Vasistha's Yoga

Swami Venkatesananda

Description

This is Swami Venkatesananda's longer Yoga Vasistha. His two volume book is here offered between two covers. Its purpose is to provide a means to eliminate psychological conditioning and to attain liberation. Containing the instructions of the sage Vasistha to Lord Rama, this scripture is full of intricately woven tales, the kind a great teacher might tell to hold the interest of a student.
Blessing
Scheme of Transliteration
Foreword

Introduction

Prayer

Part One: On Dispassion

Part Two: On the Behaviour of the Seeker
The Story of Suka
Self-effort

Part Three: On Creation
The Story of Lila
The Story of Karkati
The Story of the Sons of Indu
The Story of Ahalya
The Story of the Great Forest
The Story of the Three Non-existent Princes
The Story of Lavana

Part Four: On Existence
The Story of Sukra
The Story of Dama, Vyala and Kata
The Story of Bhima, Bhasa and Drdha
The Story of Dasura
Kaca's Story

Part Five: On Dissolution
The Story of King Janaka
The Story of Punya and Pavana
The Story of Bali
The Story of Prahlada
The Story of Gadhi
The Story of Uddalaka
The Story of Suraghu
The Story of Bhasa and Vilasa
The Story of Vitahavya

Part Six: On Liberation
Discourse on Brahman
The Story of Bhusunda
Description of the Lord
Deva Puja
The Story of the Wood apple
The Story of the Rock
The Story of Arjuna
The Story of the Hundred Rudras
The Story of the Vampire
The Story of Bhagiratha
The Story of Sikhidvaja and Cudala
The Story of the Philosopher's Stone
The Story of Cintamani
The Story of the Foolish Elephant
The Story of Kaca
The Story of the Deluded Man
The Story of Bhrngisa
The Story of Iksvaku
The World Within the Rock
The Story of the Sage from Outer Space
The Story of Vipascit
The Story of the Hunter and the Deer
The Story of Kundadanta

Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 18 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438422848
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Vasiṣṭha’s Yoga
Blessing
The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha is a unique work of Indian philosophy. It is highly respected for its practical mysticism. The study of this great scripture alone can surely help one to attain to God-consciousness. For aspirants of the highest beatitude, the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha is like nectar. It is a storehouse of wisdom. Like the Amritanubhava of Sri Jñāneshwar, the path shown in this work is for those who are highly spiritually evolved, almost to the state of a Siddha. It expounds the highest doctrine with many stories and illustrations. Not only philosophers, but even the modern psychologists and scientists will certainly find in it something related to their own discoveries.
Most of the scriptures were narrated by God to His devotees, but the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha was narrated to God Himself. It is the teaching of the sage Vasiṣṭha imparted to Lord Rāma. It contains true understanding about the creation of the world. The philosophy of the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha is very similar to that of Kashmir Shaivism. Its main teaching is that everything is Consciousness, including the material world, and that the world is as you see it. This is absolutely true. The world is nothing but the play of Consciousness.
Abhinavagupta, the great tenth century scholar of Kashmir Shaivism, once said, Shiva, the independent and pure Self that always vibrates in the mind, is the Parashakti that rises as joy in various sense experiences. Then the experience of this outer world appears as its Self. I do not know where this word saṃsāra has come from. This is also the unparalleled philosophy of the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha.
In translating this monumental work, Swami Venkatesananda has worked hard to make its philosophy comprehensible to ordinary people. In doing so, he has done a great service to seekers of the Truth. Swamiji is a pure person, full of knowledge and therefore worthy of translating this work of supreme yoga.
Let this book bring true knowledge to its readers.
S WAMI M UKTANANDA
Vasiṣṭha’s Yoga
SWAMI VENKATESANANDA
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
1993 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Venkatesananda, Swami.
Vasiṣṭha’s yoga / Swami Venkatesananda. p. cm. Includes translation of: Yogavāsiṣṭharāmāyaṇa. Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-1363-2 (hard.) - ISBN 0-7914-1364-0 (pbk.) 1. Yogavāsiṣṭharāmāyaṇa-Commentaries. 2. Religious life-Hinduism. 3. Hinduism-Doctrines. I. Yogavāsiṣṭharāmāyaṇa. English. II. Title. BL 1237.32. Y633V46 1993
294.5 4-dc20 92-3160 CIP
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23
Scheme of Transliteration
VOWELS: a ā i ī u ū ṛ ḷ e ai o au ṃ ḥ
CONSONANTS: gutturals k kh g gh ṅ palatals c ch j jh ñ cerebrals ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ dentals t th d dh n labials p ph b bh m semi-vowels y r l v sibilants s as in sun ś palatal sibilant ṣ cerebral sibilant—as in shun aspirate h
The above scheme does not facilitate the pronunciation of the syllable jna which occurs often in the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha as also in yoga literature (jñāna means knowledge). The j is not really pronounced as j but almost as g. It is followed by the n which partakes of the character of the guttural and the palatal n. Added to all this there is also a suggestion of y before the appropriate vowel completes the syllable.
Sātvic, rājasic and tāmasic are anglicised adjective forms of satva, rajas and tamas. Many common nouns have also been anglicised by addition of 's' for the plural.
The numbers in the margins refer to Parts and Chapters in the complete Yoga Vasishtha . The Roman number refers to the Part, of which there are six, and the following Arabic number designates the Chapter being summarized from that Part.
Contents
BLESSING
SCHEME OF TRANSLITERATION
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
PRAYER
PART ONE: On Dispassion
PART TWO: On the Behaviour of the Seeker
The Story of Śuka
Self-effort
PART THREE: On Creation
The Story of Līlā
The Story of Karkaṭī
The Story of the Sons of Indu
The Story of Ahalyā
The Story of the Great Forest
The Story of the Three Non-existent Princes
The Story of Lavaṇa
PART FOUR: On Existence
The Story of Śukra
The Story of Dāma, Vyāla and Kaṭa
The Story of Bhīma, Bhāsa and Dṛḍha
The Story of Dāśūra
Kaca s Story
PART FIVE: On Dissolution
The Story of King Janaka
The Story of Puṇya and Pāvana
The Story of Bali
The Story of Prahlāda
The Story of Gādhi
The Story of Uddālaka
The Story of Suraghu
The Story of Bhāsa and Vilāsa
The Story of Vītahavya
PART SIX: On Liberation
Discourse on Brahman
The Story of Bhuśuṇḍa
Description of the Lord
Deva Pūjā
The Story of the Wood-apple
The Story of the Rock
The Story of Arjuna
The Story of the Hundred Rudras
The Story of the Vampire
The Story of Bhagīratha
The Story of Śikhidvaja and Cūḍāla
The Story of the Philosopher s Stone
The Story of Cintāmaṇi
The Story of the Foolish Elephant
The Story of Kaca
The Story of the Deluded Man
The Story of Bhṛṅgīśa
The Story of Ikṣvāku
The World Within the Rock
The Story of the Sage from Outer Space
The Story of Vipaścit
The Story of the Hunter and the Deer
The Story of Kundadanta
INDEX
Foreword
The book, Vasiṣṭha’s Yoga , is a translation into English accompanied by brief expositions, by Swami Venkatesananda of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India, of the well-known Vedānta treatise in Sanskrit, The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha .
The Swami has arranged the verses of the book in such a way as to convert them into a rosary of daily thoughts throughout the year, on the lines of his two other books, already published, namely, the Śrimad Bhāgavatam or The Book of God , and The Bhagavad-gītā or The Song of God .
The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha has been a favourite book of spiritual seekers in India these several centuries. Its special appeal lies in its thoroughly rational approach, and in its presentation of Vedānta as a philosophy which dares, like The Bhagavad-gītā , to bridge the gulf between the secular and the sacred, action and contemplation, in human life, through a comprehensive and lofty spirituality. The reader will come across passages such as the verse entry II:18, highlighting the importance of reason:
The remark of even a child is to be accepted, if it is in accordance with reason; but the remark of even Brahmā Himself, the creator of the world, is to be rejected like a piece of straw if it does not accord with reason.
It is this philosophy of a comprehensive spirituality, rational and practical, that man in the modern age needs to rescue himself from his stagnation of worldliness and put him on the high road of creative living and fulfillment.
Swami Venkatesananda, who has been working untiringly for decades to spread the life-giving message of Yoga and Vedānta in East and West, has done a great service to spiritual seekers far and wide by bringing out this translation of The Yoga Vāsiṣṭha in the wake of his translation of the other two great books.
The Chiltern Yoga Trust of Elgin, South Africa, deserves the silent thanks of readers for publishing these three books of the Swami and helping to broadcast far and wide the life-giving, purifying, and inspiring ideas of Eternal India, Amat Bhārat , in her Vedānta.
S WAMI R ANGANATHANANDA
Introduction
Scholars speculate about the author of this monumental scripture and such other academic matters: may God bless them with success.
The Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and the direct experience of the Truth. This is certain. If this is what you want, you are welcome to Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha.
The text abounds in repetitions which are, however, not repetitious. If you do not like (or need) repetition, then read just this one verse:
This world-appearance is a confusion: even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it. (I.3.2)
This verse occurs several times in the scripture and it seems to be the very essence of the teaching.
If that is not quite clear to you now, read the scripture. The numerous ways in which this truth is revealed will help open your mind.
It is wise to read just one page a day. The teaching is revolutionary. The biased mind does not readily accept it. After the daily reading, meditate. Let the message soak through.
********
An oft-recurring expression in this scripture is kākatālīya -a crow alights on the cocoanut palm tree and that very moment a ripe cocoanut falls. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though there is no causal relationship.
Such is life. Such is creation . But the mind caught up in its own trap of logic questions why , invents a why and a wherefore to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.
Vāsiṣṭha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observed and the observation-and the realisation of their indivisible unity as the infinite consciousness.
That is the uniqueness of this scripture which hence declares itself to be supreme:
Except through this scripture, one cannot gain what is good, now or at any time. Therefore, for perfect realisation of the supreme truth, one should fervently investigate this scripture alone. (VI.2.103)
It is, however the teaching that is supreme, not a book or a sage. Hence, Vāsiṣṭha is bold enough to say:
If, however, one thinks it is not authoritative because it is of human origin, one can resort to the study of any other scripture dealing with self-knowle