First comes the story of Suka in the first Prakarana.
Suka was not satisfied with all the explanations his
father, Vyasa gave of Maya and hence resorted to
Janaka for aid who by Aparoksha or direct
realisation within himself, showed the end.
the second Prakarana called Mumukshu. Of the four fold qualifications necessary to a disciple on the path, vis., the discrimination of Atman and non-Atman, etc., Rama having developed the first three is asked by Vasistha to concentrate his mind upon the attainment of Moksha. For this purpose, Vasistha expatiates in Mumukshu Prakarana upon the preliminary qualifications necessary for the attainment of Moksha or salvation. Here the author says that the four sentinels posted at the gate of Moksha are Santi (quiescence of mind or sweet patience), Vichara (the enquiry after Atman), Santosha (contentment of mind) and Sadhu-Sanga (association with the wise) and will have to be befriended by one wishing to attain Moksha. Should one of them at least be befriended, he will introduce the aspirant to his companion sentinels. Then the author goes on to explain that Moksha does not mean the physical separation from all worldly affairs but only a state of the mind bereft of all impure Vasanas or clinging towards, but yet working as usual amidst, worldly things. The difference between Vasanas, pure and impure is well defined in this chapter.
Having thus given out the nature of the goal towards which all egos are gravitating, Vasistha, in order to relieve Rama from the mental despair and anguish in which he was placed, then traces the origin of „I‟, its growth and its quiescence and then that state from which the above three states can be viewed as one. For this purpose, he gives out its relationship with the one Reality and the universe.
This is precisely the position in which Arjuna was placed when he was instructed by Sri Krishna as in the Bhagavad Gita and when also he was told the relationship existing between the Universal Spirit, the ego and the cosmos; the difference being that the detailed instructions in this work are not given in a veritable battle field but in that of the mind and are illustrated by a series of stories wherein the different stages of the mind are worked out to suit a disciple on the path. Now taking his stand on the Pantheistic conception of Brahman being the one Reality and the universe and Jiva as his aspect or manifestation, Vasistha begins the Utpatti Prakarana with the statement that the Jiva or ego in man and the universe in their innate condition are Brahman only and this phenomenal universe is but an outcome of the Divine Will seeming to be real through the workings of the mind. In the technical phraseology of this work, the ideation reflected in the Lila-Sankalpa of Brahman is the origin of the world; its manifestation, the preservation of the world; and its disappearance, the destruction of the world. These are the three aspects that are dilated upon in the second, third and fourth Prakaranas. In other words, the old Hindu philosophers held that the universe is nothing but states or modes of consciousness reflected through the Sankalpa or will of Para Brahman which is said through its Law to evolve the universe out itself for its Lila or sport. The word Sankalpa is rather a difficult word to translate. Originally it is the Divine Will in manifestation and in man in his present stage becomes the will-thought pertaining to his Antahkarana or the lower mind. It is through the Sankalpa of our Manas that the universe appears to be and it is this Sankalpa that is asked to be given up by one who wishes to soar to the one Reality beyond this universe. The author of this work LAGHU YOGA VASISTHA defines, in one chapter, Sankalpa to mean the ideation of Aham or „I‟; which arises in the relationship of subject to object when conditioning is brought about.
the second Prakarana called Mumukshu. Of the four fold qualifications necessary to a disciple on the path, vis., the discrimination of Atman and non-Atman, etc., Rama having developed the first three is asked by Vasistha to concentrate his mind upon the attainment of Moksha. For this purpose, Vasistha expatiates in Mumukshu Prakarana upon the preliminary qualifications necessary for the attainment of Moksha or salvation. Here the author says that the four sentinels posted at the gate of Moksha are Santi (quiescence of mind or sweet patience), Vichara (the enquiry after Atman), Santosha (contentment of mind) and Sadhu-Sanga (association with the wise) and will have to be befriended by one wishing to attain Moksha. Should one of them at least be befriended, he will introduce the aspirant to his companion sentinels. Then the author goes on to explain that Moksha does not mean the physical separation from all worldly affairs but only a state of the mind bereft of all impure Vasanas or clinging towards, but yet working as usual amidst, worldly things. The difference between Vasanas, pure and impure is well defined in this chapter.
Having thus given out the nature of the goal towards which all egos are gravitating, Vasistha, in order to relieve Rama from the mental despair and anguish in which he was placed, then traces the origin of „I‟, its growth and its quiescence and then that state from which the above three states can be viewed as one. For this purpose, he gives out its relationship with the one Reality and the universe.
This is precisely the position in which Arjuna was placed when he was instructed by Sri Krishna as in the Bhagavad Gita and when also he was told the relationship existing between the Universal Spirit, the ego and the cosmos; the difference being that the detailed instructions in this work are not given in a veritable battle field but in that of the mind and are illustrated by a series of stories wherein the different stages of the mind are worked out to suit a disciple on the path. Now taking his stand on the Pantheistic conception of Brahman being the one Reality and the universe and Jiva as his aspect or manifestation, Vasistha begins the Utpatti Prakarana with the statement that the Jiva or ego in man and the universe in their innate condition are Brahman only and this phenomenal universe is but an outcome of the Divine Will seeming to be real through the workings of the mind. In the technical phraseology of this work, the ideation reflected in the Lila-Sankalpa of Brahman is the origin of the world; its manifestation, the preservation of the world; and its disappearance, the destruction of the world. These are the three aspects that are dilated upon in the second, third and fourth Prakaranas. In other words, the old Hindu philosophers held that the universe is nothing but states or modes of consciousness reflected through the Sankalpa or will of Para Brahman which is said through its Law to evolve the universe out itself for its Lila or sport. The word Sankalpa is rather a difficult word to translate. Originally it is the Divine Will in manifestation and in man in his present stage becomes the will-thought pertaining to his Antahkarana or the lower mind. It is through the Sankalpa of our Manas that the universe appears to be and it is this Sankalpa that is asked to be given up by one who wishes to soar to the one Reality beyond this universe. The author of this work LAGHU YOGA VASISTHA defines, in one chapter, Sankalpa to mean the ideation of Aham or „I‟; which arises in the relationship of subject to object when conditioning is brought about.