YOGA VASISHTA QUOTES

The Yoga Vasistha is a syncretic work, containing elements of Vedanta, Yoga, Samkhya, Saiva Siddhanta, Jainism and Mahayana Buddhism, thus making it, according to Chapple, “a Hindu text par excellence, including, as does Hinduism, a mosaic-style amalgam of diverse and sometimes opposing traditions”. The Yoga Vasishtha was once one of the most widely read books in India. It greatly influenced the general philosophical thought. Rishi Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, compiled this remarkable book. He related the whole of Yoga Vasishtha to Rishi Bharadwaja as it passed between Sri Rama and sage Vasishtha. The Yoga Vasishtha deals with the subject of effecting union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul amidst all the trials and tribulations of life. It prescribes various directions for the union of the Jivatman and Paramatman.

Just as the trees on the bank of a lake are reflected
in the water, so also all these varied objects are reflected in
the vast mirror of our consciousness.

Even though bondage does not really exist, it
becomes strong through desire for worldly enjoyments;
when this desire subsides bondage becomes weak.

Like waves rising up from the ocean the unstable
mind rises out of the vast and stable expanse of the Supreme Self.

This world, though unreal, appears to exist
and is the cause of life-long suffering to an ignorant person, just as a (non-existent) ghost (is the cause of
fear) to a boy.

One who has no idea of gold sees only the bracelet.
He does not at all have the idea that it is merely gold.

The world is full of misery to an ignorant man
and full of bliss to a wise man. The world is dark to a
blind man and bright to one who has eyes.

The bliss of a man of discrimination, who has
rejected samsara and discarded all mental concepts,
constantly increases.

Like clouds which suddenly appear in a clear
sky and as suddenly dissolve, the entire universe (appears)
in the Self and (dissolves in it).

Just as the cloth, when investigated, is seen to
be nothing but thread, so also this world, when enquired
into, is (seen to be) merely the Self.

Just as the foam, the waves, the dew and the bubbles are not different from water, even so this world which has come out of the Self is not different from the Self.