VASISHTA GITA OR YOGA VASISHTA

Contents

. Introduction

. Sage Vasishta

. Teachings of Yoga Vasishta

. Conclusion

Introduction

The Vasishta Gita or Yoga Vasishta is one of the greatest spiritual classics of Hindu philosophy and it is a discourse given by Maharishi Vasishta to Prince Rama when he comes back in a dejected state after touring the country and experiencing the reality of the world outside the palace. His father King Dasharatha gets worried and expresses his concern to Sage Vasishta who tells the King not to worry as Rama is in a state of mind ripe for spiritual enlightenment and by enlightening him, he would remove his state of despondency.

Sage Vasishta

He was one of the Saptarishis and the Manasputra of Brahma. He was the Rajguru of the Suryavamsha or solar dynasty. He was the possessor of the divine cow Kamadhenu. He was humble, intelligent and highly knowledgeable and used his powers for the good of mankind. He wrote a number of scriptures and was highly acclaimed by devas and others. It was he who was appointed the Guru of the princes of Ayodhya, Rama and Lakshmana and he guided and taught them at each stage of their lives.

Teachings of the Vasishta Gita

The discourse explains consciousness, creation and dissolution of the universe, non duality, liberation etc. The theme is that miseries are caused by our own illusions and perceptions of the world and this is reflected outside as per what we feel on the inside. Most of the text is in the form of parable stories which have deep rooted philosophies to open various levels of awareness in man. Purity of mind and constant contemplation of the self is the goal of human existence. It consists of 32000 verses and 64000 lines. The book deals with six major sections-dispassion or indifference, longing for liberation, creation or origin, preservation or existence, dissolution or quiescence and liberation.

It begins with Sage Vishwamitra stating that only with the grace of the lord does one get a proper Guru and the seeker must be one who is not totally ignorant nor one who knows the truth but one who thinks that he is bound and must become free. Just as a good boatman takes a boat safely, the sages were full of knowledge and wisdom and company of the sages helps the seeker to cross the ocean of samsara.

Vasishta says that the four gatekeepers at the entrance to the Kingdom of freedom and heaven are Shanti (Self control and peace), Vichara (spirit of enquiry), Santosha(Contentment) and Satsanga(good company).

A dispassionate disciple is an ideal one who can absorb all that is taught to him. The clarity of the disciple’s understanding gives rise to pure awareness. Delusion is removed and self is attained only by the wisdom and grace of the Guru. Taking pleasure in sense objects is akin to eating food that is poisonous. The man who knows that worldly objects are deceptive but still keeps thinking about them is very foolish. Only devoid of all thoughts can a man attain immutable bliss. We experience the sport of maya in our waking state just as we can experience hundreds of years in a dream lasting only an hour. One who looks on this world as a mere spectator and is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred is a happy man. The illustrious man is one who is beyond the world of dualities and who has realised the consciousness which is in the innermost heart. Even when the body dies, the self remains eternal and unattached just as a pot when breaks the space within it becomes unlimited. There is no birth or death. Brahman alone appears illusorily in the form of the universe. The self is pure, tranquil and subtle without beginning, middle and end. He then tells Rama that it is nobler to wander the streets begging than to live a life steeped in ignorance. It is ignorance and not disease nor adversity nor poison that causes suffering in man. He then goes on to explain about maya and the unreality of the world. The illusion of samsara is destroyed only when the mind has been stilled. Hence stilling the mind by controlling vasanas or latent desires that are inherent in man and controlling the breath through pranayama and other means of meditation is the only way to liberate man. Inspite of the Self pervading all limbs of the body, it is not perceived due to the powerful maya shakti. Just as a rope is mistaken for a snake causing fear until a lamp is lit and the reality perceived, the light of knowledge illuminates the self and the illusory power of maya vanishes. Desire for worldly enjoyments increases bondage, when this desire subsides bondage becomes weak. Seeing a bracelet and not recognising the reality is gold is similar to seeing the jivas and not perceiving the Self in them. Just as the world is dark to a blind man but bright to one who has eyes, it is full of misery to an ignorant man and full of bliss to a wise man. Using discrimination, one has to reject samsara and discard all mental concepts. Just as cloth when investigated is only made up of threads similarly the world when enquired into is only made up of the self. The waves, dew, foam and bubbles are not different from water and the world which has come from the self is not different from the self. The manifest world exists in Brahman just as a tree made up of fruits, leaves, twigs, flowers, branches, stem, roots etc exist in the seed of the tree. The world which has come out of the self ultimately goes back to the self just as the pot goes back to the mud, waves to water and ornaments to gold. Then Vasishta speaks of the marks of a liberated person or jivanmukta. Such a person is steeped in the self, unattached by worldly objects, without desires, unaffected by the world of dualities, remains calm even among vicissitudes, has cast off all egoistic tendencies, has abandoned even the object of meditation, attains perfect quiescence and creates complete extinction of the mind. He then explains that the enquiry into the nature of the self is the fire which burns up the seeds of the mind. Once knowledge is attained all latent impressions of the mind are erased just as once it is known it is only a mirage a person can never be disillusioned by it. Association with sages wipes out all negative thoughts and stills the mind. Lying on a soft bed if one wanders among rough terrain, the knowledge on waking up that it was all a dream is enough to differentiate between real and unreal. Constantly contemplating on’Aham Brahmasmi’ or’ I am Brahman’ the seeker has to strive to rise above all body considerations. Inwardly remaining calm the external world too appears calm to the Yogi.

Vasishta then explains to Rama how to meditate on the self by perceiving everything as the play of maya and diving deep into the Self. He then explains the methods of purification and giving up of attachments and fixing the mind firmly on the Self. He goes on to enumerate qualities of the self and how it has neither bondage nor liberation, neither duality nor non duality. Everything the world, the beings, everything around is consciousness. Thus nirvana or liberation can be attained only when the mind is annihilated through one pointed enquiry. The seeker has to meditate on the Self abandoning the ideas of seer, seen and sight along with the vasanas or latent desires of the past. One’s supreme state is the rock like state in which all thoughts are still and which is different from waking and dream state.

The Vasishta gita contains in between numerous short stories and anecdotes like the story of Hastamalaka, Prahalad, King Bali, King Janaka, King Bhageeratha, Sage Suka, Indra, Ikshvaku and many others and explanations on the ashtanga or eight limbed yoga, meditation on the self etc to enumerate and explain various virtues and negative tendencies to Rama.

Conclusion

The Yoga Vasishta as it is more commonly known as is said to be the crest jewel of all the works on Vedanta and it was compiled by Rishi Valmiki who related it to Rishi Bharadwaja. Its main subject is the union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul overcoming all trials and tribulations of life. At the end of the discourse Lord Rama bowed to Sage Vasishta and told him that all his delusions and misunderstandings had been dispelled, his bondage was cut and he had attained the Supreme Reality. He could now view everything dispassionately and he rejoiced in his state of pure unalloyed bliss. Hearing this Vasishta was overjoyed and said this could happen only because Rama was an outstanding disciple so the grace of the guru could descend on him. Rama then proceeded to fulfil the purpose of his ascent on Earth with equanimity and in a state of oneness with the self unaffected by the ups and downs in his life.