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Yoga Vasishta Sara
The Brihat (the great) Yoga Vasishta or Yoga Vasishta Maha Ramayana as it is also called, is a work of about 32,000 Sanskrit couplets, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, the author of Srimad Ramayana. It is a dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Sri Rama, during which Advaita (the doctrine of non-duality) in its pure form of ajatavada (theory of non-origination) is expounded, with illustrative stories in between. This vast work was abridged some centuries ago by Abhinanda Pandita, a Kashmiri scholar, into 6,000 couplets, which go by the name of Laghu Yoga Vasishta. This is a masterpiece in itself, like the original Brihat.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to refer to Yoga Vasishta frequently and has even incorporated six couplets from it in His Supplement to Forty Verses (verses 21 to 27).
A further condensation of this work was made long ago, by an unknown author, into about 230 couplets, divided into ten chapters, as Yoga Vasishta Sara (Essence of Yoga Vasishta). By making this condensation the author has rendered a great service to all sadhaks. This is indeed a goldmine fit for repeated reading and meditation.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to refer to Yoga Vasishta frequently and has even incorporated six couplets from it in His Supplement to Forty Verses (verses 21 to 27).
A further condensation of this work was made long ago, by an unknown author, into about 230 couplets, divided into ten chapters, as Yoga Vasishta Sara (Essence of Yoga Vasishta). By making this condensation the author has rendered a great service to all sadhaks. This is indeed a goldmine fit for repeated reading and meditation.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
111 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Vālmīki
483 books138 followersValmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself.He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e. first verse, which set the base and defined the form to Sanskrit poetry. The Yoga Vasistha is attributed to him. A religious movement called Valmikism is based on Valmiki's teachings as presented in the Ramayana and the Yoga Vasistha.
At least by the 1st century AD, Valmiki's reputation as the father of Sanskrit classical poetry seems to have been legendary. Ashvagosha writes in the Buddhacarita,
"The voice of Valmiki uttered poetry which the great seer Chyavana could not compose."
This particular verse has been speculated to indicate a familial relationship between Valmiki and Chyavana, as implied by the previous and subsequent verses.
At least by the 1st century AD, Valmiki's reputation as the father of Sanskrit classical poetry seems to have been legendary. Ashvagosha writes in the Buddhacarita,
"The voice of Valmiki uttered poetry which the great seer Chyavana could not compose."
This particular verse has been speculated to indicate a familial relationship between Valmiki and Chyavana, as implied by the previous and subsequent verses.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 17, 2018
The best book in the whole wide world. The most fullest one when it comes to philosophical argumentation and main lines of thinking. It can be read and re read. Very profound book but prepare yourself for slow reading with obvious traditional digresses and scenes. First chapters are the slowest and one might say the least meaningful. But they are there for a reason. They prepare reader for a certain pace and rhythm which will be helpful later.
Book onion. Of many many layers.
The best book on philosophy,mysticism and different types of religion combined.
Book onion. Of many many layers.
The best book on philosophy,mysticism and different types of religion combined.
June 5, 2025
Very compact gist of a huge scriptural tome.
May 10, 2020
Best selected verses from the vast scripture Yoga Vasishtam. This is bhrama gnana so, don't get disappointed if you don't understand some/many of them......come and read it after a year or so, and read this book with new experiences......
May 6, 2023
Excellent
It is interesting that the meditation from this alone can get one into self-realization. Meditation is considered to still the mind and free it from false identification and false imaginings. Through the constant question of "who am i?" And the awareness that one is already that is enough to free oneself from the apparent bonds of our minds towards the freedom of nirvana. The book is short, concise, easy to understand, although not easily grasped since it requires experiencing the self. Good luck to anyone out there pursuing this great work. For there is nothing there to do.
It is interesting that the meditation from this alone can get one into self-realization. Meditation is considered to still the mind and free it from false identification and false imaginings. Through the constant question of "who am i?" And the awareness that one is already that is enough to free oneself from the apparent bonds of our minds towards the freedom of nirvana. The book is short, concise, easy to understand, although not easily grasped since it requires experiencing the self. Good luck to anyone out there pursuing this great work. For there is nothing there to do.
