Having established the mind in the Self, having established the universe in the Self, even if the mind awakens again, nothing more is desired.

The “establishment” (sthāpana) of the citta in the ātman constitutes no mere meditation technique, but rather the recognition that it was never situated elsewhere. The viśva—the world—is likewise “established” in the ātman: it is neither absorbed nor negated, but recognized as a modality of the selfsame reality. The cittavibodha—the awakening of the mind—might imply the possibility of retrogression, yet the jīvanmukta, once anchored in this certitude, knows no fall (patana). As the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha itself declares elsewhere: the drop of water that has plunged into the ocean cannot revert to a drop.