Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org

Yoga vasishtam and Va:sana:s:

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

Namaskarams Dear Sri Sankaraman avargale!

 

After reading all your recent posts on this thread , may i please be

allowed to quote the following verse from Vasishta yoga , a favorite

treatise of great saints like sri Ramakrishna parmahamsa, swami

Vivekananda and sri Ramana bhagvan?

 

"Desire for liberation interferes with the fullness of

the Self; absence of such desire promotes

bondage! Hence, constant Awareness is to be preferred.

The sole cause for bondage and Liberation is the

movement in consciousness. Awareness of this ends this

movement. The ego-sense ceases the very moment one

observes it, for it has no support any longer. Then who is

bound by whom, or who is liberated by whom? "

 

 

HARI AUM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

wrote:

>

>

>

> bhuvan eswar chilukuri <bhuvaneswarc wrote:

> respecvted ganesanga;ru,

>

> Have u read Yoga Va:sishtam ?

>

> Please do me a favour.

>

> There is a lot of mentioning here and there about vasana:s.

>

> could u please give me all the verses where it occurre?

>

> On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 Ganesan Sankarraman wrote :

> >

> >

> > Apropos your query, it is to be noted that Yoga

Vasishta is full of the ideas of vasanas, and not here and there to

be specified. You may read the translation done by Swamy

Venkatesananda, which goes by the name, 'Supreme Yoga'. But the

Swamiji has been influenced greatly by the modern terminologies of

J.Krishnamurthy, such as conditioning, psychological memory,

psychological becoming, choiceless awareness, which he freely uses

in expounding the philosophy of Vasishta, even though he has not

acknowledged the fact. The Swamy has met Krishnamurthy and held

talks with him which are available in the book, "Awakening of

Intelligence". There are further two versions, one containing the

selections from one B.l.Aytreya, who has done tremendous research on

this scripture dating it back to the period of Sankara, another

containing the philosophy of this work alongwith the stories, both

these having been done by one Samvit, who has simply adopted the

terminology,

> "Choiceless Awareness," of J.K, in explaining the thought of

Vasishta, no acknowledgment having been made in this case also.

There is another translation by one R.M.Hari, this being an English

translation from a Hindi version from a Sufi Master, which is very

original, coming from self-realization. There is also a free

rendering by one K.Narayanaswamy Iyer, having been published by

Theosophical Foundation. But, of course, the oldest version is by

Mitra, which is a prodigious work, all the thirty thousand verses

having been rendered in English. This is in a very archaic language,

and would not suit the purpose of the readers, even though the

author is very sincere. The attribution of this work to Valmiki is

sheer myth, the author being anonymous having resorted to this nom-

de-plume, which shows his greatness, the author sublating himself

in the grandeur of the thought. According to professor Dasgupta, the

author of this work, an unknown saint, belongs to the period

> of Gaudapada or Nagarjuna. But then the question arises as to why

Sankara has not made mention of this work, when Vidyaranya has done.

Aitreya attributes this to the fact of the work not having derived

the authority of tradition. But all these things are irrelevant.

This work talks of nonduality in unmincing terms, there being a

direct hit, without resort to all logic, dialectics and polemics.

Bhaghavan Ramana has very much recommended this work to be read,

while paradoxically Ramakrishna is very averse to this work, having

specifically stated that house-holders should not read this. That is

why the monks of the Ramakrishna order have not brought out any

translation of this work in spite of their great contribution to

traditional advaitic works. But Ramana does not make this type of

discrimination. Personally, I feel that the translations of

Venkatesanada and Samvit are most excellent in spite of the

plagiarism involved. R.M.Hari's version is very spiritual.

> Sankarraman

>

>

>

> Mail

> Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dhyaanasaraswatiji,

 

Beautiful statement. Both bondage and liberation are mithya. But they

appear to be satya as long as long as one has the notion that one is

bound.

 

Appreciate if you can give complete sloka with reference.