December 2, 2025
The Kindle edition of Yoga Vasishta Sara presents itself as a deliberately austere gateway into one of India's most profound philosophical texts, and it succeeds remarkably well within its chosen constraints. This condensed version strips the expansive original Yoga Vasistha down to ten tightly organized chapters that move with deliberate logic from the preparatory cultivation of dispassion through to the silent realization of nirvana.
The opening chapter on dispassion establishes the text's unflinching tone immediately, asking readers to examine their attachments with radical honesty before proceeding further. This is not passive philosophy but an active call to inner transformation, and the book makes no apologies for the rigor it demands.
The progression through chapters two through five reveals the text's diagnostic precision. The teaching on the unreality of the world is presented with characteristic Advaita directness, asserting the mind's role in constructing apparent reality without the elaborate stories and dialogues that characterize the full Yoga Vasistha. While these narrative elements are missed, they provide crucial illustration and emotional resonance, the aphoristic style here offers its own rewards for readers willing to sit with ambiguity and work through implications independently. The chapters on the liberated person, the dissolution of mind, and the destruction of latent impressions together form a portrait of both the goal and the means, showing what freedom looks like while simultaneously pointing toward the psychological mechanisms that must be understood and transcended. The treatment of vasanas those stubborn impressions that perpetuate reactivity which is particularly valuable, offering ancient insight into what contemporary psychology might call conditioning or habitual patterns.
The middle chapters on meditation, purification, and worship of the Self represent the text's practical heart, though "practical" must be understood in the context of contemplative literature rather than step-by-step instruction. These sections reorient spiritual practice away from technique-obsession toward the actual object of realization, reminding us that meditation is ultimately about recognizing what already is rather than achieving what isn't. The notion of "worship of the Self" is especially striking in its inward turn, reframing devotion as recognition rather than petition. The methods outlined are systematic in principle but compressed in presentation, which means that serious students will likely need supplementary resources like a teacher, a fuller commentary, or extended practice within a tradition, to translate these concentrated instructions into lived experience.
The final two chapters bring the teaching to its natural culmination. The exposition of the Self is doctrinally clear and metaphysically uncompromising, stating in compressed form what the Self is and is not, while the concluding chapter on nirvana offers not dramatic promises but quiet affirmation. The silence of liberation is its own testimony, and the book wisely avoids sensationalizing awakening with signs, stages, or spectacular claims. This restraint is both a strength and a potential limitation.
The Kindle format serves this material reasonably well, making an important text accessible and portable, though the digital medium can encourage hasty reading that defeats the book's purpose. This is emphatically not a text to be consumed quickly or treated as informational content. Each verse deserves to be read slowly, perhaps repeatedly, ideally as part of a contemplative practice rather than an intellectual project. The edition would benefit from additional contextual notes or a brief introduction explaining key Sanskrit terms like vairagya, vasana, and jivanmukta for readers unfamiliar with Advaita vocabulary, yet the absence of such apparatus also preserves a certain purity, the verses speak directly without intermediary interpretation. The brevity that makes the book accessible also means it cannot replace engagement with the full Yoga Vasistha, which provides the stories, arguments, and elaborations that help these condensed teachings truly land. Readers who find themselves drawn to these verses would do well to eventually explore longer translations or traditional commentaries.
It is ideally suited for meditators who value concentrated aphorisms over extended explanation, for students of Advaita who want a portable companion for daily reflection, and for anyone who has developed enough familiarity with nondual philosophy to work with its compressed wisdom independently. It is less suitable as a first introduction to these ideas or as a standalone teaching resource. The text assumes a certain readiness in its audience which not necessarily advanced realization, but genuine willingness to question assumptions and sit with difficult truths about attachment, identity, and the nature of experience.
Despite its limitations, Yoga Vasishta Sara remains a luminous distillation of liberating insight. Its ten chapters, read with patience and sincerity, can serve as powerful catalysts for self-inquiry and as reminders of what lies beyond the mind's habitual constructions. Within its intended scope, however, it accomplishes something rare: it preserves the transformative essence of a vast teaching in a form that fits in your pocket yet resonates in the depths of consciousness.
The opening chapter on dispassion establishes the text's unflinching tone immediately, asking readers to examine their attachments with radical honesty before proceeding further. This is not passive philosophy but an active call to inner transformation, and the book makes no apologies for the rigor it demands.
