The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of Valmiki
The only complete English translation is
by Vihari Lala Mitra (1891).
[Yoga Vasishtha Maharamayana is a large,
remarkable classical Indian text of philosophy, illustrated
by similes, parables, allegories and stories.
The only complete English translation is by V.L. Mitra
(1891).
Recommended download in Word or PDF (Word
preferrable).
It is currently being prepared for
publication in the public domain at the Project
Gutenberg/Distributed Proofreaders
(www.pgdp.net).
This file contains the introductory chapters
(Preface and "Prolegomena").
The brackets with two stars: [**] denote that
Devanagari Sanskrit text is to be inserted here later on.
The rest of Yoga Vasishtha has been uploaded
at Scribd separately.
There is a group (and a collection) dedicated
to this work named "Yoga Vasishtha, Mitra translation"
The
Yoga Vasishtha
Maharamayana
of
Valmiki
Vol. 1
Containing
The Vairagya, Mumukshu, Prakaranas and
The Utpatti Khanda to Chapter L.
Translated from the original Sanskrit
By
VIHARI-LALA MITRA
PREFACE.
In this age of the cultivation of universal
learning and its
investigation into the deep recesses of the
dead languages of antiquity,
when the literati of both continents are so
sedulously employed in
exploring the rich and almost inexhaustible
mines of the ancient
literature of this country, it has given an
impetus to the philanthropy
of our wise and benign Government to the
institution of a searching
enquiry into the sacred language of this
land. And when the restoration
of the long lost works of its venerable sages
and authors through the
instrumentality of the greatest bibliomaniac
savants and linguists in
the several Presidencies,* has led the
literary Asiatic Societies of
the East and West to the publication of the
rarest and most valuable
Sanskrit Manuscripts, it cannot be deemed
preposterous in me to presume,
to lay before the Public a work of no less
merit and sanctity than any
hitherto published.
* Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra in Bengal, Benares
and Orissa; Dr.
Buhler in Guzrat; Dr. Keilhorn in the Central
Provinces; Dr. Burnell and
other Collectors of Sanskrit manuscripts in
the Presidencies of Bombay,
Madras and Oudh, whose notices and catalogues
have highly contributed to
bring the hidden treasures of the literature
of this country to light.
The Yoga Vasishtha is the earliest work on
Yoga or Speculative and
Abstruse philosophy delivered by the
venerable Vedic sage Vasishtha to
his royal pupil Ráma; the victor of Rávana,
and hero of the
first Epic Rámáyana, and written in the
language of Válmiki, the prime
bard in pure Sanskrit, the author of that
popular Epic, and Homer of
India. It embodies in itself the Loci Communes or common places
relating to the science of Ontology, the
knowledge of Sat—Real
Entity, and Asat—Unreal Non-entity; the principles of Psychology or
doctrines of the Passions and Feelings; the
speculations of Metaphysics
in dwelling upon our cognition, volition and
other faculties of the Mind
( [**]) and the tenets, of Ethics and
practical morality ( [**]).
Besides there are a great many precepts on
Theology, and the nature of
the Divinity ( [**]), and discourses on
Spirituality and Theosophy
( [**]); all delivered in the form of Plato's
Dialogues between the
sages, and tending to the main enquiry
concerning the true felicity,
final beatitude or Summum bonum ( [**]) of all true philosophy.
These topics have singly and jointly
contributed to the structure of
several separate Systems of Science and
Philosophy in succeeding ages,
and have formed the subjects of study both
with the juvenile and senile
classes of people in former and present
times, and I may say, almost
among all nations in all countries throughout
the civilized world.
It is felt at present to be a matter of the
highest importance by the
native community at large, to repress the
growing ardour of our youth in
political polemics and practical tactics,
that are equally pernicious to
and destructive of the felicity of their
temporal and future lives, by
a revival of the humble instructions of their
peaceful preceptors of
old, and reclaiming them to the simple mode
of life led by their
forefathers, from the perverted course now
gaining ground among them
under the influence of Western refinement.
Outward peace ( [**]) with
internal tranquility ( [**]) is the teaching
of our Sastras, and these
united with contentment ( [**]) and
indifference to worldly pleasures
( [**]), were believed according to the
tenets of Yoga doctrines, to
form the perfect man,—a character which the
Aryans have invariably
preserved amidst the revolutions of ages and
empires. It is the
degeneracy of the rising generation, however,
owing to their adoption of
foreign habits and manners from an utter ignorance
of their own moral
code, which the publication of the present
work is intended to obviate.
