The Supreme Yoga
Foreword
The Yoga Vasishtha has always been considered as perhaps the most elaborate exposition of Philosophy and Religion ever written under the sun. The work, which is voluminous in its nature, has been abridged by several scholars subsequently to make the treatise accessible to people who would not have the time and patience to wade through this large literature.
Sri Swami Venkatesananda, a direct disciple of His Holiness Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, has, however, excelled the earlier precis writers on this subject in His brilliant two volume presentation of this Scripture under the title 'The Supreme Yoga'.
The first edition 1976 was published under the auspices of The Chiltern Yoga Trust, Cape Province, South Africa, in two excellently printed volumes.
Now, this second edition 1991 of this veritably standard work is being published by The Divine Life Society for the benefit of all seekers of Truth and the general readers of spiritual teachings.
We have a firm hope that this well-known, towering teaching will provide to everyone the requisite inspiration and solace.
The Divine Life Society
Dedication
This publication is dedicated to My Guru Swami Sivananda.
His life was a symphony whose constant refrain was: ‘In all conditions I am Knowledge Bliss Absolute.’
Sage Vasistha incarnated as Swami Sivanaanda to embody The Supreme Yoga.
In Gurudev Yoga Vasistha was alive.
Swami Venkatesananda
Introduction
Scholars speculate about the author of this monumental scripture and such other academic matters. May God bless them with success.
The Yoga-Vasistha is the greatest help to the spiritual awakening, and the direct experience of the Truth. This is certain. If this is what you want, you are welcome to Yoga-Vasistha.
The text abounds in repetitions which are, however, not repetitious. If you do not like (or need) repetition, then read just this one verse:
This world-appearance is a 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 to ignore it. (I.3.2)
This verse occurs several times in the scripture and it seems to be the very essence of the teaching.
If that is not quite clear to you now, read the scripture. The numerous ways in which this truth is revealed will help open your mind.
It is wise to read just one page a day. The teaching is revolutionary. The biased mind does not readily accept it. After the daily reading, meditate. Let the message soak through.
An oft-recurring expression in this scripture is 'kakataliya' - a crow alights on the cocoanut palm tree, and that very moment a ripe cocoanut falls. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though there is no causal relationship.
Such is life. Such is 'creation'. But the mind caught up in its own trap of logic questions 'why', invents a 'why', and a 'wherefore', to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.
Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observed and the observation - and the realisation of their indivisible unity as the infinite consciousness.
That is the uniqueness of this scripture which hence declares itself to be supreme:
Except through this scripture, one cannot gain what is good, now or at any time. Therefore, for perfect realisation of the supreme truth, one should fervently investigate this scripture alone. (VI.2.103)
It is, however the teaching that is supreme, not a book or a sage. Hence, Vasistha is bold enough to say:
If, however, one thinks it is not authoritative because it is of human origin, one can resort to the study of any other scripture dealing with self-knowledge and final liberation. (VI.2.175)
Whichever be the scripture taught, by whomever, and whichever be the path you choose, stop not till the psychological conditioning ceases entirely. Hence, Vasistha exhorts the seeker:
One should study at least a small part of this scripture daily. The beauty in this scripture is that its student is not abandoned to his despair; if something is not clear in the first instance, a further study of the scripture makes it clear. (VI.2.175)
Dust of Gurudev's Feet
Swami Venkatesananda
© Venkatesananda & Chiltern Yoga Trust
Swami Venkatesananda Legacy Rights
May God bless you all with health, long life, prosperity, and spiritual enlightenment.
May you all walk in the Light of God, with God with your hand in His, with the whole of you in His Palm.
Live in God. Love in God. Serve God in all beings.
May that Supreme Being dwell in your eyes, in your heart, seeing His Own Self in all; seeing God Himself in all.
May we thus swim in the Ocean of Bliss.
May that Peace that passeth all understanding dwell in your heart, radiate from every pore of your skin,
bathing everyone who comes within the circle of your aura with that inexpressible peace.
May harmony radiate from you, dispelling the darkness of disharmony wherever it is found.
May bliss radiate from you, dispelling the gloom of suffering, misery, pain - physical, mental, moral and spiritual.
May God lead us from the Unreal to the Real, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality.
Assert every moment of your life - I am not the body, I am not this finite, limited mind, I am the Immortal Self.
May you be established in that Self-Realisation right now.
May God bless you all with health, long life, prosperity, and spiritual inlightenment.
Swami Venkatesananda
Om Namah Shivaya - Om Namah Venkatesaya