YOGA VASISTHA IN POEM Swami Suryadevananda An Ananda Kutir Publication 2012 suryadevananda.org Creative Commons: This eBook can be downloaded for personal use. It can be shared publically as long as credited. No commercial use. It may not be changed in any way. Yoga Vasistha in Poem 2 Dedicated to Swami Venkatesananda Yoga Vasistha in Poem 3 Introduction The Yoga Vasistha is a manual for the sincere spiritual seeker. Through the use of stories and illustrations, Vasistha brings out the most subtle points, not in theory but for practice. The way of bringing out these points inspires the seeker towards their actualization in practice—both in life and the mat—these being one and the same. The opening story of the first chapter sets the stage that both life which includes all activity and meditation or practice lead to the goal like two wings of a bird. Vasistha makes it very clear that the problem is confusion of the real with the unreal or changing due to the seeming reality of its appearance. Life is the field where this takes place and life must also be the field where this is corrected. Meditation or practice sharpens the instrument which allows for a life where we deal with things as they are, without the interference of thought. This thins the mind and the mind and this thinned mind is ready for deeper meditation so one's true nature can be seen. Life or activity and meditation or practice feed on each other in a cycle of ridding the mind of its impurities so one's true nature can be seen. This is the task on hand and this mighty scripture is a blazing light on the path. It took about a year to complete this work which is dedicated to Swami Venkatesananda whose writings and teachings on the Yoga Vasistha have inspired this effort. This work is not intended as a complete poetic rendition but expressing in poetry what I myself found most useful. This work was completed in the early part of this year but not released in a single eBook. This print friendly version has been set in two columns to save paper and reduce its size. There is also an eBook version in one column with a smaller page size, formatted to work best with electronic readers. I am most thankful to Sivananda-Usha for her tremendous help with editing this work. Swami Suryadevananda 24 December 2012 Yoga Vasistha in Poem 4 Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Prayer Before Reading ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER I: DEALING WITH DISPASSION ..................................................................................................................... 9 1. A Seeker's Plight: Work or Knowledge ........................................................................................................................... 9 2. Rama's Observation of Life ........................................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER II: THE BEHAVIOR OF THE SEEKER ...............................................................................................................21 1. The Behavior of the Seeker ........................................................................................................................................... 21 2. Vasistha's Instruction Begins ........................................................................................................................................ 22 3. Narrative Dealing with Liberation ................................................................................................................................. 24 4. Four Gate-Keepers to Freedom .................................................................................................................................... 25 5. Study and Experience.................................................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER III: DEALING WITH CREATION .....................................................................................................................30 1. The Secret of Creation .................................................................................................................................................. 30 2. The Mind ....................................................................................................................................................................... 32 3. The Supreme Lord ......................................................................................................................................................... 33 4. Liberated Ones .............................................................................................................................................................. 34 5. Reality and Appearance ................................................................................................................................................ 34 6. Creation ......................................................................................................................................................................... 36 7. The Story of Lila ............................................................................................................................................................ 38 8. The Mystery of Time ..................................................................................................................................................... 52 9. Story of Karkati ............................................................................................................................................................. 55 10. The Story of Indu's Sons .............................................................................................................................................. 61 11. The Story of Ahalya ..................................................................................................................................................... 62 Yoga Vasistha in Poem 5 12. Brahma and Vasistha's Dialogue ................................................................................................................................. 63 13. Vasistha's Instruction Continues ................................................................................................................................. 65 14. The Story of the Great Forest ..................................................................................................................................... 68 15. The Story of the Three Non-Existent Princes .............................................................................................................. 69 16. The Story of Lavana ..................................................................................................................................................... 72 17. Steps of Ignorance and States of Wisdom .................................................................................................................. 79 CHAPTER IV: DEALING WITH EXISTENCE ....................................................................................................................83 1. Dealing with Existence .................................................................................................................................................. 83 2. The Story of Sukra ......................................................................................................................................................... 84 3. The Story of The Three Demons ................................................................................................................................... 90 4. The Story of Dashura .................................................................................................................................................... 95 5. Kaca's Song .................................................................................................................................................................... 99 CHAPTER V: DEALING WITH DISSOLUTION ............................................................................................................... 101 1. Section Dealing with Dissolution ................................................................................................................................ 101 2. The Story of King Janaka ............................................................................................................................................. 103 3. On the Inner Intelligence ............................................................................................................................................ 107 4. The Story of Punya and Pavana .................................................................................................................................. 112 5. The Story of King Bali .................................................................................................................................................. 113 6. The Story of Prahlada .................................................................................................................................................. 118 7. The Story of Gadhi