Yoga Vasishtha (Yog Vãsishth)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Sage Vasisht and Sri Ram
V S Krishnan, February 22, 2024: The Times of India
In the midst of peace and tranquility that prevailed in Ayodhya, Prince Ram once found traces of sorrow among people. He pondered questions such as: What is the meaning of life which consists of sorrows? How to end the repetitive nature of this life? Is liberation possible, how? As if to answer his questions, Sage Vishwamitra came and persuaded Ram’s father King Dashrath to let the prince accompany him to the forest. Sage Vishwamitra, who wanted the young prince to receive the best of education, took him to Sage Vasisht, one of the Saptarishis. From Vasisht, Ram received Vedic advice and emerged enlightened. The dialogue between Sage Vasisht and Ram is the central theme of ‘Yog Vasisht’, agreat philosophical text, believed to have been written by Sage Valmiki.
Capturing the essence of Vedanta, Yog Vasisht is a storehouse of Atma Jnana, the highest spiritual knowledge, but it is not easily accessible to all. One must pass through four gates to access its wisdom: They are Shanti, mind at peace; Santosh, contentment; Satsang, association of the wise; and Vichar, self-enquiry. It is said that even if we keep the company of one of these, we are sure to be introduced to the other three.
The first qualification is to have a mind that is pure, perfect, and always at peace. It is the mind which projects false notions of ‘I’, ego, and thereby creates differences and diversities. We are disturbed when our mind is turned outward, and we become peaceful when the mind is turned inward. Most of our problems arise because we identify ourselves with the mind. Addressing Ram, Sage Vasisht says: “He who wears the armour of self-control becomes knowledgeable and reaches the highest state of excellence. He whose mind is at peace is free from dualities such as likes and dislikes, attachment and aversions, pleasure and pain.” Yog Vasisht recommends yog as the best means to control and quieten the mind.
Entry to the second gate is possible for those who find happiness in being content. Lasting happiness comes not by acquiring more but by renouncing the needless. It is best to be satisfied with what one has. It is true that we should be ambitious enough to reach a higher goal, but if we are not satisfied with what we have got, and keep longing for more, we will only end up in regret.
The third gate underscores the importance of satsang, keeping company of the wise, the spiritually evolved. In Bhaja Govindam, Adi Shankara says: “From satsang, association with the learned, comes non-attachment, from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion and from freedom comes self-awareness which paves way for mukti, liberation.” It is said that through mere contact with sages one can reach the highest state of spiritual fulfilment.
The fourth gate advises us to do vichar, self-enquiry. If we intensely search within and inquire who we actually are, we will realise that we are neither the body nor the mind. The body will perish one day, and the mind is merely a bundle of thoughts. The intense enquiry would lead us to the realisation that we are the ever-existing Self, which gives us the consciousness of our existence. Yog Vasisht is not addressed exclusively to Ram, who is already an Uttam Purush, perfection personified, but to us all living in the present age.
A path to liberation
Pulkit Sharma, The Yoga Vasishta Path To Liberation, June 13, 2017: The Times of India
There comes a point in life when we find everything meaningless. Who we are and what we have done, suddenly appear to be inconsequential and worthless. When we look around, everyone else also seems to be confined in a similar `futile' existence. In this context, we start losing hope and develop a gamut of psychological or physical disorders. Is this our destiny?
Perhaps not, because, alongside the darkness, there exists abundant hope.This is because, since time immemorial, enlightened ones have grappled with gloom and realised the truth. We, too, can take the same route to transcend misery and reach salvation.
The one who we worship and venerate as Rama underwent a similar crisis wherein he figured out that both the mind and the external world are fraught with delusions. He concluded that under the spell of these falsehoods people go through multiple cycles of birth and death, without discovering happiness. Sage Vasishta dispelled all darkness that was engulfing the mind of Prince Rama, so that he could clearly see the path to liberation and break free of suffering. This illuminating dialogue between Prince Rama and Vasishta has been narrated in the `Yoga Vasistha’.
Vasishta reaffirms that because we are pure consciousness, we can choose to be free, by making an effort. The corner-stone of the path to salvation is this rigorous effort, which emerges from a deep knowledge of scriptures, instructions of a learned one and one's own determination.The only goal to live for is to be liberated and therefore we should try our best to realise it by working hard, every mo ment. This effort materialises, when the soul, mind and body are unified and we embrace whatever is pure and reject that which is impure. The four crucial components of this effort are samo, quietude of mind; vichara, spirit of enquiry; santosa, contentment; and satsang, company of realised ones. We can develop quietude by understanding that the reactions of pleasure and pain emerge from our cravings and bind the consciousness.Our true nature is beyond pleasure and pain and once we restrict our craving, we can be free from these baser reactions.
Consequently , the mind becomes pure and is able to realise the truth.
The spirit of enquiry involves looking deeply into ourselves to understand who we really are and dismantling all falsehoods and conditionings. When the search is constant and serious, mental and karmic patterns of the current as well as past lives get destroyed, and the light manifests.
Contentment is cultivation of an attitude to accept whatever comes our way without depression or elation. We continue to work hard but our emotional calm is not disrupted by the returns.With this mental stance, there comes the realisation that whatever the world offers is trivial compared to the wisdom that is worth attaining; so one seeks only the truth. Vasishta said that keeping the company of realised ones and serving them wholeheartedly , is superior among all spiritual practices. When a person keeps such company , the veil of ignorance automatically lifts and the self gets anchored in Divine consciousness.
The crucial thing to realise is that happiness is a state that no one, including the Divine, can bestow upon us. It happens only when we assiduously work for it. If we are not getting there, it simply means that we need to enhance our effort. Therefore, one must leave all fatalism and cultivate rigorous self-effort.
