Yoga Vasishtha (Yog Vãsishth)
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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.
