Yoga-Vasistha of Valmiki (Sanskrit Text with English Translation)

Description

The Yoga or contemplative philosophy of the Hindus, is rich, exuberent, grand and sublime, in as much as it comprehends within its ample sphere and deep recesses of meditation, all that is of the greatest value, best interest and highest importance to mankind, as physical, moral, intellectual and spiritual beings a knowledge of the cosmos of the physical and intellectual worlds. The principal gods Brahma and Siva are represented as Yogis, the chief sages Vyasa, Valmiki, Vasistha and Yajnavalkya were propound-ers of Yoga systems; the saints one and all were adepts in Yoga. As the end of aim of Yoga is the emancipation of the Soul, it is necessary to give some account of the nature of the soul (Atmatatva) as far as it was known to the sages of India. Yogavasistha is the greatest one of the Yoga-philosophy by Valmiki, known by several names, e.g. Maharamayana, Arsaramayana, Vasistharamayana, Jnanavasistha etc. This work has six chapters known as prakaranas as 1. Vairagya prakarana.2. Mumuksu vyahára prakarana, 3. Utpatti prakarana, 4. Sthiti prakarana, 5. Upasama prakarana, 6. Nirvada prakarana. The Present Edition of the translator Vihari Lal Mitra comes from a Bengali background, his dicta is sometimes found impressed with Bengali accent. This is why, he has written sattva as sottva, arghya as orghya, asattva as asuttva, etc. At all such places, a correct rendering of spellings has been made by the present editor without having leaned to Bengali accent. The translator has mistaken Samadhi for hypnotism, hence to avoid confusion Samadhi has been rendered as samadhi for lack of any synonym thereof. Since this and other Yogic terms are peculiar to Sanskrit and they don’t have their exact equivalences in other languages of the world. The old English usage sometimes takes its course in the translation in land so the present editor has replaced all such usages by the modest terms available in English language.