Yoga Vasistha

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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Nicholas Weeks
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Yoga Vasistha

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A very profound text that contains teachings of Rishi Vasistha to Prince Rama the Avatar. It has surprising conceptual similarities with Buddhism in places. The link is to a famous abridgement of this very large work.

https://selfdefinition.org/yoga/Laghu-Y ... -Aiyer.pdf
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Here is a leading scholar, B.L. Atreya, giving five lectures on the text:

https://ia600801.us.archive.org/25/item ... osophy.pdf
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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LECTURE III
THE TYPE OF PERSON FOR WHOM YOGAVASISTHA IS MEANT.
CONSCIOUSNESS OF SUFFERING

THE next point in connection with this great work, Yogavasistha, is: For what kind
of readers is the work meant? Who, in other words, is the adhikari of this Shastra? The
author of the work himself has told us that he is the proper person to study this work who has
become aware of his bondage and longs to be free; he who is no longer in utter ignorance, but
has not yet attained wisdom (I. 2. 1). This, in other words, means that the philosophy of
Vasistha is meant for those on whom the reflective consciousness has dawned and to whom it
has been revealed that life, as it is usually lived, is characterised by bondage, evil and
suffering. The author of the work has depicted the psychology of such persons in the
mentality of Ramchandra, the pupil of Vasistha. Rama begins to reflect over the nature of life
and finds it characterised by evil, bondage and suffering.
He says: What happiness can there be in this world,
where everyone is born to die (I. 12. 7)? Everything comes into existence
only to pass away (I. 12. 8). The joys of life are tantalising; prosperity is another kind of
misery; pleasures are harbingers of pain (VIb. 93. 73). How great fools we are! Although sold
to none, we act as if we are bound and sold slaves. Knowing the vanity of the affairs of life
even, we continue to be whole-heartedly engaged in them like fools (I. 12. 12). Even
knowing well that there cannot be real and lasting joy realised in our life, we foolishly stick
to the hope of having it (I. 12. 13), accumulation of wealth does not make us happy but
miserable, on the other hand.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Yogavasistha is thus meant for people who are so keenly alive to the undesirable
aspects of life and so eager to know the secret of freeing it from them.

THE CAUSE AND REMEDY OF SUFFERING

The cause of all suffering, according to Yogavasistha is trisna or desire for worldly
objects. “It stings one like a venomous serpent, cuts like a sword, pierces like a lance, binds
like a rope, burns like fire, blinds like a dark night and grinds down its helpless victim like a
heavy stone. It destroys his wisdom and upsets the balance of his mind, and throws him into
the deep and dark well of infatuation (II. 12. 14). Our longing for worldly objects is due to
our ignorance of the true nature of ourselves and the world. Ignorance is therefore the root,
cause of all suffering. The fountain head of all evils is the lack of Knowledge (VIa. 88. 2).
The best and the most effective remedy for all sufferings is the attainment of wisdom
(Jnana). Sorrows do not approach the wise man who has come to know what ought to be
known, and has the right attitude towards all things (II. 11. 41). Wisdom is the only way to
cross over the ocean of the world (II. 10. 22).
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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SELF EFFORT VERSUS DESTINY

Wisdom or true knowledge which is the ultimate remedy of all sufferings of life can
be attained only by making efforts for its attainment. It does not come of itself nor does any
agency like destiny bring it unto ourselves. We have to make ceaseless and earnest efforts not
only to acquire wisdom, but also to obtain anything else in life. There is nothing like fate or
destiny making us miserable or happy in spite of ourselves. We are the makers of our own
destiny by our own efforts. There is no other way to bring about the end of all misery than
one’s own efforts (purushartha) (III. 6. 14). There is hardly anything in existence which is
not attainable through right and earnest exertion (III. 4. 8). One gets only what one has
striven for, nothing is ever achieved by sitting idle (II. 7. 19). Everyone is his own friend or
enemy, if one does not save oneself, nobody else can save him (VIb. 162. 18)

Those who depend upon fate for getting their desired objects and do not exert
themselves are their own enemy. They depend upon a thing which neither does exist nor does
bring about anything. There is none among the brave, the successful, the learned and the
wise, whoever wants for destiny (II. 8. 17). They who always depend on fate, lose all their
merit, wealth and enjoyments (II. 7. 3). The fools who believe that everything is in the hands
of destiny are utterly ruined (II. 5. 29).

