Worlds of Dream in the Yogavāsiṣṭha: Virtual and Virtuous Realities
By Dr Christopher Key Chapple
Dreams, the act of dreaming, and the elusive identities of the dreamer play a central role in the philosophy of the Yogavāsiṣṭha. Reality in this text is always virtual; nothing has fixity. The only constant is change, tempered and formed according to the principles of karma. What has happened in the past influences the present; what is not dealt with in the present will continue to assert itself in the future. Knowing this, one must seek to become virtuous.
This study begins with a brief history of the text and research on the text. It then focuses on the role of dream in two segments of the Yogavāiṣṭha: the story of King Lavana and the centrality of dream in the teachings of sevenfold Yoga. Other studies on dream are also presented, including the role of dream in tribal cultures, the work of Jeremy Taylor, and other scholars’ views on dream in the Yogavāsiṣṭha. In summary, the Yogavāsiṣṭha posits that by exploring the realm of dream one can gain mastery within the waking realm.
The Story of the Yogavāsiṣṭha
The Yogavāsiṣṭha tells the story of the youthful Rāma, prince of Ayodhya. His father, King Daśaratha, is approached by the sage Viśvamitra, who requests help in protecting his hermitage from marauders. Though Rāma is still a teenager, the sage points out to the King that the young prince is strong and competent, and old enough to perform the police action needed to guarantee the safety of the ashramites. Rāma resists, complaining that it would be better to simply renounce the world himself than to be drawn into a conflict not of his own making. He refuses to cooperate. A second sage, by the name of Vasiṣṭha, is brought to the court to provide philosophical and psychological instruction to the recalcitrant prince. In 64 nested stories, Vasiṣṭha teaches Rāma about the realm of action, the ways of meditation, the flimsy nature of what we call reality, and how to reconcile one’s will with the demands of dharma.
This text reached its current form by around the 11th century in Kashmir. It builds on narratives found in the Mahābhārata and other texts. One of the earlier forms, known as the Mokṣopāya, is being newly edited by a research team in Europe headed by Walter Slaje. An abridgement of the text, the Lāghu Yogavāsiṣṭa, was redacted and translated sixteen times into Persian in the 16th century, serving as an important resource through which the Mughal rulers of India could learn about Vedānta philosophy. The emperor Jahangir (1569-1627), son of Akbar and father of Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal), commissioned an illustrated version of the text in Persian translation three years before he ascended the throne in 1605 that can be viewed at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
The Yogavāsiṣṭha has retained popularity for the past thousand years. In the later years of the British colonial rule, it was studied and taught by Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, and Swami Sivananda. A seven volume translation was rendered in the 1890s that has since been newly edited and republished.1 A Sanskrit version of the text with commentary was published in 1918 by V. L. S. Pansikar.2 B. L. Atreya completed his doctoral dissertation and wrote several books on the text in the 1930s.3 Surendranath Dasgupta includes an eighty page analysis of the text in his five volume History of Indian Philosophy.4 Swami Venkatesananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda who taught in South Africa and Australia, rendered at least three versions of the text.5 Vasiṣṭha’s Yoga (SUNY 1993) is particularly helpful in that, although a summary, it provides chapter references that correspond with the Sanskrit original.
Modern scholars have noted the intersections between Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, and Advaita Vedānta ideas within the text. Trimbak Govind Mainkar has published a thorough analysis of ideas contained within the text, noting its influence on Abhinavagupta (950-1016) and Kashmir Śaivism in particular.6 Rāma, as noted by Phyllis Granoff, is venerated as an incarnation of Viṣṇu; she links the text with Vaiṣṇavism.7 Sthaneshwar Timalsina explicates the Yogavāsiṣṭha’s influence on the Dṛṣṭi-Sṛṣṭi (perception is creation) school of Advaita Vedānta.8 My own studies of the text explores its emphasis on the efficacy of human will (pauruṣa) and its descriptions of elemental meditations.9 Like the persons described in the stories itself, the Yogavāsiṣṭha is a bit of a shape-shifter, reflecting its own message that reality is not fixed. Wendy Doniger (O’Flaherty), who began her career with a co-study of hallucinogens in the Ṛg Veda, considers her study of the Yogavāsiṣṭha to be her most thoughtful work.10
Several stories with the text describe dream and dream-like realities, including the story of Līlā and Sarasvatī (III:15-67), the story of Jīvaṭa and the Hundred Rudras (VI:1:62-69), Gādhi (V:44-50), Bhuśuṇḍa (VI.1:14-29), Cūḍālā (VI.1:77-109) and others. One story will be analyzed here that epitomizes the Yogavāsiṣṭha approach to dreams: the story of Lavaṇa (III:103-122). The centrality of dream awareness in the sevenfold path of Vasiṣṭha’s Yoga will also be discussed.
