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Yoga Vasistha Quotes

Quotes and Quotations from Yoga Vasistha.

He is a happy man whose mind is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred and who looks upon this world like a mere spectator.

He who has understood well how to abandon all ideas of acceptance and rejection and who has realized the consciousness which is within the innermost heart – his life is illustrious.

When pots are broken the space within them becomes unlimited. So also when bodies cease to exist the Self remains eternal and unattached.

Nothing is born. Nothing dies. It is Brahman alone appearing illusorily in the form of the world.

Arise and accept an antidote to ward off old age and death; it is the knowledge that all wealth and prosperity, all pleasures and enjoyments are harmful to us unless devoted to the good of others; if not, they tend only to sicken and enervate our frames.

Burdensome is the scripture to the person who has no discriminating sense.
Burdensome is wisdom to the one who is swayed by attachment.
Burdensome is mind to the one who is restless.
Burdensome is body to the individual who has not realized the self.

To the ignorant who have not known their Atma, their ceaseless cycles of pains-producing re-births reduce them to abject slavery and suffering ; but in those who have known their true Self, the Jnana light will dawn and all objects will be known as one. And through the enjoyment of their own Self the three, actor, action and instrument will shine (as one) in their Self.

The mind will ever be tossed in the ocean of desires, being scorched by the fire of pains and devoured by the boa constrictor of anger. Losing all equilibrium through its in tense sufferings, it becomes quite oblivious of its own reality.

It is this mind you should try to lift out of Maya, like an elephant sunk in mire. Oh Rama those are Rakshasas (demons) in the guise of men who do not relieve their minds reeling under the fiery poison of the terrible births and deaths as well as in the presence of their two enemies good and evil.



Lord Rama: When there are countless universes arising and dissolving in the infinite consciousness, why do you teach me of their nature?
Sage Vasishta: In that way, you have gained the understanding that the world is a long dream. You have gained knowledge of the relationship between a world and its meaning or the object it denotes. Hence, all this discussion of the world-appearance and imaginary creation has not been in vain... When, having known all that there is to be known, you attain knowledge of the three periods of time (past, present and future), you will see all this to be true. In every atom of this existence there are countless universes — who has the power even to count them?

Quotes from Yoga Vasistha  on Liberated Soul on Earth

He who does not have an egoistic disposition of the mind and whose intellect is not tainted whether he is engaged in action or not, is said to be liberated while living.

Whom the world is not afraid of and who is not afraid of the world and who is free from exultation, anger and fear, he is said to be liberated while living.

Yoga Vasishta Quotes on a Liberated Person or Jivan Mukta

O Rama, there is no intellect, no ignorance, no mind and no individual soul (jiva). They are all imagined in Brahman.

Like an empty vessel in space, the knower of Truth is empty both within and without, while at the same time he is full within and without like a vessel immersed in the ocean.

The noble-hearted man whose desires of the heart have come to an end is a liberated man; it does not matter whether he does or does not practice meditation or perform action.

The idea of Self in the non-Self is bondage. Abandonment of it is liberation. There is neither bondage nor liberation for the ever-free Self.

Yoga Vasishtha: Self Can Be Known Only Through Direct Experience

Only direct perception is the mode of proof in knowing the Self.'

The abode of all proof-entities is only the proof of direct perception in this world, as the ocean is the abode of the waters. Therefore, hear that.

It is indeed direct perception; not another. Without direct experience, the nature of the Self is not apprehended.

The Self does not exist by inference nor by the words of a trustworthy person and the like. At all times and in every way, it is present or perceptible and is everything, from direct experience.

The Supreme Lord is not seen through scriptures, nor through the spiritual preceptor. The Self is seen only by itself through its own intellect abiding in Pure Being.

That Absolute Reality is directly experienced by the liberated one, who knows it by intuition and is abiding in that position. It is merely described by others only though scriptures handed down traditionally.

In the teaching relating to Brahman, whatever example is indicated, only the similarity of a portion within that is assumed.

Yoga Vasishtha (Chapter II: 220 – 224 and 227)
(Source: The Vision and the Way of Vasishtha – published by Indian Heritage Trust, Madras)

Yoga Vasishta on Moksha or Liberation

Moksha or Liberation is the total abandonment of all vasanas or mental conditioning, without the least reserve.

Mental conditioning is of two types – the pure and the impure. The impure is the cause of birth; the pure liberates one from the cycle of birth. The impure is of the nature of nescience and ego-sense; these are the seeds for the tree of rebirth.

If consciousness ceases to be the finite mind, then know that the very roots of birth and death are burnt and there is perfection.

Yoga Vasishta on the Human Body

To the ignorant, this body is the source of suffering, but to the enlightened man, this body is the source of infinite delight.

Since the body transports him in this world in which he roams freely and delightfully, the body is regarded as a vehicle of wisdom by the enlightened man.

The body does not subject the wise man to the temptations of lust and greed, nor does it allow ignorance or fear to invade him. Because the wise does not identify with the body instead he realizes that he is the cosmic consciousness which cannot be divided into ‘I’ and ‘the other.’

Lord Ram on Ahankara in Yoga Vasishta

I am much terrified by the enemy of the illusory and harmful Ahankara (I-am-ness or egoism) which is generated through delusion and permeates me all throughout. It is only through Ahankara that all the mental cares, dangers and the ever-increasing actions of life arise. There is no enemy greater than he.

Having associated with this enemy of mine for a long time, I am now in an agitated state of mind I do not taste food with water. Why need I speak about (other) enjoyments? All our daily ceremonies, yajnas (sacrifices), the enjoyables and others associated, as they are, with Ahankara are merely unreal.

Therefore the real secret lies only in the renunciation of this Ahankara. So long as this Ahankara be-clouds us, so long will the flowers of desires bloom and increase in us. Though I have given up all Karmas (actions) in order to free myself from Ahankara, yet my pains have not ceased, not having cognized my own Self.

Mayest thou, Oh Rishi, be pleased to bless me in order that I may liberate myself from this cursed Ahankara which is the source of all dangers in this world, is evanescent, has its seat in the mind, and is idiotic in its nature and without due discrimination and intelligence.