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On hearing this question of Karunya Agnivesgya told him that he could answer his question only by narrating a story, after hearing which he might decide as he chose. A heavenly damsel (apsarah), Suruci by name, sitting on one of the peaks of the CH. x] Introduction of the Theme 229 Himalayas, once saw a messenger of Indra flying through the sky. She asked him where he was going. In reply he said that a certain king, Aristanemi by name, having given his kingdom to his son and having become free from all passions, was performing a course of asceticism (tapas), and that he had had to go to him on duty and was returning from him. The damsel wanted to know in detail what happened there between the messenger and the king. The messenger replied that he was asked by Indra to take a well- decorated chariot and bring the king in it to heaven, but while doing so he was asked by the king to describe the advantages and defects of heaven, on hearing which he would make up his mind whether he would like to go there or not. In heaven, he was answered, people enjoyed superior, medium and inferior pleasures according as their merits were superior, medium or inferior: when they had exhausted their merits by enjoyment, they were reborn again on earth, and during their stay there they were subject to mutual jealousy on account of the inequality of their enjoyments. On hearing this the king had refused to go to heaven, and, when this was reported to Indra, he was very much surprised and he asked the messenger to carry the king to Valmiki’s hermitage and make Valmiki acquainted with the king’s refusal to enjoy the fruits of heaven and request him to give him proper instructions for the attainment of right knowledge, leading to emancipation (moksa). When this was done, the king asked Valmiki how he might attain moksa, and Valmiki in reply wished to narrate the dialogue of Vasistha and Rama (Vasistha-rama-samvada) on the subject. Valmiki said that, when he had finished the story of Rama— the work properly known as Rama&yana—and taught it to Bhara- dvaja, Bharadvaja recited it once to Brahma (the god), and he, being pleased, wished to confer a boon on him. Bharadvaja in reply said that he would like to receive such instructions as would enable people to escape from sorrow. Brahma told him to apply to Valmiki and went himself to him (Valmiki), accompanied by Bharadvaja, and asked him not to cease working until he finished describing the entire character of Rama, by listening to which people will be saved from the dangers of the world. When Brahma disappeared from the hermitage after giving this instruction, Bharadvaja also asked Valmiki to describe how Rama and his wife, brother and followers behaved in this sorrowful and dangerous world and lived in sorrowless tranquillity. 230 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vdsistha [cH. In answer to the above question Valmiki replied that Rama, after finishing his studies, went out on his travels to see the various places of pilgrimage and hermitages. On his return, however, he looked very sad every day and would not tell anyone the cause of his sorrow. King Dagaratha, Rama’s father, became very much concerned about Rama’s sadness and asked Vasistha if he knew what might be the cause of it. At this time the sage Visvamitra also visited the city of Ayodhya to invite Rama to kill the demons. Rama’s dejected mental state at this time created much anxiety, and Vigvamitra asked him the cause of his dejection. Rama said in reply that a new enquiry had come into his mind and had made him averse from all enjoyments. There is no happi- ness in this world, people are born to die and they die to be born again. Everything is impermanent (asthira) in this world. All existent things are unconnected (bhavah...parasparam asanginah). They are collected and associated together only by our mental imagination (manah-kalpanaya).'The world of enjoyment is created by the mind (manah), and this mind itself appears to be non- existent. Everything is like a mirage. Vasistha then explained the nature of the world-appearance, and it is this answer which forms the content of the book. When Valmiki narrated this dialogue of Vasistha and Rama, king Aris- tanemi found himself enlightened, and the damsel was also pleased and dismissed the heavenly messenger. Karunya, on hearing all this from his father Agnivesya, felt as if he realized the ultimate truth and thought that, since he realized the philosophical truth, and since work and passivity mean the same, it was his clear duty to follow the customary duties of life. When Agastya finished narrating the story, the Brahmin Sutiksna felt himself enlightened. There is at least one point which may be considered as a very clear indication of later date, much later than would be implied by the claim that the work was written by the author of the Ramayana. It contains a sloka which may be noted as almost identical with a verse of Kalidasa’s Kumara-sambhava'. It may, in my opinion, be almost unhesitatingly assumed that the author borrowed it from Kalidasa, and it is true, as is generally supposed, that Kalidasa 1 Yoga-vasistha, 111. 