Yogic Flying According to Yoga Vasishtha

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Cudala and Shikhidhvaja were the monarchs of an ancient Indian kingdom. In their declining years they began the practice of transcendental deep meditation. Queen Cudalá was diligent and regular in her meditation, and in time gained Cosmic Consciousness, and then Unity Consciousness. Then she became inspired to learn Yogic Flying, in order to be able to demonstrate her spiritual accomplishment to her husband Shikhidhvaja.

Framed by a compelling love story, Vasishtha teaches Ram the spiritual path laid out for kings and householders. It is not a story of renunciation, but rather one of complete engagement. Here is the knowledge of higher states of consciousness, and the royal path to unfold the infinite treasures within, for the benefit of the individual and the whole society.

Vasishtha teaches Yogic Flying for perfect health, Yogic Flying for a utopian society, Yogic Flying for world peace, Yogic Flying for the fulfillment of Yoga in the attainment of the silence of Kaivalya, Yogic Flying for total knowledge of Veda, Yogic Flying for unfolding the celestial vision of the world of angels in the state of God Consciousness, Yogic Flying for perfection of the eight principle Siddhis, and Yogic Flying to attain the perfect balance of silence and dynamism in the state of Brahman Consciousness.

Here is the essence of Yoga in the Yoga Vasishtha.

"Only a new seed will produce a new crop," is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's rallying cry for revival of life in this generation from an age of suffering, disease, wars and natural calamities. The same principle applies to the field of hermeneutics, the field of interpretation of ancient texts: Only a new angle of vision will allow us to see the fullness of knowledge lively in the ancient Vedic civilization, the civilization that created a Golden Age of life, in which men moved about on earth, in affluence, joy and fulfillment, as if they were living in heaven.¹ Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's approach to Vedic interpretation is radically new, and the outlines of this approach to the interpretation of Vedic Literature were developed in great detail during a Ph.D. program in Vedic Studies offered at Maharishi European Research University in Switzerland, 1974-1976. The principles which he developed in lectures during this period were summarized at his request and presented in the author's Masters Thesis (1980). Maharishi's unique perspective is that there are universal principles of structure which apply to the Vedic Literature, and these principles determine the pattern of sequential unfoldment of knowledge in every package.

In the author's development of a regime of interpretation based on Maharishi's teaching, he has found that there are three principles that are paramount, which must be applied for the systematic interpretation of any Vedic text. The first principle is that the total knowledge is delivered in its completeness in the first expression. The first expression of any package of knowledge contains in seed form the total knowledge that will be unfolded in the entire package. Maharishi gives the example of the first word of Rg Veda, "Agnim," which he identifies as a complete and perfect package of total knowledge of Veda, the source of Rg Veda and the Vedic Literature.

This principle that the first expression contains the total knowledge of the text can even be taken to the level of syllables, where the first syllable of Rg Veda, "Ak," described as "the collapse of "A" into "Ka," is the seed of total knowledge of Veda. And even the first alphabet, "A" by itself, can be taken as the seed of total knowledge of Rg Veda and the whole of Vedic Literature.3

The practical application of this principle that the first expression of a package of knowledge contains the total knowledge of the text is that the first verse of any chapter in the whole of Vedic Literature must be construed as containing in seed form the total knowledge of the chapter. This is a challenge and a test for the translator to verify his understanding. The translator must be able to grasp the total knowledge of the chapter in its first verse and must similarly see that each verse in the entire chapter is a commentary on that initial verse.

The Yoga Vasishtha is an authentic text of the ancient Vedic Literature, written by the great sage Vasishtha, one of the greatest minds of all time. The Yoga Vasishtha is one of a circle of texts which together recount the history of the noble and righteous king Ram, who ruled the world from Ayodhya, many thousands of years ago. The story of Ram is the greatest epic of world literature, and the Yoga Vasishtha tells one small part of that history, namely the detailed exposition of Ram's education under the tutelage of the sage Vasishtha. As recounted by the more modern poet Tulsidass, Ram, studying at the feet of Vasishtha, gained total knowledge in a short time. The Yoga Vasishtha chronicles what may be called the greatest education that any man has ever received. Vasishtha had encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient Vedic Science, a comprehensive vision of the natural laws governing creation, and exhaustive knowledge of the higher states of consciousness of man, based on his own supreme realization. He imparted total knowledge to Ram through a series of stories, some mythical, some factual, each brimming with profound insights into life, and all together orienting the young child Ram to the principles and practices of the Golden Age of human civilization on earth, the halcyon days of the solar dynasty of kings of Ayodhya.

The setting of the Rāmāyaṇa, the Indian epic that tells the life story of Ram, is in the distant prehistoric past. It is history, not mythology, as the long stone bridge between India and Sri Lanka, discovered by NASA through aerial photography may confirm, but it was a far distant age, when sea levels were fifty feet lower than they are today.

The sage Vasishtha, renowned even then for his great wisdom, was an adviser in the court of Ram's father King Dasaratha. He was a sage of great personal presence and extraordinary spiritual radiance.