, as the perfect yogi and the greatest of those devoted to Bhagavan Sri Krishna, Shiva perpetually meditates on Bhagavan, that’s why we also see him in a meditation pose.
Real Personalities, Real Worlds, and the Vision of Bhakti
Durga is the ruling goddess of the entire creation. She carries out the task of facilitating the soul’s desire to enjoy in the world, yet she also tries to awaken the living entity to their ultimate benefit and real home.
Shiva and Durga’s son Ganesh is also a famous deva. He removes the material obstacles of those who petition him and so is honored that at the start of all India rites and ceremonies he is worshiped to ensure an auspicious beginning and to ward off evil.
In India, you’ll see him worshiped by many shopkeepers, who seek his blessings to grant fortune in their sales transactions.
Each of these great personalities has immense power but, like us, they are sheltered by the Supreme Independent, the nondual Original Person, who is their source.
The yoga tradition doesn’t view these personalities as mythological or archetypal symbols, standing in as metaphors for something in the world or in us; they are real persons.
The Vedic texts that have introduced these personalities aren’t whimsical musings but roadmaps to enlightenment. They are sophisticated explorations of the cosmos and consciousness that have attracted the attention of the most brilliant minds throughout history.
If we see the devas as imaginary, we need to acknowledge that we’re projecting Western post-enlightenment thought on the yoga tradition.
None of the hundreds of thousands of verses within the corpus of sacred texts refers to these persons as myths, symbols, or metaphors.
These personalities are real, and those who take up a serious mantra meditation and kirtan practice can meet them and experience the dimensions where they reside.
I hope this has given you a clearer perspective of this great variety of ultimate Reality.
If this was helpful in any way, please like, share, and subscribe and let me know if you have any questions.
Until next time, may you see the world in wonder and bow to the power of the Supreme Person.
Sarve janah bhagavatah saranam yantu; tasmin sarane eva mangalasya purnata.
May all beings gently move toward the shelter of Bhagavan; in that shelter alone, auspiciousness finds its fullness.
Dasavatara Chalisa Stotra: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzghm8jIj9A.
Bhakti Shakti: Goddess of Divine Love: https://www.amazon.com/Bhakti-Shakti-Goddess-Divine-Love/dp/1737891409