Dhynavaad

 

Hari OM!

Sadananda

 

Can you give us the complete reference to it - possibly the sloka too.

 

--- dhyanasaraswati <dhyanasaraswati wrote:

> Namaskarams Dear Sri Sankaraman avargale!

>

> After reading all your recent posts on this thread , may i please be

> allowed to quote the following verse from Vasishta yoga , a favorite

> treatise of great saints like sri Ramakrishna parmahamsa, swami

> Vivekananda and sri Ramana bhagvan?

>

> "Desire for liberation interferes with the fullness of

> the Self; absence of such desire promotes

> bondage! Hence, constant Awareness is to be preferred.

> The sole cause for bondage and Liberation is the

> movement in consciousness. Awareness of this ends this

> movement. The ego-sense ceases the very moment one

> observes it, for it has no support any longer. Then who is

> bound by whom, or who is liberated by whom? "

>

>

> HARI AUM!

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

advaitin, Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

> wrote:

> >

> >

> >

> > bhuvan eswar chilukuri <bhuvaneswarc wrote:

> > respecvted ganesanga;ru,

> >

> > Have u read Yoga Va:sishtam ?

> >

> > Please do me a favour.

> >

> > There is a lot of mentioning here and there about vasana:s.

> >

> > could u please give me all the verses where it occurre?

> >

> > On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 Ganesan Sankarraman wrote :

> > >

> > >

> > > Apropos your query, it is to be noted that Yoga

> Vasishta is full of the ideas of vasanas, and not here and there to

> be specified. You may read the translation done by Swamy

> Venkatesananda, which goes by the name, 'Supreme Yoga'. But the

> Swamiji has been influenced greatly by the modern terminologies of

> J.Krishnamurthy, such as conditioning, psychological memory,

> psychological becoming, choiceless awareness, which he freely uses

> in expounding the philosophy of Vasishta, even though he has not

> acknowledged the fact. The Swamy has met Krishnamurthy and held

> talks with him which are available in the book, "Awakening of

> Intelligence". There are further two versions, one containing the

> selections from one B.l.Aytreya, who has done tremendous research on

> this scripture dating it back to the period of Sankara, another

> containing the philosophy of this work alongwith the stories, both

> these having been done by one Samvit, who has simply adopted the

> terminology,

> > "Choiceless Awareness," of J.K, in explaining the thought of

> Vasishta, no acknowledgment having been made in this case also.

> There is another translation by one R.M.Hari, this being an English

> translation from a Hindi version from a Sufi Master, which is very

> original, coming from self-realization. There is also a free

> rendering by one K.Narayanaswamy Iyer, having been published by

> Theosophical Foundation. But, of course, the oldest version is by

> Mitra, which is a prodigious work, all the thirty thousand verses

> having been rendered in English. This is in a very archaic language,

> and would not suit the purpose of the readers, even though the

> author is very sincere. The attribution of this work to Valmiki is

> sheer myth, the author being anonymous having resorted to this nom-

> de-plume, which shows his greatness, the author sublating himself

> in the grandeur of the thought. According to professor Dasgupta, the

> author of this work, an unknown saint, belongs to the period

> > of Gaudapada or Nagarjuna. But then the question arises as to why

> Sankara has not made mention of this work, when Vidyaranya has done.

> Aitreya attributes this to the fact of the work not having derived

> the authority of tradition. But all these things are irrelevant.

> This work talks of nonduality in unmincing terms, there being a

> direct hit, without resort to all logic, dialectics and polemics.

> Bhaghavan Ramana has very much recommended this work to be read,

> while paradoxically Ramakrishna is very averse to this work, having

> specifically stated that house-holders should not read this. That is

> why the monks of the Ramakrishna order have not brought out any

> translation of this work in spite of their great contribution to

> traditional advaitic works. But Ramana does not make this type of

> discrimination. Personally, I feel that the translations of

> Venkatesanada and Samvit are most excellent in spite of the

> plagiarism involved. R.M.Hari's version is very spiritual.

