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The book “The Supreme Yoga” is the teaching of the sage Vasistha imparted to Sri Rama. It contains true understanding about the creation of the world i.e. the world is nothing but the play of consciousness. the Yoga Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and direct experience of Truth. Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result. The book is a translation into English by Swami Venkatesananda of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh India. The article is primarily based on it.
One should abandon ego sense, the divisive notions of This I am and That I am not and realise that ‘All this is indeed Brahman’, the one indivisible and infinite consciousness. Abandon the distinction between the desirable and the undesirable. There is nothing outside consciousness. The infinite consciousness simultaneously pervades the three periods of time and experiences the infinite worlds. The supreme being (the infinite consciousness) is the father of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the redeemer and others. That infinite consciousness alone is fit to be adored and worshipped. All substances are non-different from it, yet it is not a substance: though it is non-substantial it pervades all substances. One should regard everything as good and auspicious (or one should regard everything as a mixture of good and evil). Ego-Sense - The eternal and infinite consciousness is indeed free of all modifications; but when there arises the notion of ‘I am’ in it, that notion is known as the Jiva. It is that Jiva that lives and moves in this body. When the notion ’I’ arises (ahambhavana), it is known as ego-sense (akamkara). When there are thoughts (manana), it is known as mind (manas). When there is awareness (bodha). It is intelligence (buddhi). When seen (drs) by the individual soul (indra) it is known as the sense (indriya). When the notion of body prevails, it appears to be body; when the notion of object prevails, it appears to be the diverse objects. However, through the persistence of these notions, the subtle personally condenses into martial substantially. The same consciousness thereafter thinks ‘I am the body’, ‘I am the tree’, etc. thus self-deluded it rises and falls until it attains a pure birth and is spiritually awakened. Then, by being devoted to the truth, it attains self-knowledge. In a golden bracelet there are these two – gold and bracelet – one being the reality (gold) and the other being the appearance (of bracelet). Even so, in the self there are both consciousness is omnipresent, it is ever present in the mind in which the notion arises. Just as in the dream one experiences things seen and unseen, even so in the dream of the Jiva it experiences the world and even sees what is to come in the future. The yogi who has acquired various faculties exist and manifest such faculties here and also elsewhere. However, since they are enjoyed here and there and in different places, such experiences appear to be many and varied – even as the famous kartavirya generated fear in the hearts of many, though he remained, at home! (A modern example is the radio: without leaving the studio, the speaker or singer enters countless drawing rooms.) Similarly, Lord Vishnu, without leaving his abode, incarnates as a human being on earth. Similarly, Indra (who presides over sacred rites), without leaving his heavenly abode, is present in a thousand places where such rites are performed. The Jiva, the body and all the rest of it are reflections or appearances of the supreme self! All these movements, etc., naught else: movement and so on are imaginary expressions. Diversity arises in the un-awakened state and it vanishes where one commences one’s enquiry. Achievement of Objects – All achievements are dependent upon four factors: time, place, action and means. Among these, action or effort holds the key because all endeavours towards the achievement are based on action or effort. One should not get excited or depressed when faced with insignificant and significant objects. Every object that is obtained purely on account of the coincidence of the time, place and activity – whether they are popularly known as good or as not good. Whatever you do and whenever you do it (or refrain from doing it) – all that is worship of the Lord who is pure consciousness. Meditation - If one is able to meditate even for thirteen seconds, even if one is ignorant, one attains the merit of giving away a cow in charity. If the duration is one hundred and one seconds, the merit is that of performing a sacred rite. If the duration is twelve minutes, the merit is a thousandfold. If the duration is a day, one dwells in the highest realm. This is the supreme yoga; this is the supreme kriya (action or service). One who practises these modes of worship is worshipped by the gods and the demons and all other beings. However, this is external worship. Achievement of Self-Knowledge - It