YOGA VASISTHA
Yoga Vasistha is considered one of the most important scriptures of the Vedantic philosophy. It is a syncretic work, containing elements of Vedanta, Jainism, Yoga, Samkhya (one of the six original schools of Hinduism), Saiva Siddhanta (a school of Hinduism based on the worship of Shiva), and Mahayana Buddhism. It sums up the spiritual process:
Longing for the Truth: The aspirant is able to distinguish between the permanent and the impermanent; cultivates a dislike for worldly pleasures; acquires mastery over his physical and mental organism; and feels a deep yearning to be free from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Right Inquiry: The aspirant has thoroughly considered what he has read and heard spiritually, and his realized it in his life.
Attenuation, or the Thinning out of Mental Activities: The aspirant's mind abandons the many, and remains fixed on the One.
Attainment of Reality: The aspirant is now called a "knower of Brahman." In these first four stages he has been subject to three forms of karma, including karma he created in prior lives that is awaiting expression in a future life; karma from his past lives that has begun to bear fruit in the present life, in which it must be exhausted; and karma he has generated in the present life that will manifest in the future. He, meantime, has been practicing a form of contemplation where consciousness of duality still exists.
Unaffected by Anything: The aspirant performs his necessary duties without a sense of involvement.
Sees Brahman Everywhere: To the aspirant, external things do not appear to exist now; the distinction between subject and object has dissolved; tasks get performed without any sense of doership. Two of the forms of karma, the karma he created in previous lives that is awaiting expression in a future life, and karma he generated in the present life that will manifest in the future, are now destroyed. Only a small amount of the third form of karma, that from his past lives that has begun to bear fruit in the present life, in which it must be exhausted, remains.
Perpetual Samadhi: The aspirant no longer performs activities, either by his will or by the will of others. He has entered a state of pure unitary consciousness, ineffable peace.
Longing for the Truth: The aspirant is able to distinguish between the permanent and the impermanent; cultivates a dislike for worldly pleasures; acquires mastery over his physical and mental organism; and feels a deep yearning to be free from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
Right Inquiry: The aspirant has thoroughly considered what he has read and heard spiritually, and his realized it in his life.
Attenuation, or the Thinning out of Mental Activities: The aspirant's mind abandons the many, and remains fixed on the One.
Attainment of Reality: The aspirant is now called a "knower of Brahman." In these first four stages he has been subject to three forms of karma, including karma he created in prior lives that is awaiting expression in a future life; karma from his past lives that has begun to bear fruit in the present life, in which it must be exhausted; and karma he has generated in the present life that will manifest in the future. He, meantime, has been practicing a form of contemplation where consciousness of duality still exists.
Unaffected by Anything: The aspirant performs his necessary duties without a sense of involvement.
Sees Brahman Everywhere: To the aspirant, external things do not appear to exist now; the distinction between subject and object has dissolved; tasks get performed without any sense of doership. Two of the forms of karma, the karma he created in previous lives that is awaiting expression in a future life, and karma he generated in the present life that will manifest in the future, are now destroyed. Only a small amount of the third form of karma, that from his past lives that has begun to bear fruit in the present life, in which it must be exhausted, remains.
Perpetual Samadhi: The aspirant no longer performs activities, either by his will or by the will of others. He has entered a state of pure unitary consciousness, ineffable peace.
posted by Donald L. Simons at
10:57 AM
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