Shivabalayogi’s teaching on meditation does present a clear sense of progression, but it is articulated more as broad phases of inner maturation than as a finely segmented ladder of named states. At the outset, the emphasis falls on foundational discipline: sitting daily for a fixed period, learning to keep the body still, and steadily turning attention away from the senses toward the chosen form of the divine or the guru. Early progress is reflected less in dramatic experiences and more in the simple capacity to sit without fidgeting, to notice a reduction in restless thoughts, and to taste moments of quietude or subtle inner peace. This initial phase corresponds to what many traditions would call concentration, where the mind is repeatedly brought back from distraction to a single point of focus.

With sustained practice, this effortful concentration gradually ripens into a more continuous and natural inward absorption. The mind begins to settle of its own accord, thought-activity may suspend for stretches of time, and there can be experiences of inner light, sound, or vision. Shivabalayogi acknowledged such phenomena as possible markers of deepening practice, while cautioning that they are not to be clung to as goals in themselves. What matters more is the growing ease with which the practitioner can re-enter stillness day after day, and the emergence of periods of “no mind” or pure awareness in which attention flows without strain.

Beyond this lies what he called tapas, a distinct and much more intensive phase of spiritual discipline. Tapas is traditionally associated with many years of prolonged meditation, often extending far beyond the scope of ordinary household life, and is regarded as appropriate only for those called to such renunciation. In this advanced arena, the broad trajectory moves from sustained inner absorption toward the dissolution of duality, where the separation between meditator and the object of meditation falls away. Completion of tapas is described as culminating in a stabilized realization of the Self, characterized by effortless inner silence and the capacity to remain inwardly absorbed even while engaged in outward activity.

It is noteworthy that, although these phases can be loosely correlated with terms such as dhyana and samadhi, Shivabalayogi did not emphasize an elaborate taxonomy of graded samadhis. Instead, the stress falls on the organic unfolding of practice: from regular, sometimes strenuous effort; to increasing stillness and one-pointedness; to spontaneous, sustained absorption; and, for a very few, to the arduous consummation of tapas in enduring Self-realization. This perspective invites practitioners to respect the reality of stages without becoming preoccupied with labeling them, and to measure progress primarily by the deepening of inner silence and stability rather than by the accumulation of extraordinary experiences.