is revealed only when all these come together. It is only when the scriptural knowledge, instructions of the preceptor and true discipleship come together that self-knowledge is attained. That which is after all the senses have ceased to function and all notions of pleasure and pain have vanished, is the self or Shiva, which is also indicated by expressions like ‘that’, ‘truth’ or ‘reality’. When this truth is realised, duality ceases. Consciousness never becomes unconsciousness. If there is a modification that too is consciousness. Hence, whatever there may be, wherever and in whatever form – all this is Brahman. All these exist forever in their potential state in the mass of homogenous consciousness. Thousands are born and thousands die; but the self which is everywhere inside and outside, is not affected. It remains in all these bodies, etc. as if it were just a slightly different from the infinite. Brahman & World - For whatever is seen in this world is Brahman, free from characteristics and qualities; it is eternal, peaceful, pure and utterly quiescent. If Brahman does not undergo any modification at all, how does this world appearance, which is and is not real, arise in it? True modification is transformation of a substance into another, like the curdling of milk, in which case the curd cannot once again return to its milk state. Such is not the case with Brahman, which was unmodified before the world-appearance and which regains its unmodified state after the world-appearance. The self is the self in the beginning and in the end and therefore in the middle, too! It never undergoes any transformation or modification. Clay is the real substance in thousands of pots. When that consciousness has apparently become the subtle body (puryastaka), it reflects the eternal objects. Jivanmukta – He who, while living an apparently normal life, experiences the whole world as an emptiness is a Jivanmukta. He is awake but enjoys the calmness of deep sleep; he is unaffected in the least by pleasure and pain. He is free from egotism and volition; and his intelligence is unattached whether in action or in inaction. None is afraid of him; he is afraid of none. He becomes a Videhamukta when, in due time, the body is dropped.
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The book “The Supreme Yoga” is the teaching of the sage Vasistha imparted to Sri Rama. It contains true understanding about the creation of the world i.e. the world is nothing but the play of consciousness. the Yoga Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and direct experience of Truth. Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result. The book is a translation into English by Swami Venkatesananda of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh India. The article is primarily based on it.
There are the two seeds for the tree - the mind, which carries within it innumerable notions & ideas and the movement of prana (life-force). Prana is the vehicle for the mind, when the prana takes it the mind goes. Total dedication to one thing, restraint of prana and the cessation of the mind – if one of these three is perfected, one attains the supreme state. In this body, the prana is indistinguishably united with the mind. In fact, the consciousness that that tends towards thinking on account of the movement of prana, is known as the mind. Movement of thought in the mind arises from the movement of prana: and movement of prana arises because of the movement of thought in consciousness. They thus form a cycle of mutual dependence, life waves and movement of current in water. By restraint of prana, the mind becomes quiescent. When the mind abandons the movement of thought, the appearance of the world illusion ceases. The movement of prana is arrested at the moment when all hopes and desires come to end in one’s heart through the earnest practice of the precepts of the scriptures and sages, and by cultivation of dispassion in previous life-spans or through endeavouring to practise contemplation or meditation and reaching a stage of devotion to a single truth in a single-minded way. Mind, Prana & Consciousness - The mind appears to be intelligent and active only because of the inner light of consciousness. ignorant people misfortune the movement of life-force to be the mind: but in fact, it is nothing more than the prana or life force. By the control of the life-force the mind is also restrained; even as the shadow ceases when the substance is removed, the mind ceases when the life force is restrained. The life force is restrained by the following means: by dispassion, by the practice of Pranayama (breath-control), by the practice of enquiry into the cause of the movement of the life-force, by the ending of sorrow through intelligent means and by direct knowledge or experience of the supreme truth. When the mind is stilled, illusion ceases. Effortless Breathing - The movement of prana is also arrested by the effortless practice of breathing, without