Contents and stories of the Yoga Vasistha

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The below list gives an overview of the contents and stories in the Yoga Vasistha , as it appears in Swami Venkatesananda's translation. The same stories are included in the Moksopaya , on which the Yoga Vasistha was based, as well.

<i>Yoga Vasistha</i>

Yoga Vasistha is a philosophical text attributed to Valmiki, although the real author is unknown. The complete text contains over 29,000 verses. The short version of the text is called Laghu Yogavasistha and contains 6,000 verses. The exact century of its completion is unknown, but has been estimated to be somewhere between 6th-century to as late as 14th-century, but it is likely that a version of the text existed in the 1st millennium.

Contents

In the beginning of the book Vasistha states that the stories have a "definite purpose and a limited intention. They are not to be taken literally, nor is their significance to be stretched beyond the intention." [1] [ better source needed ]

Section One: On Dispassion

Section Two: On the Behavior of a Seeker

Section Three: On Creation

Karkati asks questions to the King of Kirata, from the Mughal Yoga Vasishta. Meister des Jog-Vashisht-Manuskripts 001.jpg
Karkati asks questions to the King of Kirata, from the Mughal Yoga Vasishta.

Lila or Leela can be loosely translated as the "divine play". The concept of Lila is common to both non-dualist and dualist philosophical schools of Indian philosophy, but has a markedly different significance in each. Within non-dualism, Lila is a way of describing all reality, including the cosmos, as the outcome of creative play by the divine absolute (Brahman). In the dualistic schools of Vaishnavism, Lila refers to the activities of God and his devotee, as well as the macrocosmic actions of the manifest universe, as seen in the Vaishnava scripture Srimad Bhagavatam, verse 3.26.4:

sa eṣa prakṛtiḿ sūkṣmāḿ
daivīḿ guṇamayīḿ vibhuḥ
yadṛcchayaivopagatām
abhyapadyata līlayā

"As His pastimes, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature."

Ahalya Wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi in Hindu mythology.

In Hindu mythology, Ahalya also known as Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama Maharishi. Many Hindu scriptures say that she was seduced by Indra, cursed by her husband for infidelity, and liberated from the curse by Rama.

Section Four: On Existence

Shukra Planet Venus, also a Hindu deity

Shukra is a Sanskrit word that means "lucid, clear, bright". It also has other meanings, such as the name of an ancient sage who counseled Asuras in Vedic mythology. In medieval mythology and Hindu astrology, the term refers to the planet Venus, one of the Navagrahas.

Section Five: On Dissolution

Janaka father of Sita

Janaka was an ancient Indian king of Videha, approximately in the 8th or 7th century BCE,. The rulers of the Videha kingdom were all called Janakas. He later appears as a character in the Ramayana. His original name was Shiradhaj & he had a brother name Kushadhaj. His father name Hroshhoroma. King Nimi was the first ruler of Videha kingdom. Then king Mithi, supposed the name Mithila came after him. His son king Janaka(1st), he was the first janaka. Then after three successor came king Devraat and after Devraat the 15th successor was Hroshhoroma.

Mahabali mythical character

Mahabali is also known as Bali or Māveli or "Vairochana" was a benevolent Asura King, and the grandson of Prahlada in Indian scriptures. The festival of Onam is celebrated in Kerala to mark his yearly homecoming after being sent down to the underworld Sutala by Vamana, a dwarf and the fifth incarnation avatar of Vishnu. The government of Kerala declared Onam as the ‘State Festival’ of Kerala in 1960.

Prahlada was a king, the son of Hiranyakashipu and Kayadhu, and the father of Virochana. He belonged to the Kashyap gotra. He is described as a saintly boy from the Puranas known for his piety and bhakti to Lord Vishnu. Despite the abusive nature of his father, Hiranyakashipu, he continued his devotion towards Lord Vishnu. He is considered to be a mahājana, or great devotee, by followers of Vaishnava traditions and is of special importance to devotees of the avatār Narasiṁha. A treatise is accredited to him in the Bhagavata Purana in which Prahlāda describes the process of loving worship to his Lord Vishnu. The majority of stories in the Puranas are based on the activities of Prahlāda as a young boy, and he is usually depicted as such in paintings and illustrations.

Section Six: On Liberation

Brahman metaphysical concept, unchanging Ultimate Reality in Hinduism

Brahman connotes the highest Universal Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a metaphysical concept is the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists in the universe.

Arjuna character from Indian epic Mahabharata

Arjuna is a main central character of the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata and plays a key role in the Bhagavad Gita alongside Krishna. It is believed that Arjuna was the best archer in the world at their time. Arjuna was the son of Indra, the king of the celestials, born of Kunti, the first wife of King Pandu in the Kuru Kingdom. In a previous birth he was a saint named Nara who was the lifelong companion of another saint Narayana an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who took rebirth as Lord Krishna. He was the third of the Pandava brothers and was married to Draupadi, Ulupi, Chitrāngadā and Subhadra at different times. His children included Srutakarma, Iravan, Babruvahana, and Abhimanyu. Arjuna was equal to 12 maharatha class warriors.

Bhagiratha

Bhagiratha was a great king who brought the River Ganges, personified as the river goddess Ganga, to Earth from the heavens. When he was prince of Sagara Dynasty, he did penance for a thousand years on the advice of his guru Trithala, to gain the release his 60,000 great-uncles from the curse of saint Kapila which eventually led to descent of the goddess Ganga in the form of the river Ganges, to the earth. To commemorate his efforts, the head stream of the river is called Bhagirathi, till it meets Alaknanda River at Devprayag.

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References

  1. Swami Venkatesananda, 1984, pp. 36.