Fate (daiva) is a nonentity. There does not exist anything like fate (II. 5. 18). It is
absolutely unreal (II. 9. 3). Fate does not do anything; it exists only in imagination (II. 9. 3).
Apart from a consolatory contrivance fate has no reality of its own (II. 9. 15).

Our fate or destiny is nothing but the inevitable consequences of our own already
accomplished efforts.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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The first step in Rama's Path toward Liberation is disgust with worldly life; here is a sample of his thinking:
3 Since I was born in this my father’s palace, I have remained here, grown up, and received my
education. 4 Then, O leader of sages, desiring to learn good customs, I set out to travel to holy places
all over this sea-surrounded earth. 5 By this time, a series of reflections arose in my mind that shook
my confidence in worldly objects. 6 I employed my mind to discriminate the nature of things, which
gradually led me to discard all thoughts of sensual enjoyments.

7 What are worldly pleasures good for, and why do men multiply on earth? Men are born to die, and
they die to be born again. 8 There is no stability in the tendencies of beings whether movable or
immovable. They all tend to vice, decay and danger, and all our possessions become the grounds of our poverty.

9 All objects of sense are detached from each other like iron rods from one another. It is only
imagination which attaches them to our minds. 10 It is the mind that pictures the existence of the world
as a reality, but if we know the deceptiveness of the mind, we are safe from such deception. 11 If the
world is an unreality, it is a pity that ignorant men should be allured by it, like deer tempted by a
distant mirage of water. 12 We are sold by none, yet we are enslaved to the world. Knowing this well,
we are spell-bound with riches, as if by a magic wand. 13 What are the enjoyments in
this essence but misery? Yet we are foolishly caught in its thoughts, like bees caught in honey.

14 Ah! After long, I perceive that we have insensibly fallen into errors, like senseless stags falling into
pits in the wilderness. 15 Of what use is royalty and these enjoyments to me? What am I and where
do all these things come from? They are only vanities. Let them continue as such without any good or
loss to anybody. 16 Reasoning in this manner, O holy brahmin, I came to be disgusted with the world,
like a traveler in a desert.
Section 1, chapter 12
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: LAGHU-YOGA-VASISHTA

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How the Laghu begins:
I. VAIRAGGYA-PRAKARANA

Salutations to the Non-Dual Principle - through the three organs (of mind, speech and body) - that is the eternal Jnana (wisdom) Light illuminating (the three worlds) Bhu (earth), Antariksha (intervening space) and Swarga (heaven), as also our hearts and their exteriors and that has manifested itself everywhere as visible forms.

Persons qualified to read this work called Vasishta (the work of Vasistha) should neither be Ajnanis (the ignorant or the worldly wise), nor those Jivanmuktas (liberated ones), who have reached their Jnana-Atman, freeing themselves from all pain, but only those who, conscious of being under bondage, long after freedom from it, and are in that vacillating position, from which they contemplate attaining Moksha.

Muni Bharadwaja having prostrated before his omniscient Guru, Muni Valmiki addressed him softly thus:
How did Sri Rama of rare Satva guna come to be in this terrestrial Samsara (mundane existence) full of pains and generative of dire rebirths.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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This is an extensive collection of keynotes from YV by Atreya:

https://ia803100.us.archive.org/1/items ... 5_text.pdf
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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From the beginning of Atreya's helpful Introduction:
Sri Vasisthadarsanam (the Philosophy of Vasistha) is an attempt to place before the modern world, in a systematic form, the philosophical doctrines embodied in an ancient work Yogavasistha. Yogavasistha, also known as the Maharamayana, the Arsaramayana, Jnanavasistha, Vasistharamayana or simply as Vasistha, is a voluminous Sanskrit work which is widely read, in the original as well as in vernacular translations, by the seekers of self-knowledge throughout India. It is the Bible of those who seek for Peace and Liberation, as the Ramayana of Tulsi Das and the Bhagavata are for the devotees and the Bhagavadgita for men of action.
Thousands of men and women from the lowest to the highest grade of culture find solace in the study of this wonderful work, which contains many stories in which even children may find pleasure, and philosophical speculations which the brightest intellect may find difficult to comprehend. In grandeur it may be compared to the great Himalayas which, being situated on the earth, are within the reach of all, yet whose lofty peaks baffle the attempts of even the most earnest expedition. Men of all tastes, literary, religious or philosophical, find interest in it. It is really one of the wonders that the mind of India has produced in its literature, and surely the best companion for one who is anxious to realise Cosmic Consciousness and to live on the heights of spiritual Peace, where the best and the noblest men of India have always aspired to stay. All who have had the fortune of studying Yogavasistha share this view, and others who will study it earnestly will not differ much.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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201. Contentment, company of the good (or the virtuous), reflection (or investigation of the Truth) and tranquillity - only these are the means of men in crossing over the ocean of worldly existence.
202. Even any one of them is the ground for the birth of all these here (in this life). Therefore, for the complete attainment of all of them, let one resort to one of them with diligence.