> > Sankarraman

> >

> >

> >

> > Mail

> > Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kuntimaddi sadananda <kuntimaddisada wrote:

Dhyaanasaraswatiji,

 

Beautiful statement. Both bondage and liberation are mithya. But they

appear to be satya as long as long as one has the notion that one is

bound.

 

Sir,

May I be permitted to quote the following dialog between Rama and

sage Vasishta, as brought about in the translation of sri R.M.Hari.

"Question 294: Sir, you have instructed me to be established in the turiya

state of quiescence. Are you free from the ideation of, ' I am Vasishta'? What

is the nature of the turiya state where you do not experience the, 'I'.

[ Hearing these words of Sri Ramachandra, Vasishtaji became quiet and gave no

reply. At this Sri Ramachandra said, ' Sir, your silence does not suit you. You

are truly Brahmagyani and jagat-guru. Nothing is unknown to you. Are you quiet

because you consider me incompetent?' After a silence for a while, Vasishta

replied.]

Answer: Ramji, I did not become silent because of your incompetence, but I

replied according to the nature of your question, or silence is the only answer

to your question. Had you been an agyani, I would have replied in words, but

because you are a gyani, I have answered it in gyan. Or, quiescence is the

answer to your question; hence I remained silent. As long as you were an

agyani, I answered your questions by the method of variants ( vikalpas), that

is with ideation and words. All verbal statements or instructions are imbued

with words and duality. Formerly, words and variants ( vikalpa ) suited you.

But, now I have instructed you about Nirvikalpa ( the mode that is divested of

illusions or variants).

Ramji, words are of four kinds, viz (i) words having subtle purport, ( ii )

words having spiritual purport, ( iii ), and ( iv ) long or elaborate words.

All these four types are limited on account of three kinds of deficiencies or

faults ( kalank ): (i ) doubt or logic ( sanshay ), ( ii ) duality ( pratiyogi

) and three division or distinction ( bhed ). The state that is beyond mind and

verbal description cannot be expressed with the afflicted words."

 

Vasishta very beautifully disowns the relevance of

words in the scheme of the unravelling of that which is, which cannot be

conceptualized through the network of thought, which is essentially a

knower-known phenomenon, and is relevant only in the realm of the empirical.

Vasishta ends this peroration by the final statement to the following effect: "

When a person says, ' I am Brahman and that is the world,' you should assume

that he has not yet attained gyan. When the jiva truly attains gyan, then he

does not even have the awareness of non-duality.. He just becomes sublime. At

that stage who will teach whom, and what? Words and meaning are absent at that

stage and the universe is dissolved."

Further, Vasishta is very insightful in the following utterance,

which is a practical guide for those who may not be familiar with the

dialectics or averse to it.

"Accepting the present that has arrived in regular course for the moment with

the externalized intellect, and not accepting ( or entertaining ) the future

and the past, the mind is reduced to the state free from thoughts." ( Page 145,

verses 40-41, the story of Ghadhi, Essence of Yoga Vasishta by Samvid)

 

yours truly,

Sankarraman

 

 

 

Brings words and photos together (easily) with

PhotoMail - it's free and works with Mail.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

>Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

.....

> Vasishta very beautifully disowns the relevance

>of words in the scheme of the unravelling of that which is, which cannot

>be conceptualized through the network of thought, which is essentially a

>knower-known phenomenon, and is relevant only in the realm of the

>empirical.

....

 

 

Thanks Sankarraman for the beautiful passage from Yoga VasishhTam - I am

reminded of advaita prakaranam of Goudapaada kaarika.

 

Has anyone given complete yoga VasishTam with sloka and meaning?

 

Anyone else quated this work before Vidyaranya?

 

Shankara did not quote from Sreemad Bhagavatam either and there is a theory

that that work was later to Shankara.

