Yoga Vashisht or Heaven Found

by Rishi Singh Gherwal

[1930]

Contents Start Reading Page Index Text [Zipped]

"I interrupted him and asked: 'By Dharana you preserved long life, while other Yogis perished?'
"The long-lived one answered: 'No, they did not perish, but they got tired of the burden of the human body and gave it up at will.'

This is a translation of the Laghu Yoga Vashishta, traditionally written by the sage Vasistha, one of the teachers of Rama. This is the 'shorter' Yoga Vashishta. This is not an academic or critical translation, but it may appeal to the casual reader. The author of this book, Singh Gherwal, may have been a westerner with a Hindu pseudonym. He states that he is a teacher of Kundalini Yoga. Gherwal wrote a number of popularized books on this and related topics.

Another public domain translation, that of K. Narayanaswami Aiyar [1896], is in preparation and will be posted at this site at a later date.

Production Notes: This was a self-published book, and it has a number of typographical errors which I corrected in the usual way, including a couple of Hindu technical terms which I was able to track down using Wikipedia. There were also a number of punctuation errors, mostly quotation marks, which I corrected silently.--J.B. Hare, September 7, 2008.

Title Page and Front Matter
Contents
Introduction
Sri Ram, the Truth Seeker
How the Wise Ought to Live
How Suka Attained Highest State of Bliss
The Way to Blessed Liberation
Creation of the Universe
Queen Chundalai, The Great Yogin
The Great Egoist—Bali
King Janak
How Suragho, the King of Hunters, attained realization of self
The Long-Lived Yogi and the Secret of His Longevity
The Goal of the Yogi and Levitation
How to Live
India's message to other Countries
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