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The impure is the cause of birth; the pure liberates one from the birth. Both Work (Self-efforts) and Knowledge (Self-Knowledge) together lead to the supreme goal of liberation. The self-effort, neither fate nor a god’s order, is responsible for whatever man gets here. There are four gate-keepers at the entrance to the realm of freedom (Moksha). They are self-spirit, spirit of enquiry, contentment and good company.
The Yoga Vasistha, a profound spiritual text in Advaita Vedanta, outlines a progressive path to self-realization through what are known as the Seven Jnana Bhumika (stages of wisdom or knowledge). These stages describe the inner journey of a spiritual seeker towards liberation (Jivanmukta). Seven Steps of Self-Realization as per Yoga Vasistha:
These stages represent a progressive refinement of consciousness, leading from intellectual understanding to direct, experiential realization of the supreme truth. The Yoga Vasistha emphasizes self-effort, inquiry, and the guidance of a wise teacher as crucial elements in this journey. From Duality to Unity - Spiritual traditions, particularly Advaita Vedanta and various forms of Yoga refer to a fundamental shift in perception and identity, moving from seeing oneself as a separate individual in a material world to recognizing oneself as one with the underlying, all-pervading Universal Consciousness (Brahman, God, the Absolute, etc.). This process often involves overcoming what is known as Maya – the cosmic illusion that makes the diverse, phenomenal world appear real and separate from the ultimate reality. Key Principles - 1. Understanding the Nature of "World Appearance" (Maya) -
This "graduation" is not an intellectual exercise but a deep, experiential realization. It typically involves a combination of practices:
The Process is Gradual (usually): While sudden awakenings (like that of Ramana Maharshi) do occur, for most, the "graduation" is a gradual unfolding, often described in stages like the Yoga Vasistha's Seven Jnana Bhumikas. It involves persistent practice, self-observation, and a willingness to let go of deeply ingrained beliefs and identifications. Ultimately, graduating from world appearance to universal consciousness is the journey of remembering what you already are. It's not about acquiring something new, but about removing the veils that obscure the ever-present, infinite reality of your true Self.
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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.
All enjoyments in this world are delusion. All the hopes of man in this world are consistently destroyed by time. Time alone creates innumerable universes and in a very short time, Time destroys everything. All beings in this world take birth but to die, and they die to be born; these phenomena are the roots of suffering and sin. Egotism is the sole cause of mental distress. Egotism eclipses self-control, destroys virtue and dissipates equanimity. Non-egotism alone is truth. The notion ‘I am’ is the source of all distress. The absence of such a feeling is perfection. Realise ‘I am not that ego-sense’ and rest in pure awareness. When such pure awareness arises, all notions subside. When the ego-sense is non-existent, where is samsara (the cycle of birth and death)? When thus samsara does not exist, the supreme being alone remains. Egotism promotes cravings; without it they perish. Craving is the root of sorrow. The cravings dry up the good and noble qualities of the mind and heart, like sweetness and gentleness of disposition, and makes hard and cruel. Man is caught in the wheel of craving. The characteristic of this craving is that it has no direction. Despite eyes, it makes blind; despite full of joy, it makes miserable. One should abandon craving for pleasures (those that have been experienced in the past and others that have not yet been experienced but for which one craves) and thus gradually weaken the mind by the abandonment of taste for them. By the cultivation of the false relationship with what is not self (the body and those related to it such as wife, son, family etc.) the mind becomes gross. The notions of “I” and “mine” make the mind dense and ignorant. This is further aggravated by old age, sorrow, ambitions, psychological distress, efforts to acquire and to abandon, attachments, greed, lust for wealth and sex and by the enjoyment of sense-pleasures, all of which are based on ignorance and delusion. Neither in childhood nor in youth nor in old age does one enjoy any happiness. He is happy who is free from egotism and who is not swayed by craving for sense-pleasure. Even though the busy overcomes all his earthy enemies and surrounds himself with wealth and luxury, and even when he boasts that he is happy, death creeps in upon him. Renounce everything. “By ‘total’ is meant only the mind, for mind is the all. Renunciation of the mind is total renunciation”. Mind is the “I”. the ego-sense that arises within you is the mind. The relationship between the mind and prana is that of a rider and the vehicle. When the mind and the prana function in harmony, the person engages himself in various activities. When there is disturbance there is disharmony. When both are at rest there is sleep. When the Nadi are clogged by food or when there is weakness of fatigue, there is sleep, because the prana is unable to move properly. Body - This tree which is the body is born in the forest known as Samsara, the restless monkey (mind) plays on it, it is the abode of worries, it is constantly eaten by the insects (of endless sufferings), it shelters the venomous serpents (of cravings), and the wild crow (of anger) dwells on it. On it are the flowers (of laughter), its fruits are good and evil, it