From the description of the Hindu mind given
by Max Müller in his
History of the Ancient Literature of India
(p. 18) it will appear, that
the esoteric faith of the Aryan Indian is of
that realistic cast as the
Platonic, whose theory of ontology viewed all
existence, even that of
the celestial bodies, with their movements
among the precepta of
sense, and marked them among the unreal
phantoms ( [**]) or vain
mirage, ( [**]) as the Hindu calls them, that
are interesting in
appearance but useless to observe. They may
be the best of all
precepta, but fall very short of that perfection, which the
mental eye
contemplates in its meditation-yoga. The
Hindu Yogi views the visible
world exactly in the same light as Plato has
represented it in the
simile commencing the seventh book of his
Republic. He compares mankind
to prisoners in a cave, chained in one
particular attitude, so as to
behold only an evervarying multiplicity of
shadows, projected through
the opening of the cave upon the wall before
them, by certain unseen
realities behind. The philosopher alone, who
by training or inspiration
is enabled to turn his face from these
visions, and contemplate with his
mind, that can see at-once the unchangeable
reality amidst these
transient shadows.
The first record that we have of Vasishtha
is, that he was the author of
the 7th Mandala of the Rig Veda (Ashtaka v. 15-118). He is next
mentioned as Purohita or joint minister with Viswámitra to king
Sudása, and to have a violent contest with
his rival for the ( [**]) or
ministerial office (Müll. Hist. S. Lit. page
486, Web. Id. p. 38). He is
said to have accompanied the army of Sudása,
when that king is said to
have conquered the ten invading chiefs who
had crossed over the river
Parushni—(Hydroates or Ravi) to his dominions
(Müll. Id. p. 486).
Viswámitra accompanied Sudása himself beyond
Vipása,—Hyphasis or Beah
and Satadru—Hisaudras-Sutlej (Max Müller,
Ancient Sanscrit literature
page 486). These events are recorded to have
occurred prior to
Vasishtha's composition of the Mandala which passes under his name and
in which they are recorded. (Müll. Id. p.
486).
The enmity and implacable hatred of the two
families of Vasishthas and
Viswámitras for generations, form subjects
prominent throughout the
Vedic antiquity, and preserved in the
tradition of ages (Mull. Id. p.
486, Web. Id. p. 37). Another cause of it was
that, Harischandra, King
of Ayodhyá, was cursed by Vasishtha,
whereupon he made Viswámitra his
priest to the annoyance of Vasishtha,
although the office of Bráhmana
was held by him (Müller Id. page 408 Web. pp.
31-37). In the Bráhmana
period we find Vasishtha forming a family
title for the whole Vasishtha
race still continuing as a Gotra name, and that these Vasishthas
continued as hereditary Gurus and purohitas to the
kings of the
solar race from generation to generation
under the same title. The
Vasishthas were always the Brahmanas or High
priests in every ceremony,
which could not be held by other Bráhmanas
according to the Sáta patha
Bráhmana (Müll. Id. page 92); and
particularly the Indra ceremony had
always to be performed by a Vasishtha,
because it was revealed to their
ancestor the sage Vasishtha only (Web. Ind.
Lit. p. 123); and as the
Sátapatha Bráhmana-Taittiriya Sanhitá mentions it.
"The Rishis do not see Indra clearly,
but Vasishtha saw him. Indra said,
I will tell you, O Bráhman, so that all men
who are born, will have a
Vasishtha for his Purohita" (Max Müll.
