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 YOGA VASISTHA - NOTES ON A GREAT YOGIC TEXT
‘This is the story of how Ram became enlightened. Even great kings need teachers.’ Alanna Kaivailya
‘There are jewels in this scripture but they must be mined’ Divine Life Society commentary on Yoga Vasistha
KEY THEMES:
Overview and context The Yoga Vasistha is the teaching of the sage Vasistha imparted to Lord Rama. Rama is familiar to us as the protagonist of the great Ramayana epic. The Vasistha predates both the Mahabarata (where it is mentioned over 100 times) and the Ramayana. It takes the form of a dialogue between Vasistha and Rama.
By the end of the book Rama’s Enlightenment is complete. However his Enlightenment ‘does not require the rejection of his societal responsibilities, but allows him to return to his kingdom and rule in light of his newly acquired knowledge’ [from introduction]. Thus he is a jivanmukta – one who is liberated whilst living.
Practical Mysticism The preface of the Yoga Vasistha describes the text as a reflection on ‘practical mysticism’ which initially sounds rather like a contradiction. How can the mystical which is by its very nature elusive and ethereal also be practical? But it’s this seeming contradiction that also lies at the heart of Jivamukti yoga, which is a method that makes the esoteric traditions of yoga accessible through practical means. Sharon Gannon often says ‘yogis want it practical’. So in many ways the Yoga Vasistha highlights what the teachings of yoga, which are by their very nature mystical, can mean for us in practical terms.
Everything is Consciousness The Yoga Vasistha describes that everything is Consciousness, including the material world. This view is very much in line with modern quantum physics that tells us everything is in a constant state of motion on a molecular level. In many ways everything we experience is ‘alive’. ‘What could live without life-force [prana]? Even the stars and heaven [would] begin to disintegrate’ (page 404).
Elemental Beings Yoga Vasistha also suggests the idea that there may well be other beings around that we don’t necessarily see or hear as regular human, beings such as those which Buddhists call Dakinis, or Christians call Angels, beings that Sharon Gannon sometimes calls elemental beings.
No ‘Out There’ Out There The experience of this outer world appears as Self – there is no ‘out there’ out there (this idea is explored in depth in the movie ‘What the Bleep to we Know?’). We will experience reality according to our subjective perceptions.
The Mind (Jiva) The Yoga Vasistha echoes the many of the teachings of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. For example - ‘Mind takes on the form of that which it intensely contemplates. Existence, non-existence, gaining and renouncing; all these are no more than moods of the mind’ (page 161). Reflecting YS 1:23 ‘By giving your life and identity to God you attain the Identity of God’. Or ‘The cessation of all thoughts and notions or mental images and the cessation of heavy psychological conditioning are the supreme Self, Brahman’ (page 399) and ‘Only when one severs the very root of the mind with the weapon of non-conceptualization, can one reach the absolute Brahman which is omnipotent, supreme peace’ (page 130). Both of these extracts relate to the key teaching of the Yoga Sutras which states ‘when you stop identifying with your thoughts, fluctuations of the mind, then there is Yoga, identity with Self which is Samadhi, happiness, bliss and ecstasy’ (YS 1:2).
Freedom (liberation, moksha, kaivailya) ‘total freedom is the attainment of pure being after all mental conditioning is transcended consciously and after a thorough investigation’ (page 338).
THE FIVE SECTIONS OF THE TEXT:
On Dispassion reflects Rama’s distain for the world – this in turn mirrors Arjuna’s unrest in the Bhagavad Gita and the Buddha’s unrest at being born a king. It seems that many of the great scriptures indicate even when material comfort is present and there is no obvious hardship, the spiritual practitioner is defined by a longing, a sense of restlessness and a need to delve deeper. Perhaps this is what Sharon refers to when she says ‘Yogis are not normal!’. In other words we are searching for something deeper.
We also learn in this section that all of what we perceive to be reality is an illusion ‘this world-appearance is a confusion, even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion’ (page 5).
