Yoga Vasista - an introduction

Yoga Vasista is a bit different from other great spiritual texts such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Ashtavakra Samhita. Bhagavad-Gita is the common man’s spiritual guide. It includes everyone and it is for everyone. All different routes of reaching the ultimate are described. Any human being, in whatever level of elevation of consciousness he may be in, can identify with the Gita. That is why it is the most popular text. Thousands of summarisations and explanation texts have been written about the Gita and thousands have read and listened to it. However, the number of people, who have been transformed by it, I think is very low. It caters to everyone; hence it is not very specific. It is an all inclusive text, hence it appeals to everyone and thus its popularity.

The next in line is the Ashtavakra Samhita. This is a much more advanced and specific spiritual text. \it is said that if you haven’t meditated in your life, you are not eligible to read or listen to the Samhita as you may not understand it and may interpret it in an entirely different way. This is a royal conversation which happened in the palace of King Janaka, in contrast to the Gita, which happened in the middle of a war. Arjuna was confused and in anguish when the Gita was narrated to him, while Janaka was at the peak of his mumukshatwa, eager to absorb the great knowledge. To convince a disturbed mind, in the middle of a chaos, you need to come up with very good logical explanations and solutions as the anguished persons mind is usually not open to all possibilities and full of doubt. But when you are a Sadhak and ur practices and company have not brought that promised fulfilment, and when you have found a great master ( actually when the master finds you), the mind is all keen to take things. There is so much faith and reverence, that no convincing is necessary.

Yoga Vasista is said to be the supreme knowledge, as it was given by a human to a God. If an introduction to the spiritual path is necessary to listen to or understand the Ashtavakra Samhita, it is said that you have be a seeker for quite some time to be eligible for the Yoga Vasista. Indeed Sage Valmiki in his introduction to text, mentions

“He is qualified to study this scripture who feels ‘I am bound, I should be liberated’, who is neither totally ignorant nor enlightened “

The term Kakataliya or coincidence is often repeated in this story. More about this later on.