Ans. Sans. Lit. p. 92. Web. Id.
p. 123). This will show that the Sloka works,
which are attributed to
Vasishtha, Yájnavalkya or any other Vedic
Rishi, could not be the
composition of the old Rishis, but of some
one of their posterity;
though they might have been propounded by the
eldest sages, and then
put to writing by oral communication or
successive tradition by a
distant descendant or disciple of the
primitive Rishis. Thus we see the
Dráhyáyana Sutras of the Sama Veda is also called the Vasishtha
Sutras, from the author's family name of
Vasishtha (Web. Id. p. 79). The
ásvaláyana Grihya Sutra assigns some other works to Vasishtha, viz.,
the Vasishtha pragáthá, probably Vasishtha Hymni of Bopp; the
Pavamánya, Kshudra sukta, Mahásukta &c. written in the vedic
style. There are two other works attributed
to Vasishtha, the Vasishtha
Sanhitá on Astronomy (Web. Id. p. 258) and
the Vasishtha Smriti on Law
(Web. Id. p. 320), which from their
compositions in Sanscrit slokas,
could not be the language or work of the
Vedic Rishi, but of some one
late member of that family. Thus our work of
Yoga Vasishtha has no claim
or pretension to its being the composition of
the Vedic sage; but as one
propounded by the sage, and written by
Válmiki in his modern Sanskrit.
Here the question is whether Vasishtha the
preceptor of Ráma, was the
Vedic Vasishtha or one of his descendants, I
must leave for others to
determine.
Again in the later Áranyaka period we have an account of a theologian
Vasishtha given in the Árshik-opanishad, as holding a dialogue on the
nature of átmá or soul between the sages, Viswámitra, Jamadagni,
Bharadwája, Gautama and himself; when
Vasishtha appealing to the opinion
of Kapila obtained their assent (Weber Id. p.
162). This appears very
probably to be the theological author of our
yoga, and eminent above his
contemporaries in his knowledge of the Kapila
yoga sástra which was
then current, from this sage's having been a
contemporary with king
Sagara, a predecessor of Rama.
In the latest Sútra period we find a passage
in the
Grihya-Sútra-parisishta, about the distinctive mark of the Vasishtha
Family from those of the other parishads or classes of the priesthood.
It says,
"The Vasishthas wear a braid (lock of
hair) on the right side, the
Átreyas wear three braids, the Angiras have
five braids, the Bhrigus are
bald, and all others have a single
crest," (Müller Id. p. 53). The Karma
pradípa says, "the Vasishthas exclude
meat from their sacrifice; [**]
(Müller A. S. Lit. p. 54), and the colour of
their dress was white (Id.
p. 483). Many Vasishthas are named in
different works as; [**] [**]
[**], and some others, bearing no other
connection with our author,
than that of their having been members of the
same family (Müller's A.
S. Lit. p. 44).
Without dilating any longer with further
accounts relating to the sage
Vasishtha of which many more might be
gathered from various sastras, I
shall add in the conclusion the following
notice which is taken of this
work by Professor Monier Williams in his work
on Indian Wisdom p. 370.
"There is", says he, "a
remarkable work called Vasishtha Rámáyana or
Yoga Vásishtha or Vasishtha Mahárámáyana in
the form of an exhortation,
with illustrative narratives addressed by
Vasishtha to his pupil the
youthful Ráma, on the best means of attaining
true happiness, and
considered to have been composed as an
appendage to the Rámáyana by
Válmiki himself. There is another work of the
same nature called the
Adhyátma Rámáyana which is attributed to
Vyása, and treat of the moral
and theological subjects connected with the
life and acts of that great
hero of Indian history. Many other works are
extant in the vernacular
dialects having the same theme for their
subject which it is needless to
notice in this place."
Vasishtha, known as the wisest of sages, like
Solomon the wisest of men,
and Aurelius the wisest of emperors, puts
forth in the first part and in
the mouth of Ráma the great question of the
vanity of the world, which
is shown synthetically to a great length from
the state of all living
existences, the instinct, inclinations, and
passions of men, the nature
of their aims and objects, with some
discussions about destiny,
necessity, activity and the state of the soul
and spirit. The second
part embraces various directions for the
union of the individual with
the universal Abstract Existence—the Supreme
Spirit—the subjective and
the objective truth—and the common topics of
all speculative
philosophy.
Thus says Milton: "The end of learning
is to know God".
So the Persian adage, "Akhiral ilm buad
ilmi Khodá."
Such also the Sanskrit, "Sávidyá tan
matir yayá."
And the sruti says, "Yad jnátwá náparan
jnánam."
i. e. "It is that which being known, there is nothing else
required to
be known."
1. The Yoga Philosophy 1
2. The Om Tat Sat 34
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
( My
humble salutations to Brahmasri Sreemaan Vihari Lala Mitra ji for the
collection)
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