On the Behaviour of a Seeker the desire for liberation and self effort (tapas). Discipline on the spiritual path arises when a practitioner sets out on the path of spiritual inquiry motivated by the unrest described in the first section.
On Creation the nature of appearance. The idea that human experience and creativity affects what we perceive. This is a central idea in the yoga sutras also.
YS 4:15 vastu-samye citta-bhedat tayor vibhaktah pantahah
Each individual person perceives the same object in a different way according to their own state of mind and projections. Everything is empty from it’s own side and appears according to how you see it. Or Geshe Michael Roach puts it like this ‘on one level every single perception we ever have is mistaken’ he goes on to explain that because the mind is doing the perceiving and the mind is innately flawed (inaccurate in its perception and totally subjective) all of our perceptions are relative and subjective. Geshe Michael Roach points out that Patanjali offers two remedies for this:
1) Reasoning – seeing our limited perceptions as such ‘like an actor in a movie who explains to the audience how the movie can’t be real’
2) Meditation leading to ‘direct, correct experience of ultimate reality’.
On Existence Rama asks the Lord ‘how does the mind become tainted?’ Vasistha responds ‘it is a beautiful question, Rama, but this is not the proper time to ask: when you have listened to what I have to say, you will surely find the answer … depending on one’s particular point of view, everyone describes [enlightenment] differently’. The teaching here is one of the necessity of personal enquiry and investigation. As the Buddha said – we must test the words of our teachers just as the goldsmith tests the quality of gold. We must learn from our own experiences.
Later in this chapter Vasistha goes on to say (page 144) ‘[realization comes] only when ignorance comes to an end. Ignorance seeks to destroy itself and hence seeks the light of true knowledge. The moment you become aware of this Maya, it vanishes.’ This reminds me of the teaching from Mahatma Gandhi which references the idea that once we truly know the truth the signposts are no longer necessary. Gandhi said that ‘if we truly understood the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita we would no longer need to read it’. The Buddha described the importance of not confusing the finger pointing at the moon, with the moon itself. In other words don’t mistake the teachings for the goal (enlightenment).
On Dissolution through meditation and inquiry. This section describes that those who are of a pure nature (Sattvic) will be naturally drawn to seeking the truth. These people are spiritual aspirants who ‘do not live life mechanically, but inquire into the origin and the nature of this world’. Truth is described as that which has always been and which will always be, in other words that which is beyond impermanence or conditioning - the Divine Self.
In this section the concept of ‘I AM’ is introduced and described. In the ‘Story of Punya and Pavana’ Punya (who is Enlightened) explains to his brother Pavana (who is described as wise but not yet fully enlightened) that by letting go of attachments we gain insight. A very strong example of the death of both parents is given and Punya describes that as both parents have left the body in an Enlightened state there is no need for grief. He says ‘you have ignorantly bound yourself to the notions of ‘father’ and ‘mother’. This is a challenging teaching to absorb because it gets to the very root of our most primordial attachments. Once we let go of attachments to others we start to let of of attachment to the self, to the mind as out identity – this body is inert and is composed of blood, flesh, bones – what is the ‘I’ in it? There is nothing which is’ you’ nor anything which is ‘I’.
In the Jivamukti tradition sometimes connect to this teaching through the SO-HUM (I am That) chant; which helps us to let go of identity to external and mind related frames of reference and remember the Truest Self beyond names and forms. As yogis we try to recognize that the development of dispassion is to take relationships, events and all points of personal identity beyond the limitations of the mind to the unlimited ‘witness consciousness’.
On Liberation description of the Lord. ‘Do you know who God is? God is not Vishnu or Siva or Brahma; not the wind, the sun nor the moon; nor the brahmana or the king, not you or I; not Lakshmi or the mind (intellect). God is without form and undivided (not in objects). That splendor which is not made and which has neither beginning nor end is known as God – which is pure consciousness. That alone is fit to be worshiped, that alone is all. If one is unable to worship that then he is encouraged to worship the form’. The form manifests as anything in which we see beauty and goodness and to which we can devote ourselves and dedicate our practice to for an uplifting intention. This could be in the form of one of the Hindu deities (which represent archetypes for example Ganesh is the archetype representing slow, steady pursuit – the elephant, or Lakshmi is the archetype representing beauty and abundance). Engaging with these archetypes may help us in setting a clear intention for our practice. Positive intention for upliftment is perhaps the most important aspect of practice on the yogic path and the various deities and representations of God help us find this clear intention at all times. As Sharon Gannon says:
‘Where we do see others and not only One we must do our best not to hurt them’.
Just as there are many religions and many names for God there are many types of yoga we are all ultimately practicing towards the same end. Call it what you will we are all hoping to move towards love and compassion and this is surely to embodiment of the divine we all aspire too. Universality in diversity.
‘The latter [worship of form] yields finite results, but the former [worship of pure consciousness] bestows infinite bliss.’ In other words if we worship form we are still caught in the terrestrial, earth plane of material binding, but if we worship beyond form we are free in the celestial realms and beyond binding.
Things get pretty whacky in this section of the Yoga Vasistha! The World Within the Rock is one example … a teaching on identity the aspirant (a woman) believes she lives in a world within a rock, which she realizes through practicing non-attachment is governed by nothing but her own perception ‘I now see that what I previously saw in the rock is only in me!’ This brings us back to the teachings on perception as unenlightened beings reality is as we perceive it.
I particularly like the teaching in this section that ‘a woman can abandon everything in this world but not her husband’ !!!!! On a more serious note it is heartening to read from this text that women do attain Enlightenment frequently (some schools of Hindu and Buddhist thought believe only men can attain Enlightenment). In the story of Punya and Pavana their mother follows their father into Enlightenment. In the story of the World Within the Rock the woman attains self-knowledge before her husband.
REFERENCES:
1) All notes in italics are direct quotes from ‘The Concise Yoga Vasistha’ Swami Venkatesananda
2) www.yogavasistha.com
3) ‘The Essential Yoga Sutra’ Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally
4) Jivamukti Chant Book
Useful resource from www.yogavasistha.com, an introduction to the concepts of the Yoga Vasistha:
• There is nothing except Brahman and its energy. The Yoga Vasistha uses many names for Brahman -- Infinite Consciousness, the Self, the inner reality, witness consciousness, the homogeneity, the absolute, the eternal, the indivisible.
• Brahman's energy has infinite manifestations including these three:
1) The movement which is the initial vibration of creation (the ‘big bang’ theory)
2) Movement which is the atomic structure of the natural world (everything is constantly vibrating)
3) Movement in consciousness which is in a limited format (the mind)
• Movement (vibration) and limited consciousness (thought) are the same thing and are used interchangeably.
• The mind, in its creative aspect, is called Brahma. It is also the ego. The mind serves as a veil which prevents us from recognizing ourselves as Brahman, prevents us from recognizing everyone else as Brahman, and prevents us from recognizing Brahman as the underlying reality of every thing we see, hear and sense. This veiling by the mind is the root cause of sorrow (suffering).
• Don’t forget to distinguish Brahman (the infinite) from Brahma (the creator/mind).
• Recognize that happiness/unhappiness are trivial compared to the bliss of the Self.
• Understand that the word 'exist' is used in its classic sense, which is to have separate reality, hence, the Yoga Vasistha states: "The world does not exist". In other words the world does not a separate entity from anything else.
• Realize that the word 'awareness' refers to that state of mind wherein the mind identifies some aspect of Brahman as being separated (that is, individual) and thereby creates a subject/object split.
• About Stories. From the scripture -- when a truth that has not been personally experienced is expounded, one does not grasp it except with the help of an illustration. Such illustrations have been used in this scripture with a definite purpose and a limited intention. They are not to be taken literally, nor is their significance to be stretched beyond the intention. When the scripture is thus studied, the world appears to be a dream-vision. These indeed are the purpose and the purport of the illustrations. |
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Celebrating the Goddess - A weekend yoga retreat at Vijayaloka
