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John Kaldawi Reviews - The Vasistha Yoga:


John Kaldawi is inspired by Vasistha Yoga, which is an old Indian text attributed to Valmiki (an Indian Saint and the author of Ramayana).  The text was named after sage Vasistha who is mentioned in Rigveda.  It is structured as discourse to Rama and consist of stories and fables with a philosophy similar to Vedanta which holds that the whole world is the object of the mind. It also focuses on the question of Who am I? and What is this universe?

Doing more research, John learned that the traditional belief among Hindus is that reading Vasistha Yoga text leads to spiritual liberation.  It discusses consciousness, liberation, non-dual nature of existence among many other things.

John Kaldawi also learned that Vasistha Yoga is most valuable for someone that is aware of atman and non-atman, and is indifferent to the enjoyment of objects in the world, and who is virtuous and ethical, and has longing for the meaning of life and liberation. As a result, that someone becomes associated with the wise, and sees happiness in everything and becomes friendly to all.  He becomes desireless and indifferent to joy or pain arising from events, as he is always in the state of consciousness.

John Kaldawi believes that Vasistha Yoga is one of the most important text of the Vedantic philosophy.  The "self inquiry" in the Vasistha was repeated by Ramana Maharishi who was greatly influenced by this text.  This text is definitely a must read.

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