Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Integral Adwaita, Yoga Vashishtha, Kashmir Shaivism

[The viewpoint embraced by Vasishtha's Yoga is very similar to Kashmir Shaivism, which teaches that Consciousness alone exists and that the universe is nothing but the self-expression of this Consciousness. Hindu Gems - Siddha Forum]
Not included in any major scriptural combination and its authorship and age debatable, the Yoga Vashistha Ramayana is a curious text. A potpourri of cosmology, mythology and ethics, its low-brow status is ironic for its high exegesis.

Although Sri Aurobindo is on record as not having much acquaintance with it, among the ancient treatises, the Yoga Vashistha comes closest to his theory of Integral Adwaita. Though not identical, it contains the description of various kinds of Ignorance as in The Life Divine.

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