Summary
Valmiki: Yoga Vasishta Maharamajan I
On Detachment
On the Desire for Freedom
On Reality
The Yoga Vasishta is an extremely comprehensive book which is considered one of the most valuable spiritual treatises and the most comprehensive exposition of non-dualistic (Advaita) philosophy or Vedanta.
Sri Sri Sri Shivabala Yogi Maharaj is a yogi, one who successfully performed tapasya, meditation in samadhi for twelve years, in order to attain God or self-realization. Shivabalayogi believed that God and the Self are the same. According to Shivabalayogi, Yoga Vasishta is the only book that preserves the teachings of the yogis unchanged. Other scriptures, he would say, were changed over time.
Ramana Maharshi, another great yogi of the 20th century, often quoted Yoga Vasishta. Ramana practiced the practice of self-enquiry, and anyone who reads Yoga Vasishta will understand that it is a fundamental treatise on the practice of self-enquiry.
Yoga Vasishta is a record of how young Rama, an avatar of God Vishnu, attained self-realization through the teachings of sage Vasishta. For twenty-two days Rama asked questions and Vasishta answered, lectured and told stories. All this happened before the assembled court of Rama's father, King Dasharatha, and numerous sages, gods, nobles and Brahmin priests.
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