strain, in seclusion, or the repetition of the sacred ‘OM’ with the experience of its meaning, when the consciousness reaches the deep sleep state. The practice of exhalation, when the prana roams in space without touching the limbs of the body, of inhalation, leading to the peaceful movement of prana, and of retention, bringing it to a standstill for a long time, all lead to the arrest of the movement of prana. Meditation - Likewise the closure of the posterior shared by the tip of the tongue as the prana moves towards the crown of the head, the practice of meditation where there is no movement of thought, nose, the entering the prana into the forehead through the palate and upper aperture, the fixing of the prana at the eyebrow centre, the sudden cessation of the movement of thought, or cessation of all mental conditioning through meditation on the space in the heart centre over a long period of time, all these lead to this arrest of the movement of prana. During the practice one may use as a focus of attention the eyebrow centre, the palate, the tip of the nose or the top of the head (twelve inches from the nose); thus, the prana can touch the uvula, the movement of prana will be restricted. He whose mind is firmly established in peace through the practice of yoga has the right vision of the truth. In the course of time, in his mind there arose the wish, ‘Let me drop this embodiment’. He went to a mountain-cave and seated himself in the lotus posture, with his eyes half closed. He closed off the nine apertures of the body, by pressing his heel against the rectum etc. He withdrew the senses into his heart. He restrained his life-force (prana). He held his body in a state of perfect equilibrium. He pressed the tip of the tongue against the root of his palate; his jaws were slightly parted from each other. His inner vision was directed neither inward nor outward, neither above nor below, neither in substantially nor void. He was established in pure consciousness and he experienced pure bliss within himself. He had reached the consciousness of pure being, beyond the state of bliss. His whole being had become absolutely pure. The state of mind which is free from thoughts and notions is called samadhi? The state of samadhi in which there is eternal satisfaction, clear perception of what is, egolessness, not being subject to the pairs of opposites, freedom from anxiety and from the wish to acquire or to reject. The book “The Supreme Yoga” is the teaching of the sage Vasistha imparted to Sri Rama. It contains true understanding about the creation of the world i.e. the world is nothing but the play of consciousness. the Yoga Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening and direct experience of Truth. Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result. The book is a translation into English by Swami Venkatesananda of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh India. The article is primarily based on it.
The body is aggregate of flesh, blood etc., the mind vanishes on enquiry into its nature, self-limitation of consciousness and such other concepts are insentient (non-sense) – what is the ego? The senses exist and are engaged in self-satisfying activity all the time, the substances of the world are the substances of the world – where is the ego? By engaging oneself in the enquiry into the nature of the self – “who am I?” the enquiry is the fire in which the very seed and roots of the tree known as Chitta (mind) are burnt completely. The physical body is surely inert and it is certainly not the self. It is experienced only on account of the movement of thought in the mind. The organs of action are but parts of the body and hence they too are inert, being parts of the body which is inert. The sense-organs are inert, too, for they depend upon the mind for their functioning. I consider even the mind to be inert. The mind thinks and entertains notions, but it prompted to do so by the intellect, which is the determining agent. Even this intellect (buddhi) is surely inert, for it is directed by the ego-sense. From this ego-sense is inert, for it is conjured up the Jiva, just as a ghost is conjured up by the ignorant child. The Jiva is but pure consciousness clothed, as it were, by the life force, and it dwells in the heart. It is the self which is pure consciousness that dwells as the Jiva because the consciousness becomes aware of itself as its own object. Though the self of pure consciousness, it imagines itself to be insentient and unreal on account of its perception of objects. There is thus nothing which can be called ‘I’ and which undergoes being and non-being. Abandon vanity, anger, impurity and violence, for great souls are not overcome by such base qualities. Remember past sorrows again and again, and with a cheerful attitude of mind enquire “who am I”? Constantly enquiring into nature of the self, attain peace. This state of consciousness can be attained by the cultivation of dispassion, the study of