Yoga Vasista - the story (confusion) begins!!

If there is nothing that Yoga Vasista will do to you, it will definitely confuse you. And as Guruji puts it “Blessed are those who are confused!!” The whole text is in the form of series of stories one inside the other, each story contributing the one inside it. You need a bit of awareness to follow the text. Happy reading and jai Gurudeva. May the Guru’s grace flow through you.
Om Shanti rastu, Thusti rastu, Pushti rastu.

The jist
The world appearance is confusion, even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but ignore it. Neither freedom form sorrow, nor realisation of one’s nature is possible without this conviction. Once convinced you will realise that the objective world is a confusion of the real with the unreal.
The background
A sage by name Sutikshna went to Sage Agasthya and asked “ what leads to liberation – knowledge or work?” to this query, Agasthya told him the conversation between sage Agnivesya and his son Karunya. Karunya had read the scriptures and come to the conclusion that liberation can only be achieved through abandonment of all action; and hence became apathetic to life. To bring him out of this inertia, Agnivesya narrated to him a conversation between Suruchi, an apsara, who was meditating in the Himalayas, and a doota (messenger) of Indra. This messenger was sent by Indra to escort Sage Arishtanemi to heaven, as he was involved in rigorous Tapas. On invitation, Aristhanemi asked the doota, what people would do in heaven, to which he replied that the people who reach heaven because of their Punya karma stay there in bliss and peace till their punya is exhausted; and then they are sent back to the earth. Hearing this, Aristhanemi refused to come to heaven. The doota went back and reported to Indra, who resent the doota to ask Aristhtnemi to speak to sage Valmiki before refusing the invitation. Hence, Valmiki was approached, and he narrated the Yoga Vasista, the conversation between sage Vasista and Lord Rama. Valmiki told Arishtanemi that he had earlier narrated the same to sage Bhardwaja, who then went and narrated the same to Brahma. Pleased, Brahma asked Bharadwaja to ask a boon, to which Bharadwaja, requested the happiness of all human beings in the universe. Brahma granted the boon, but said that the best way for human beings to achieve this was by asking Valmiki to narrate the yoga vasista in such a way that the listener may be freed of darkness of ignorance. So Bharadwaja went back to Valmiki, who then renarrated the Yoga Vasista in an enlightening and simple manner. This renarration was explained to Arishtanemi by Valmiki.