appears to be animated by the wind (of life force), it supports the birds (of senses), it is resorted to be the traveller (lust or desire) for it provides the shade of pleasure, the formidable vulture (egotism) is seated on it and it is hollow and empty. It is certainly not meant to promote happiness. This body is home of illness, the field of mental distress and changing emotions and mental states. Unmindful of old age and death that are common to the rich and the poor, it seeks wealth and power. This body passes through childhood, youth and old age. Helplessness, mishaps, inability, to express oneself, utter foolishness, playfulness, instability, weakness – all these characterise childhood. The child is easily offended, easily roused to anger, easily bursts into tears. He is at the mercy of others. Though the child may appear to be innocent, the truth is that all sorts of defects, sinful tendencies and neurotic behaviour lie hidden and dormant in it. The child’s mind is extremely restless which is the cause of unhappiness. Leaving the period of childhood behind, the human being goes to the stage of youth, but he is unable to leave the unhappiness behind. Rather he progresses from misery to greater misery and embraces the terrible goblin known as lust that resides in his heart. His life is full of desire and anxiety. Though youthfulness appears to be very desirable to the body, it is destructive to the mind. In youth, the man is tempted by the mirage of happiness and in its pursuit, he falls into the well of sorrow. Alas, even when youth is about to leave the body, the passions that had been aroused by the youth burn the more fiercely and bring about one’s quick destruction. In his youth, man is a slave of sexual attraction. Very soon the very flesh that contributed to the attractiveness, the charm and the beauty of the beloved is transformed first into the shrivelled ugliness of the old age, and later consumed by fire, or by worms, or by vultures. Roots of Suffering – Ignorant of the truth, we aimlessly wandering in this dense forest called the world. Equally useless is wealth which deludes the ignorant. Wealth gives birth to numerous worries and generates an insatiable craving for more. Both the good and the wicked can become wealthy. Wealth and happiness do not dwell together. Rare is that wealthy man who does not have rivals.
No-Mind State - All beings in this world are tainted with evil; all relationships are bondage; all enjoyments are great diseases; and desire for happiness is only mirage. One’s own senses are one’s enemies; one’s own mind has become one’s worst enemy. All these phenomena seem to have a transient reality, like dream experiences, visions in the state of delirium, hallucinations of a drunkard, optical illusions, psychosomatic illness, emotional disturbances and psychotic states. Lover suffers from the very imagination of his beloved’s separation. But, of course, this is not your fault; it is my fault that I still cling to the notion that you, my mind, are a real entity. When I realise that all these are illusory appearances, then you will become no-mind and all the memories of sense-experiences, etc. will come to an end. When the mind perceives the body as distinct from it, abandons its own conditioning (the concepts) and recognises its own transient nature, it is victorious. The mind gives birth to the body through its own thought-force and throughout the body’s life-time the mind feeds it with its (the mind’s) own sorrow. Thus, tortured by sorrow the body wishes to destroy the mind, its own parent! There is no friend nor enemy in the world; that which gives us pleasure is considered our friend and that which causes pain is our enemy! The body tries every day (in deep sleep) to destroy the mind. However, until self-knowledge is attained, one unwittingly promotes the strength of the other and they seem to function together for a common purpose – even as water and fire, though opposed to each other, work together for a common cause (e.g. cooking). One should strive to kill the mind. On account of the modification (thought), this consciousness is apparently veiled and is not realised. It is this self or consciousness that activates the mind even as wind rustles at leaves; it makes the senses function as the rider guides the horse. Alas, on account of your identification with the embodiment, you O self-had, as it were, forgotten your own nature. Hence, you had to undergo endless suffering in repeated births, experiencing external perceptions without self-knowledge. You (self) dwell in ‘me’ in a state of equilibrium, as pure witness consciousness, without form and without the divisions of space and time. He is fit to die who is sunk in ignorance and sorrow. Living is appropriate to one whose mind is well controlled by his self-knowledge and who is aware of the truth. He should live who does not entertain notions of egoism and who is unattached to anything, who is free from likes and dislikes and has a calm mind, whose mind has reached the state of no-mind. Self-Knowledge - Where there is self-knowledge there is neither mind nor the senses, nor the tendencies and habits (the concepts and precepts). The mind, body and senses are playthings. Purity, total fulfilment of all desires (hence, their absence), friendliness to all, truthfulness, wisdom, tranquillity and blissfulness, sweetness of speech, supreme magnanimity, lustrousness, one pointedness, realisation of cosmic unity, fearlessness, absence of divided consciousness, non-perversity – these are my constant companions. The holy word OM which bestows the highest state. He intoned OM in such a way that is vibrations filled his while being right up to the crown of his head.
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