The Yoga Vasistha is one of the most profound and influential philosophical texts in the Indian tradition, attributed to the great sage Vasistha. It is a dialogue between the sage Vasistha and Lord Rama, where Vasistha imparts wisdom on the nature of reality, the mind, and the path to liberation. The text, composed in Sanskrit, is a unique blend of Advaita Vedanta philosophy and yogic practice, offering a deep exploration of the nature of the self, the universe, and the mind’s role in perceiving the world.
The Yoga Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and the direct experience of the truth. This is certain. If this is what you want, you are welcome to the Yoga Vasistha.
The text abounds in repetitions, which are, however, not repetitious. If you do not like the repetition, read this one verse, quoted from the Yoga Vasistha.
“This world appearance is a confusion, even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion.I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it”
This verse occurs several times in the scripture and it seems to be the essence of the teaching.
If this is not clear to you, read the scripture. The numerous ways in which this truth is revealed, will help open your mind.
The Supreme Yoga
Prayer
yatah sarvani bhutani pratibhanti sthitani ca
yatrai vo pasamam yanti tasmai satyatmane namah
Jnata jnanam tatha jneyam drasta darsana drsyabhuh
karta hetuh kriya yasmat tasmai jnaptyatmane namah
sphuranti sikara yasmad anandasya mbare vanau
Sarvcesam jivanam tasmai brahmanandatmane namah
Salutations to that reality in which all the elements and all the animate and inanimate beings shine as if they have an independent existence, and in which they exist for a time and into which they merge.
Salutations to that consciousness which is the source of the apparently distinct threefold divisions of knower. knowledge and known: seer, Sight and seen: doer. doing and deed
Salutations to that bliss absolute (the ocean of bliss) which is the life of all beings whose happiness and unfoldment are derived from the shower of spray from that ocean of bliss.
This is the prayer. From this you understand that we are dealing only specifically with the understanding of the truth as against that which appears as the truth but is not the truth. This is the Yoga Vashishta.
This was taught to the great Rama when he was depressed. Can you imagine – Rama is depressed and Vashishta is teaching him.
An oft-recurring expression in this scripture is Kakataliya, a crow. A crow alights on the coconut palm tree and that very moment a ripe coconut falls from it. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though actually there is no relationship between the two. The crow sitting on the coconut tree has nothing to do with the coconut falling, but the human mind is such that it has to create a connection.
Such is life, such is creation. Things happen, we don’t know the explanation, but the human mind has to create a connection or a relationship between the two events which actually are not connected to each other. It’s called the crow logic, because of the crow there but the mind caught up in its own trap of logic, questions, why and even invents a why and a where of to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.
Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observer, the observed and the observation, and the realization of their indivisible unity as infinite consciousness.
The beauty of the scripture is that its student is not abandoned to despair. If something is not clear in the first instance, a further study of the scripture makes it clear.
This is the importance of Yoga Vasistha.
At the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj, Sri M captivated everyone with stories, anecdotes, and the profound wisdom drawn from the spiritual teachings of the Yoga Vasistha.
To watch the recordings of the Satsangs, click here