16. 50: atha tam atimatra-vihvalam sakrpakasabhava sarasvati Sapharim hrada-Sosa-vihvalam prathama vrstir ivanvakampata. XIT] The Yoga-vasistha Literature 231 lived in the fifth century a.p. The author of the Yoga-vasistha, whoever he may have been, flourished at least some time after Kalidasa. It may also be assumed that the interval between Kalidasa’s time and that of the author of the Yoga-vasistha had been long enough to establish Kalidasa’s reputation as a poet. There is another fact which deserves consideration in this con- nection. In spite of the fact that the views of the Yoga-vasistha and Sankara’s interpretation of Vedanta have important points of agreement neither of them refers to the other. Again, the views of the Yoga-vasistha so much resemble those of the idealistic school of Buddhists, that the whole work seems to be a Brahmanic modifi- cation of idealistic Buddhism. One other important instance can be given of such a tendency to assimilate Buddhistic idealism and modify it on Brahmanic lines, viz. the writings of Gauda- pada and Sankara. I am therefore inclined to think that the author of the Yoga-vasistha was probably a contemporary of Gaudapada _or Sankara, about a.D. 800 or a century anterior to them. The work contains six books, or prakaranas, namely, Vairagya, Mumuksu-uyavahara, Utpatti, Sthiti, Upasama and Nirvana. It is known also by the names of Arsa- Ramayana, fiana-vasistha, Maha- Ramayana, Vasistha-Ramayana or Vasistha. Several commen- taries have been written on it. Of these commentaries I am par- ticularly indebted to the Tatparya-prakasa of Anandabodhendra. The Yoga-vasistha is throughout a philosophical work, in the form of popular lectures, and the same idea is often repeated again and again in various kinds of expressions and poetical imagery. But the writer seems to have been endowed with ex- traordinary poetical gifts. Almost every verse is full of the finest poetical imagery; the choice of words is exceedingly pleasing to the ear, and they often produce the effect of interesting us more by their poetical value than by the extremely idealistic thought which they are intended to convey. The Yoga-vasistha had a number of commentaries, and it was also summarized in verse by some writers whose works also had com- mentaries written upon them. Thus Advayaranya, son of Narahari, wrote a commentary on it, called Vasistha-Ramayana-candrika. Anandabodhendra Sarasvati, pupil of Gangadharendra Sarasvati of the nineteenth century, wrote the Tatparya-prakasa. Gangadha- rendra also is said to have written a commentary of the same ‘name. Ramadeva and Sadananda also wrote two commentaries on 232 The Philosophy of the Yoga-vasistha [cH. the work, and in addition to these there is another commentary, called Yoga-vasistha-tatparya-samgraha, and another commentary, the Pada-candrika, was written by Madhava Sarasvati. The names of some of itssummaries are Brhad-yoga-vasistha, Laghu-jnana-vasi- stha, Yoga-vasistha-slokah and Yoga-vasistha-samksepa by Gauda Abhinanda of the ninth century, Yoga-vasistha-sara or fiadna-sara, Yoga-vasistha-sara-samgraha and Vasistha-sara or Vasistha-sara- gidhartha by Ramananda Tirtha, pupil of Advaitananda. The Yoga-vasistha-samksepa of Gauda Abhinanda had a commentary by Atmasukha, called Candrika, and another called Samsara- tarani, by Mummadideva. The Yoga-vasistha-sdra also had two commentaries by Pirnananda and Mahidhara. Mr Sivaprasad Bhattacarya in an article on the Yoga-vasistha-Ramdayana in the Proceedings of the Madras Oriental Conference of 1924 says that the Moksopaya-sara, which is another name for the Yoga-vasistha-sara, was written by an Abhinanda who is not to be confused with Gauda Abhinanda. But he misses the fact that Gauda Abhinanda had also written another summary of it, called Yoga-vasistha- samksepa. Incidentally this also refutes his view that the Yoga- vasistha is to be placed between the tenth and the twelfth centuries. For, if a summary of it was written by Gauda Abhinanda of the ninth century, the Yoga-vasistha must have been written at least in the eighth century. The date of the Yoga-vasistha may thus be regarded as being the seventh or the eighth century. The Ultimate Entity. The third book of the Yoga-vasistha deals with origination (utpattr). All bondage (bandha) is due to the existence of the per- ceptible universe (drsya), and it is the main thesis of this work that it does not exist. At the time of each dissolution the entire universe of appearance is destroyed, like dreams in deep sleep (susupti).