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Sep 18, 2015 · Kaala is Time, represented by the Kaala Chakra, worshipped independently or Yama as a presiding deity. The text Yoga Vashishtha, a conversation between Maharishi Vashishtha and Shri Rama, has multiple references on Kaala providing beautiful insights: • Time cannot be analyzed; for however much it is divided it survives indestructible. [1.23]
The term Yoga in the text refers to the underlying Yogic theme in its stories and dialogues, and the term is used in a generic sense to include all forms of yoga in the pursuit of liberation, in the style of Bhagavad Gita. [13] The long version of the text is called Brihat Yoga Vasistha, wherein Brihat means "great or large".
- The universe does not exist in the first place. According to the text, the world is as real as a mirage. In other words, it does not exist! Modern physics seems to agree.
- The world is created by the mind. Our minds yield the power to create our world. Yoga Vasistha reveals the power of the mind when it states, “The mind alone is the creator of the world; the mind alone is the supreme person.
- Time is not absolute. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is relative to the observer. So, events that occur at a particular time for an observer could occur at a different time for another observer.
- There is life outside Earth. While speculations around the existence of extraterrestrial life continue to baffle humankind, it seems Rishi Vasistha knew quite clearly that life outside our blue dot called Earth does exist.
Jun 13, 2024 · Summary: The English translation of the Yoga-vasistha: a Hindu philosophical and spiritual text written by sage Valmiki from an Advaita-vedanta perspective. The book contains epic narratives similar to puranas and chronologically precedes the Ramayana.
- 1891
- Shivabalayogi & Yv English Translations | Back to Introduction
- Similes & Metaphors | Back to Introduction
- The Essence of Yoga Vasishta | Back to Introduction
- Stories in Yoga Vasishta | Back to Introduction
- Nirvana & The Living Liberated | Back to Introduction
- The Requirement of Personal Effort | Back to Introduction
- Surplus, Irrelevant & Unimportant Sections | Introduction
- Humor in Yoga Vasishta | Back to Introduction
- Narrow and Universal Feelings | Back to Introduction
- Words & Terminology | Back to Introduction
Encouraged by Shivabalayogi’s praise for the book, devotees in the United States tried to find copies. The only complete English translation of the Sanskrit work was a two-volume set by Vihari Lala Mitra printed in 1891, long out of print and existing copies scarce. A new abridged translation by Swami Venkatesananda, The Concise Yoga Vasishta, had ...
The similes and metaphors in Yoga Vasishta are repetitive and seemingly endless, often obscuring the simple thought being expressed. “What I will say, by opposite similes, right reasoning, graceful style, and good sense of the words in which they shall be conveyed to you, cannot fail to come to your heart.” (III.84.47) We might mistake a rope for a...
Everything we can think in our minds or perceive with any of our organs of sense is an expression of the consciousness of God. God created nothing tangible or material. All that seems to exist is only an appearance of God, like waves on the ocean. There are at least three ways to know this truth: logic, ordinary experience, and God realization. Rea...
Vasishta spends considerable time answering Rama’s questions and lecturing on various spiritual subjects, but most of Yoga Vasishta is stories that illustrate the nature of reality. These stories, like the similes and metaphors, serve to impress understanding upon the mind. The first long story is in Book III and is about Queen Leela and King Padma...
Mitra’s translation frequently refers to nirvana, extinction and liberation. Today, the words enlightenment or God realization are more commonly used, but perhaps the best term in today’s spiritual vocabulary is Self realization because ultimately, God is Self. Repeatedly sage Vasishta insists that such words are interchangeable. They only get in t...
There is nothing fatalistic about Yoga Vasishta. Early in the work, immediately after Rama completes his speech on the vanity of everything the world has to offer, Vasishta hammers away on the need for personal effort. This theme is woven throughout the book. There is no fate or karma. What we call fate is the result of prior effort. Although we ha...
Almost every story in Yoga Vasishta, and there are many of them, begins with a long description of idyllic nature, people and heavens. Among the longest description of nature is when the four copies of King Vipaschit, accompanied by his court, survey the lands they had conquered, including walking on the waters of the ocean to travel to other conti...
Yoga Vasishta is a challenging read because of its length, its setting in medieval India, and the subject matter itself, the nature of reality. It doesn’t make the reading any lighter when Vasishta regularly describes people who believe in external reality as worse than beasts. He is dead serious about despising everything the world has to offer. Y...
As written down in medieval times, Yoga Vasishta is not a pure expression of a yogi’s teaching. The scribes inserted their gloss because some some parts are what we would call culturally insensitive. The condescending references towards women and “lower” social classes belong to the pundit scribes who wrote down the stories. One cannot imagine a yo...
No doubt there are precise nuances in meaning in the Sanskrit and the English vocabulary is very limited in its ability to describe spiritual matters. So it is inherently impossible to “accurately” translate a work like Yoga Vasishta into English. It’s like trying to translate the Quran into English. The subtlety and beauty of the original Arabic d...
TABLE OF CONTENTS. BOOK I - ON DETACHMENT - VAIRAGYA KHANDA. BOOK I On Detachment (Vairagya Khanda) Chapter 1 — Introduction: Sutikshna & Agastya; Karunya & Agnivesya; Suruchi & Divine Messenger; King Arishtanemi, Indra & Valmiki. Chapter 2 — Reason for Writing the Ramayana.
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May 8, 2024 · Yoga Vasishta is a text which systematizes yogic philosophy and traditions from Hinduism and Buddhism. It is one of the most important texts of Advaita Vedanta (non-duality), Samkhya, Yoga, Jainism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Pratyabhijña.