The progression through chapters two through five reveals the text's diagnostic precision. The teaching on the unreality of the world is presented with characteristic Advaita directness, asserting the mind's role in constructing apparent reality without the elaborate stories and dialogues that characterize the full Yoga Vasistha. While these narrative elements are missed, they provide crucial illustration and emotional resonance, the aphoristic style here offers its own rewards for readers willing to sit with ambiguity and work through implications independently. The chapters on the liberated person, the dissolution of mind, and the destruction of latent impressions together form a portrait of both the goal and the means, showing what freedom looks like while simultaneously pointing toward the psychological mechanisms that must be understood and transcended. The treatment of vasanas those stubborn impressions that perpetuate reactivity which is particularly valuable, offering ancient insight into what contemporary psychology might call conditioning or habitual patterns.
The middle chapters on meditation, purification, and worship of the Self represent the text's practical heart, though "practical" must be understood in the context of contemplative literature rather than step-by-step instruction. These sections reorient spiritual practice away from technique-obsession toward the actual object of realization, reminding us that meditation is ultimately about recognizing what already is rather than achieving what isn't. The notion of "worship of the Self" is especially striking in its inward turn, reframing devotion as recognition rather than petition. The methods outlined are systematic in principle but compressed in presentation, which means that serious students will likely need supplementary resources like a teacher, a fuller commentary, or extended practice within a tradition, to translate these concentrated instructions into lived experience.
The final two chapters bring the teaching to its natural culmination. The exposition of the Self is doctrinally clear and metaphysically uncompromising, stating in compressed form what the Self is and is not, while the concluding chapter on nirvana offers not dramatic promises but quiet affirmation. The silence of liberation is its own testimony, and the book wisely avoids sensationalizing awakening with signs, stages, or spectacular claims. This restraint is both a strength and a potential limitation.
The Kindle format serves this material reasonably well, making an important text accessible and portable, though the digital medium can encourage hasty reading that defeats the book's purpose. This is emphatically not a text to be consumed quickly or treated as informational content. Each verse deserves to be read slowly, perhaps repeatedly, ideally as part of a contemplative practice rather than an intellectual project. The edition would benefit from additional contextual notes or a brief introduction explaining key Sanskrit terms like vairagya, vasana, and jivanmukta for readers unfamiliar with Advaita vocabulary, yet the absence of such apparatus also preserves a certain purity, the verses speak directly without intermediary interpretation. The brevity that makes the book accessible also means it cannot replace engagement with the full Yoga Vasistha, which provides the stories, arguments, and elaborations that help these condensed teachings truly land. Readers who find themselves drawn to these verses would do well to eventually explore longer translations or traditional commentaries.
It is ideally suited for meditators who value concentrated aphorisms over extended explanation, for students of Advaita who want a portable companion for daily reflection, and for anyone who has developed enough familiarity with nondual philosophy to work with its compressed wisdom independently. It is less suitable as a first introduction to these ideas or as a standalone teaching resource. The text assumes a certain readiness in its audience which not necessarily advanced realization, but genuine willingness to question assumptions and sit with difficult truths about attachment, identity, and the nature of experience.
Despite its limitations, Yoga Vasishta Sara remains a luminous distillation of liberating insight. Its ten chapters, read with patience and sincerity, can serve as powerful catalysts for self-inquiry and as reminders of what lies beyond the mind's habitual constructions. Within its intended scope, however, it accomplishes something rare: it preserves the transformative essence of a vast teaching in a form that fits in your pocket yet resonates in the depths of consciousness.
March 21, 2024
This is the shortest version of Yoga Vasishta available for English readers.
The book has couplets expounding the Advaita (nondualism) philosophy in Hinduism. It is an abstruse read as a lot of theory has to be realized experientially to truly comprehend it.
Since it is translated from Sanskrit, some meanings are lost in translation and certain metaphors do not translate well.
Nevertheless, it is a treasure that requires multiple reads!
The book has couplets expounding the Advaita (nondualism) philosophy in Hinduism. It is an abstruse read as a lot of theory has to be realized experientially to truly comprehend it.
Since it is translated from Sanskrit, some meanings are lost in translation and certain metaphors do not translate well.
Nevertheless, it is a treasure that requires multiple reads!
August 29, 2019
This is a book everyone should read and reread, whichever their beliefs and social background. The knowledge condensed here may be taken as a vital attitude, to a greater or lesser extent. Maybe nowadays, when the sense of wholeness seems to be lost in what Neil Postman called "a sea of irrelevance", these ancient teachings are more necessary than ever.