 

Hari OM!

Sadananda

 

_______________

Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!

http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kuntimaddi Sadananda <k_sadananda wrote:

 

>Ganesan Sankarraman

.....

> Vasishta very beautifully disowns the relevance

>of words in the scheme of the unravelling of that which is, which cannot

>be conceptualized through the network of thought, which is essentially a

>knower-known phenomenon, and is relevant only in the realm of the

>empirical.

....

 

 

Thanks Sankarraman for the beautiful passage from Yoga VasishhTam - I am

reminded of advaita prakaranam of Goudapaada kaarika.

 

Has anyone given complete yoga VasishTam with sloka and meaning?

 

Anyone else quated this work before Vidyaranya?

 

Shankara did not quote from Sreemad Bhagavatam either and there is a theory

that that work was later to Shankara.

 

Hari OM!

Sadananda

 

Sir,

One Mitra- I am forgetting the surname- of the nineteenth century

has made an English rendering of the entirety of the text; but by virtue of the

archiac language, it is not readable despite the prodigious effort of the

author. But, we must be thankful to him for being the pioneer in this effort.

One pundit from Kashmir has rendered a summarized version known as Lagu Yoga

Vasishta. In the Tamil language some of the vedantins of the yesteryears have

translated this work into Tamil. I think in the Sanskrit tradition, none, other

than Vidyaranya, have made any reference to this beautiful work.

yours truly,

Sankarraman

 

 

 

Brings words and photos together (easily) with

PhotoMail - it's free and works with Mail.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ref post 38285

 

Sadaji,

 

You write

 

(Beautiful statement. Both bondage and liberation are mithya. But they

appear to be satya as long as long as one has the notion that one is

bound.

 

Thank you , Sir ! Is that not a state of True JIVAN MUKTA - FREE AND

UNBOUND !

 

There are similar verses in Ashtavakra Gita as well

 

 

If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of

oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, "Thinking

makes it so." 1.11

 

Your real nature is as the one perfect, free, and actionless

consciousness, the all-pervading witness -- unattached to anything,

desireless and at peace. It is from illusion that you seem to be

involved in samsara. 1.12

 

(translation by John Richards)

 

Sadaji, i do not have access to the actual sanskrit text ! Maybe our

respected Sunderji can provide the actual links or reference

materials. However, there is an English Tranlation available at

Amazon.com

 

Vasistha's Yoga

by Swami Venkatesananda

 

Swamiji belongs to the the Sri Ramakrishna mutt and has also written

a concise version of the same text.

 

The original Brihat YOGA VASISHTA has almost 32, 000 couplets with a

lot of illustrative stories . But as Sankararamanji has pointed out

in his message a shorter version of 6,000 couplets was translated by

a kashmiri pandit named Abhinanda Pandita,called Lghu Yoga Vasishta.

 

Sankararamanji just informed me via private email that Yoga Vasishta

was often quoted by sri Ramana Maharishi but was not used by swami

vivekananda or sri Ramakrishna ! Sunderji can help us out in this

regard. but i do know that A TRANSLATION OF THIS GREAT WORK YOGA

VASISHTA IS AVAILABLE AT SRI RAMANASHRAM.

 

 

warrmest regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dhyanasaraswati <dhyanasaraswati wrote: ref post 38285

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vasistha's Yoga

by Swami Venkatesananda

 

Swamiji belongs to the the Sri Ramakrishna mutt and has also written

a concise version of the same text.

 

May I be permitted to make the correction that swamy Venkatesananda does not

belong to the Ramakrishna Order, but to that of the Sivananda Ashram, having

been initiated into monkhood by Sivananda. His translation is non-traditional

as I pointed out earlier. There is also yet another free rendering by one

Raghunandan, a devotee of Ramakrishna. But the pioneer is B.L.Aireya, who has

selected 2500 verses as constituting the quintessence of the text, these verses

having been translated by one great man under the nom-de-plume Samvid.

yours etc,

Sankarraman

 

 

 

Brings words and photos together (easily) with

PhotoMail - it's free and works with Mail.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post ref 30304

 

Thank you Sri Sankararaman-ji!

 

you are absolutely correct. I do apologize for this error - i guess

the suffix'ananda' at the end of the author's name must have resulted

in this error -as most saints from the SRI RamAkrishna mutt

have 'ananda' at the end of their names! i apologize for not checking

the facts regarding to which lineage Swami venkateshnanda belongs -

Many saints from Sri SIVANANDA ASHRAM AND SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA MISSION

also have 'ANANDA' as suffixes! well, all this sainthood is

about ''anandam' is it not ? Infinite bliss is what results when you

follow the path of all these great lineages!

 

Sankara-ji, this 'jiva' has assumed various 'names and forms from

time to time , the day is not far off when this jiva will become

Swamini 'Vinathananda' ! ( smile) ! Sankara-ji, here i quote to you

your own brilliant words that you wrote to me off list

 

" Have you heard of the concepts of, "Nirmana Kaya, Nirmana Chitta,"

talked about Patanjali Maharishi, this being answerable to the ideas

of artificial minds and artificial bodies being taken by the yogis,

either to destroy their karmas, or to have a form to communicate the

teachings to the world, as according to Yoga philosophy, once the

Satva, the finest constituent of the Prakriti, is disentangled from

the Purusa through discriminating knowledge, the yogi's body gets

disintegrated, leaving him no opportunity to communicate the message

to the world? Verses relating to these concepts are available in the

Kaivalya Pada of the Yogasutras of Patanjali, which no commentator

has given a clear account of."

 

Sankara-ji, although you are a late 'bloomer' on this list, you do

exhibit a lot of wisdom and knowledge ! thanx!

 

with warmest regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

wrote:

>

>

>

> dhyanasaraswati <dhyanasaraswati wrote: ref post

38285

>

>

>

>

>

Vasistha's Yoga

> by Swami Venkatesananda

>

> Swamiji belongs to the the Sri Ramakrishna mutt and has also

written

> a concise version of the same text.

>

> May I be permitted to make the correction that swamy

Venkatesananda does not belong to the Ramakrishna Order, but to that

of the Sivananda Ashram, having been initiated into monkhood by

Sivananda.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

advaitin, "dhyanasaraswati"

<dhyanasaraswati wrote:

>

>

> " Have you heard of the concepts of, "Nirmana Kaya, Nirmana

Chitta,"

> talked about Patanjali Maharishi, this being answerable to the

ideas

> of artificial minds and artificial bodies being taken by the

yogis,

> either to destroy their karmas, or to have a form to communicate

the

> teachings to the world, as according to Yoga philosophy, once the

> Satva, the finest constituent of the Prakriti, is disentangled

from

> the Purusa through discriminating knowledge, the yogi's body gets

> disintegrated, leaving him no opportunity to communicate the

message

> to the world? Verses relating to these concepts are available in

the

> Kaivalya Pada of the Yogasutras of Patanjali, which no commentator

> has given a clear account of."

 

Namaste,

 

Yes I have seen that, probably in Patanjali but it wouldn't work.

For one could have a million bodies but would still only have one

ego and that is the problem...........ONS...Tony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

advaitin, Ganesan Sankarraman <shnkaran

wrote:

>

> There is also yet another free rendering by one Raghunandan, a

devotee of Ramakrishna. But the pioneer is B.L.Aireya, who has

selected 2500 verses as constituting the quintessence of the text,

these verses having been translated by one great man under the nom-de-

plume Samvid.

------------------

 

Vihari Lal Mitra's work is now available in 4 volumes, edited and

revised by Dr. Ravi Prakash Arya, publ. Parimal Publications, 1st ed.

1998; 3rd reprint 2003.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...