Yoga Vasistha

For many days, rather weeks I have shied away from introducing a book. Truth be told, I haven’t been reading anything. My busy vacation didn’t give me any chance to read and since returning, I have been trying to catch up with my life. That’s taking a lot longer than expected!

On Monday, my company’s holiday party took me to charted territory around 28^th and Lex, where lies India town. Earlier that day, when I was bored scanning the wide web I came across some ancient Indian philosophy and was introduced to Yoga Vasistha. Needless to say, I was intrigued and when I visited my old neighborhood I promptly bought the book.  

Now the author recommends we read one chapter a day, go back and meditate on the meaning and then come back the following day to read the next, just like a rosary. Since then I have been reading it and trying to grasp its meaning, understand it and incorporate it into my daily practice.

So what’s the book about?

Yoga Vasistha recounts a discourse of the sage Vasistha to a young Prince Rama, during a period when the latter is in a dejected state. The contents of Vasistha's teaching to Rama is associated with Advaita Vedanta, the illusory nature of the manifest world and the principle of non-duality. The book has been dated between the 5th and 14th Century C.E. and is generally regarded as one of the longest texts in Sanskrit, after the Mahabharata and Ramayana and an important text of Yoga. It is a religious text that is used to help newcomers understand the Hindu philosophy. The book consists of around thirty thousand slokas as well as numerous short stories and anecdotes used to help simplify the content. In terms of Hindu mythology, the conversation in the Yoga Vasishta takes place chronologically before Ramayana.

The contents and the style of delivery have captured my total attention but it is a long book and will take time to read. So for the time being, I am putting aside my race of 52 books and sacrificing quantity over quality. Come back for some varied learning from the Advaita Vedanta and reading other twisted things my mind comes up with.

Happy Holidays!