Swami Venkatesananda

An oft-recurring expression in this scripture is “kākatālīya” – a crow alights on the cocoanut palm tree and that very moment a ripe cocoanut falls. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though there is no causal relationship.

Such is life. Such is “creation”. But the mind caught up in its own trap of logic questions “why”, invents a “why” and a “wherefore” to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.

Vasiṣṭha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observer, the observed and the observation – and the realisation of their indivisible unity as the infinite consciousness.

That is the uniqueness of this scripture which hence declares itself to be supreme:

Except through this scripture, one cannot gain what is good, now or at any time. Therefore, for perfect realisation of the supreme truth, one should fervently investigate this scripture alone. (VI.2 – 103)

It is, however, the teaching that is supreme, not a book nor a sage. Hence, Vasiṣṭha is bold enough to say:

If, however, one thinks it is not authoritative because it is of human origin, one can resort to the study of any other scripture dealing with self-knowledge and final liberation. (VI.2-175)

Whichever be the scripture taught by whomever and whichever be the path you choose, stop not till the psychological conditioning ceases entirely.

Hence, Vasiṣṭha exhorts the seeker:

One should study at least a small part of this scripture daily. The beauty in this scripture is that its student is not abandoned to his despair; if something is not clear in the first instance, a further study of the scripture makes it clear. (VI.2 – 175)