Yoga Vasistha in Poem

The Yoga Vasistha is a manual for the sincere spiritual seeker. Through the use of stories and illustrations, Vasistha brings out the most subtle points, not in theory but for practice. The way of bringing out these points inspires the seeker towards their actualization in practice—both in life and the mat—these being one and the same. The opening story of the first chapter sets the stage that both life which includes all activity and meditation or practice lead to the goal like two wings of a bird.

Vasistha makes it very clear that the problem is confusion of the real with the unreal or changing due to the seeming reality of its appearance. Life is the field where this takes place and life must also be the field where this is corrected. Meditation or practice sharpens the instrument which allows for a life where we deal with things as they are, without the interference of thought. This thins the mind and the mind and this thinned mind is ready for deeper meditation so one’s true nature can be seen.

Life or activity and meditation or practice feed on each other in a cycle of ridding the mind of its impurities so one’s true nature can be seen. This is the task on hand and this mighty scripture is a blazing light on the path.

It took about a year to complete this work which is dedicated to Swami Venkatesananda whose writings and teachings on the Yoga Vasistha have inspired this effort. This work is not intended as a complete poetic rendition but expressing in poetry what I myself found most useful.

Formats

The print friendly version has been set in (11″ wide x 8 1/2″ high) landscape format in two columns to save paper and reduce size. The eBook version is in one column with a smaller page size, formatted to work best with most readers.

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This graphic has the inspiring and important closing verses from the Yoga Vasistha in Poem. Click on the image to download an 8 x 10 suitable for print.