The Yoga Vasistha is a syncretic work, containing elements of Vedanta, Yoga, Samkhya, Saiva Sidd
hanta, 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 dream becomes unreal in the waking state and the waking state in the dream, so also death becomes unreal in birth and birth in death.
are the effect of delusion, mere impressions arising out of
some past experiences.