scriptures, the instructions of a guru and by the persistent practice of enquiry. But, if the awakened intelligence is keen and sharp, you will attain it even without the other aids. Enquiry is the second gate keeper to liberation. Non enquiring fool is really a storehouse of sorrow. The eye of spiritual enquiry does not lose its sight even in the midst of all activities; he who does not have this eye is indeed to be pitied. Knowledge of truth arises from such enquiry; from such knowledge there follows tranquillity in oneself; and then arises the supreme peace that passes understanding and the ending of all sorrow. The distress of the mind is got rid of by enquiry into the nature of the self. When you have gained self-knowledge and when your consciousness has infinitely expanded, your mind no longer falls into the cesspool of the world. Even as there is no oil in a rock, the diversity of sight, seer and scene or of doer, act and action, or knower, knowledge and known, does not exist in pure consciousness. Similarly, the distinction between ‘I’ and ‘You’, between the one and the many, is verbal. On enquiry, all these disappear and only the unmodified pure consciousness remains. Spiritual Enquiry – What is it that as ‘I’? I am not the mountain; the mountain is not mine. I am not the hill-tribe, nor the hill-tribe. This is merely called my kingdom: I abandon that notion. Now, the capital city is left. I am not this city nor it mine. That notion, too, is abandoned. Even so I abandon the notions of family relationships – wife, sons, etc. Let me enquire into this body. I am not the inert substances like flesh and bones – nor am I the blood nor the organs of action. I am not the mind which is the root cause of this ignorant cycle of birth and death, I am not the faculty of discrimination nor am I the ego sense. Now, what is left? What remains is the sentient Jiva. But it is involved in subject-object relationship. That which is the object of knowledge or comprehension is not the self. Thus, do I abandon that which is knowable – or the object. What now remains is the pure consciousness which is free from the shadow of doubt. I am the infinite self. By enquiry, we attain to the supreme state of consciousness. Compassionate, yet not un-contemptuous; not avoiding the pairs of opposites and not jealous; neither intelligent nor non-intelligent; neither motivated nor non-motivated – one lives with equal vision and inner calmness. Attaining Stage Beyond Happiness - By following the attitude – “I am the space, I am the sun. I am the directions, above and below. I am the gods. I am the demons. I am all beings. I am darkness. I am earth, the oceans etc. I am the dust, the wind, the fire and all the world. I am omnipresent. How can there be anything other than me; one gains divine insight and remain firmly established in self-knowledge. By adopting this attitude, you will rise beyond joy and sorrow. Countless scenes are seen by the eyes in accordance with their natural function; why do you get involved in them? Indeed, it through repeated thinking, that this ignorant relationship is strengthened; but I shall now destroy it through right enquiry. The mind is dead; all my worries and anxieties are dead; the demon known as ego-sense is dead, too: all this has been brought about through this mantra of enquiry. I am free and happy now. There is no real duality. The subject exists because of the object, and the object is but a reflection of the subject: duality cannot be if there is no one, and where is the need for the notion of ‘unity’ if one alone exists? When thus real knowledge is gained by means of right enquiry and understanding, only that remains which is not expressible in words. Mind & Tendencies - The mind punishes itself by its own latent tendencies and restlessly wanders in the world. Sometimes mind experiences an imperfect awakening and it renounces the pleasures of the world without proper understanding – such renunciation itself proves to be a great source of sorrow. But when such renunciation arises out of the fulness of understanding, of wisdom born of enquiry into the nature of mind, the renunciation leads to supreme bliss. An uncontrolled mind is the source of sorrow; when it is thoroughly understood, the sorrow vanishes like mist at sunrise. Delusion, craving, greed and attachment are non-existent; how can they exist when there is no duality? When bondage is non-existent, surely liberation is false, too. Abandon your latent tendencies. Born of ignorance, these tendencies are hard to destroy, and they give birth to endless sorrow. Enquiry into the nature of the self-dispels the ignorance self-limiting tendency. In fact, the very desire to undertake this enquiry is able to bring about a change. Austerities and such other practices are of no use in this. When the mind is purified of its past by arising of wisdom, it abandons its previous tendencies. How to cultivate Dispassion -
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