Yoga Vasistha is an amazing book. Studying this work can undoubtedly help a careful listener achieve higher knowledge and self-realization. The teachings presented are close in spirit to Advaita and Kashmir Shaivism. It is considered one of the main texts of Indian philosophy, revealing the doctrine from an intuitive perspective. The book explains the principles of the teaching and illustrates them with a vast number of stories, fairy tales, and parables. It is intended for spiritually advanced seekers, but others will also certainly find food for thought in it.
The book is a collection of dialogues between a huge number of sages who gathered at the royal palace to impart the highest knowledge to the prince Rama. Rama asks questions, and the sage Vasistha answers. Vasistha’s teachings address all questions related to inner knowledge of one’s own nature, as well as the cycles of creation, maintenance, and destruction of the world. In short, the doctrine states that everything is a manifestation of infinite Consciousness, including the material world—that is, the world as you see it.
The book was translated into Russian from the English translation of a Sanskrit original. The English version, from which parts are sometimes a free author’s translation, belongs to Swami Venkatesananda, while the author of the Sanskrit original has been forgotten by history. Those who know languages can consult the English version used for the translation, titled “Vasistha’s Yoga” by Swami Venkatesananda, State University of New York Press, 1993.