Tranquillity.
203. In a good person possessed of tranquillity and friendliness towards all beings, the supreme real nature (of the human soul) clears up by itself.
204. Supreme good is obtained through tranquillity. Tranquillity is indeed the highest state. It is auspicious. It is repose. It is warding off delusion.
205. He is declared as tranquil who is equal towards all beings and does not desire or avoid what is to happen in the future, having conquered his senses with effort.
206. He is declared as tranquil whose mind is clear (or unperplexed) like the orb of the moon, in death, festivities and war.
207. He is declared as tranquil, whose affectionate (or happy) look, lovely (or sweet) with flowing nectar, extends towards all beings.
208. He is declared as tranquil for whom there is no thought of “I” in the worthless (body and the like) even in endless calamities and during long periods of universal destruction.
209. The mind which has given up all desires and is endowed with a pleasant attitude, meets with happiness everywhere, as if resting on the orb of the moon.
210. The riches situated inside the three worlds, which are (just) images of sovereignty and affluence (but not really so), are not as productive of happiness as the riches of tranquillity.
211. Neither ghosts nor evil spirits, nor demons nor enemies, nor even tigers or snakes are hostile towards one endowed with tranquillity.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Contentment.

212. In a mind which is uncontrolled subject to desires and which is destitute of contentment, knowledge is not
reflected, like the face in a faded mirror.
213. Great powers (or prosperity), attaining servanthood, wait upon one whose mind is rich with contentment, as servants (wait upon) a king.
214. He is called contented here (in this world), who has gone to the state of equanimity in what has been obtained, having abandoned the desire for what has not been obtained, and who has not seen dejection or its opposite.

Company of the good.

215. In this world, associations with good (or wise) people are illuminators of the virtuous path. They take away the darkness of the heart and constitute the lustre of the sun of knowledge.
216. What is the use of charities, holy places, austerities and religious sacrifices to him who has bathed by the cool, white (holy waters of the) Ganga (in the form of) association with the virtuous?
217. Sinless One! If there are good (or virtuous) people free from passion, whose doubts have been destroyed and whose knot (of ignorance) has dropped (or loosened), what is the use of cherishing religious austerity and holy places?

Reflection (or Investigation).

218. Without reflection (or investigation) the Truth is not properly understood even a little. The Truth is known by investigation. By (knowing) the Truth there is repose in the Self.
219. “Who am I? How was this evil called worldly existence obtained?” Reflecting thus through logic is declared as investigation.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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The Characteristic of a Qualified Person.

29. He is entitled to (study) this scripture, who has the firm belief, “I am bound; let me be liberated”, who is not much ignorant, and not wise either.

The Means for the Cessation of Sorrow.
The cause of sorrow is only attachment to worldly life.

124. Attachment to worldly life, which is exceedingly dangerous, bites like a snake, cuts like a sword, pierces like a spear, binds like a rope, burns like fire, blinds like night, makes men, who have fallen into it unsuspectingly, helpless like a stone, takes away the understanding, destroys stability and throws down into the dark well of delusion. Desire makes one worn out. There is no distress which a worldly person does not suffer.
125. This disease (or cholera) of sensual pleasures is indeed endless. If it is not cured, then it always produces various things having as a consequence the fruit of a multitude of cities of hell.
126. Rama! The disease (or cholera) that is caused by the entrance of the poison of worldly existence is unbearable.
127. It is stupidity alone that stands on the top of all calamities. This course of worldly existence flows (or is carried on) by the inattention (or mistake) of the ignorant. To an ignorant person, there are intense sorrows as well as great delights.
128. This bad distress of an ignorant person never ceases when he has attained to the idea of the Self (or the Spirit) in the wicked body which is not the Self (or the Spirit).
129. For one who has his eyes on worthless (or unreal) things and who is wallowing in every step, poison is produced (even) from the (nectar-like) moon, as fragrance from the flower.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Only knowledge is the means for the cessation of sorrow.

130. This poisonous tree of worldly existence is the one abode of misfortunes. It infatuates the ignorant for ever. Let one destroy stupidity with diligence.
131. Mental agonies do not burn (or afflict) a wise man who has understood what is to be known and has the right vision, as flames of fire do not burn a forest wetted by rain.
132. Rama! Men of lofty intellect have crossed over, in a moment, the ocean of worldly existence which is difficult to be crossed, merely by the raft which is the application of knowledge.
133. Raghava! By which (expedient) do the pains of the pairs of opposite conditions such as cold wind and heat become bearable among sages without the application of knowledge?
134. That supreme happiness called Nirvana, by which a person is not born again nor dies, is obtained only from knowledge.
135. Only knowledge is the means of a living being in crossing over transmigratory existence. Austerity, charity and a place of pilgrimage are declared as non-means.
136. The intellect of this man, who has found out the Truth (or Reality) by reflection (or investigation), puts down all mental agonies, as placid water (brings down) grains of sand.
137. Surely, it is to be understood that the destruction of all misery happens when investigation is made.
138. The entire world is perceived with amusement as jugglery by a person endowed with reflection, free from fever and possessed of a cool mind, having abandoned all this cage of mental agony like the worn-out skin (abandoned) by a snake.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Only Self-knowledge is the means to tranquillity.

139. (The Wise) understand Self-knowledge (alone) as knowledge. On the contrary, those other knowings are (only) false knowledge on account of non-perception of the real truth (or the essence).
140. Let one rule over the world or enter the cloud or water. A living being does not obtain repose except through the perception of the Self.
141. Effort ought to be taken in inquiring into the Self by one desiring his welfare. The cutting of the head of all sorrow takes place by beholding the Self.
142. Rama! If the Supreme Self is known, the succession of sorrows arrives at destruction as cholera (comes to an end) on the cessation of the influence of poison.
143. Oh men! The Self that is not comprehended is for your attainment of sorrow; but, when perceived, it is for your endless happiness and tranquillity.

The Descent of the Knowledge of Reality.

144. This was related in a former age by Brahmā, the great spiritual teacher. This causes the destruction of all sorrow and is of great consolation to the mind.
145. Virtuous One! Go to the country of Bharata (India) which is situated within the continent of Jambu on the surface of the earth, with the object of (bestowing) favour on mankind.
(Note: these are the words of Brahmā to Vasistha)
146.Son! There, those intent on the section of spiritual discipline in the form of religious rites ought to be taught through the course of rituals by you, possessed of great intelligence and endowed with the (knowledge of the) methods.
147. Noble One! In like manner, those with minds free from worldly attachment, who are supremely wise and discerning, ought to be taught by you through knowledge which is the giver of happiness.
148. Raghava! Thus directed by him, my father, the lotus-born, I remain here as long as there is the race of living beings.
149. I shall tell you that very knowledge which was communicated earlier by the lotus-born Lord at the beginning of creation for the solace of mankind.
Last edited by Nicholas Weeks on Thu Jan 04, 2024 11:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Yoga Vasistha

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Nicholas Weeks wrote: Thu Jan 04, 2024 11:31 pm
Only Self-knowledge is the means to tranquillity.

139. (The Wise) understand Self-knowledge (alone) as knowledge. On the contrary, those other knowings are (only) false knowledge on account of non-perception of the real truth (or the essence).
140. Let one rule over the world or enter the cloud or water. A living being does not obtain repose except through the perception of the Self.
141. Effort ought to be taken in inquiring into the Self by one desiring his welfare. The cutting of the head of all sorrow takes place by beholding the Self.
142. Rama! If the Supreme Self is known, the succession of sorrows arrives at destruction as cholera (comes to an end) on the cessation of the influence of poison.
143. Oh men! The Self that is not comprehended is for your attainment of sorrow; but, when perceived, it is for your endless happiness and tranquillity.
What's the connection to Theravada?
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