August 15, 2021
Use this book for Nidhidyasana
Reading this sacred text of non-duality transcend this world of duality. Each verse is capable to free us from this samsara.. koti koti pranam to the seers. Om tat sat..
Reading this sacred text of non-duality transcend this world of duality. Each verse is capable to free us from this samsara.. koti koti pranam to the seers. Om tat sat..
Read
April 1, 2024It is a summary well done. Easy to understand and prepare you for the complete book. Recommend to to get the audible companion ( $1.99 at the time I bought it) to review it while doing other tasks to really grasp the real essence of the teachings.
June 23, 2017
Too abstract for me to understand.
The book is too abstract to be understood by an ordinary person like me. Maybe it needs a lot of initiation.
The book is too abstract to be understood by an ordinary person like me. Maybe it needs a lot of initiation.
July 9, 2019
It's a book that you can read every once in a while.
October 12, 2019
Absolute Real Knowledge !
May 12, 2020
Hard going
August 24, 2020
JUST READ IT
A goldmine for any sadhak. Must read. The best classic I have read . Buy without any hesitation. Nest 60 Rs you can spend
A goldmine for any sadhak. Must read. The best classic I have read . Buy without any hesitation. Nest 60 Rs you can spend
July 25, 2021
This book is indeed a goldmine fit for repeated reading.
August 26, 2024
Interesting
January 13, 2025
You will love it
Simply delicious. Easy and a delightful to read. Pranams to Sage Vasishta. Blessed to be able to enjoy it. Jai Ram!
Simply delicious. Easy and a delightful to read. Pranams to Sage Vasishta. Blessed to be able to enjoy it. Jai Ram!
September 1, 2016
Excellent book
One of the best explained book on the highest form of oriental philosophy of Advaita, in a form so as to apply in our day to day life. A must read book for those who want to understand the crux of eastern philosophy expounded in the Vedas and Upanishads. The book proves The point said by swami Vivekananda, I.e., 'some of the very best parts of Upanishads and Vedas were written by ruling monarchs, and not exclusively by brahminical saints alone.' That is why it is very practical. Regards.
One of the best explained book on the highest form of oriental philosophy of Advaita, in a form so as to apply in our day to day life. A must read book for those who want to understand the crux of eastern philosophy expounded in the Vedas and Upanishads. The book proves The point said by swami Vivekananda, I.e., 'some of the very best parts of Upanishads and Vedas were written by ruling monarchs, and not exclusively by brahminical saints alone.' That is why it is very practical. Regards.
September 22, 2016
I read the Telugu translation by Nori Sreenatha Venkata Somayajulu and enjoyed reading it. The back drop for this book is in Valmiki Ramayana when Sage Viswamitra comes to seek help for King Dasaratha for protecting their fire rituals. At this time Sree Rama was enlightened by Sage Vasishta about the what real "I" is to be known as and ways to achieve that knowledge. In lot of ways I found the same message of Nishkaama yoga of Bhagavadgita. There is even futuristic mention about Bhagavadgita in this book. In the end this lead to more questions for myself. Definitely thought provoking book.
February 8, 2017
It is the teachings of Maharshi Vasistha to his disciple Prince Rama. This is a selected verses. Teachings are associated with Advaita Vedanta and Yoga, and explain the illusory nature of the manifest world and the principle of non-duality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2016
Excellent explanation on self
Thousands of years ago our great sages could bring such wonderful explanation on self in very simple and effective way based on their own experience to kill our ego is wonderful.
Thousands of years ago our great sages could bring such wonderful explanation on self in very simple and effective way based on their own experience to kill our ego is wonderful.
February 1, 2023
Dialogue between sage vasishta & Sri Rama, during which Adwaita in its pure form of ajatavada (theory of origination)
is expounded.
Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi often quotes from Yoga Vasishta
This book is goldmine of wisdom
is expounded.
Bhagwan Sri Ramana Maharshi often quotes from Yoga Vasishta
This book is goldmine of wisdom
November 10, 2023
Book with a purpose.
February 7, 2017
That which cannot be described
Each of the couplets demand deep introspection and contemplation. Its a challenge to write a review of this book. Read and experience.
Each of the couplets demand deep introspection and contemplation. Its a challenge to write a review of this book. Read and experience.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews