Ego-Sense – the Yoga Vasistha

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.