Sri Yoga Vasishta (Maharamayanam) Book of Nirvana Part II

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Viswamitra, the great sage of many spiritual attainments and chievements, comes to the court of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya, to quest for the help of his son Prince Rama for protecting his Sacrificial site from the ravaging onslaughts of the Rakshas (demons). Dasaratha, the aged king, was initially hesitant to send Rama to the battlefield. He pleads with Viswamitra 'Rama is only sixteen years now. He does not have the experience of a battle, and least of all, with the ferocious Rakshas. I shall come instead with all my armies. Viswamitra concedes that Dasaratha is an experienced battle-scarred warrior of significant successes. Even so he cannot replace Rama who, though young, is highly skilled in warfare. He requests Sage Vasishta, the Guru of Raghu clan, the dynasty of Dasaratha and Rama, to intervene on his behalf. Sage Vasishta explains to Dasaratha that Rama is no ordinary person and suggests that he accedes to the request of Sage Viswamitra. Unable to counter Vasishta, since the word of a Guru is like a command, Dasaratha agrees to send Rama and tells Rama to accompany Sage Viswamitra. But Rama was averse to undertake the expedition even though he is a dutiful son. He has just returned from a pilgrimage to various holy places of India and the result of the tour was a conviction that there is very little to commend the pursuing of activity in an ephemeral world. Thus starts the famous dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Rama.

Of the 32000 slokas, nearly 16000 constitute the Book of Nirvana. And it is also like a summary of all that has to be conveyed by Vasishta to Rama.

Yogavasishtam is one of the important texts of Indian spiritual tradition. It expounds almost all strands of spiritual experience and thoughts that span the wide range of the tradition. It is one of the most ancient expositions containing many important thought patterns of even the famous Bhagavad Gita. In Yogavasishtam, the story of Arjuna and the 'Yoga of disinterest and detachment' correspond to the Bhagavad Gita.

The text of Yogavasishtam represents the typical dialogue between a teacher and a student in great detail. The exposition extends to over nearly twenty days, almost every day from sunrise to sunset. The audience consisted of a wide range of people starting from common people with simple interest to learned sages and gods. The setting seems to be in the vast palace gardens in a recess of cleared ground flanked by huge, tall trees with crowns of dense foliage with the sky as canopy. This may be the reason why Vasishta draws heavily from the analogy of tree and cloud apart from the idea of mirage. The exposition is such that all propositions, and hypotheses are explained in great detail with illustrative stories and logical elaborations. Yogavasishtam contains its own annotations and commentary and hence the enormous length.