[Advaita-l] Fwd: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Any early citation of the Yogavasishtha?

[Ramesam Vemuri]

Sir,

Prof. B.L. Atreya in his commendable work, “The Philosophy of The
Yogavasishta – A Comparative, Critical, And Synthetic Survey of the
Philosophical Ideas of Vasishta as Presented in the Yogavasishta
Maharamayana” (published by The Theosophical Publishing House, India,
1936), alludes to a saying about YogavAsiShTa among the Vedantins. He
writes that “it is a work of *siddhAvasthA*, i.e.  for the
Philosopher-Yogi, who having mastered the theory, is passing on to the
practice of it, while the other well-known works, even the Gita, Upanishads,
 *brahma-sUtra*-s are works of *sAddhanAvasthA*. i.e. for those who are yet
trying to master the theory.”

Dr. Atreya was certain that YogavAsiShTa played a significant role in the
thought process of the Advaita philosophers throughout the history of its
development. He said that “a comparative study of YogavAsiShTa with
the *vairAgya
shataka* and *vAkyapadIya*of Bhartrihari, with the *mANDUkya kArikA*-s of
Gaudapada, with the *vivekacUDAmaNi*of Shankara and with the *mAnasollAsa* of
Sureshwara will clearly reveal the influence which the YogavAsiShTha
exercised over these illustrious thinkers of the Advaita school of
thought.” (https://www.advaita-vision.org/yogavasishta-vs-bhagavad-gita/ )

Though not on the basis of citations by other authors of Vedanta texts, but
from a comparison of the philosophical thought expounded, Atreya places it
prior to 5th cent AD but later than Nagarjuna.

regards,


On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 7:34 PM, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Namaste
> ...
>


> The reason for my search is that there are people who think that this work
> is a much later one and early Advaitins have not cited it.  Vidyaranya
> refers to the author of this text as 'Valmiki'.  It is also known as
> VasishTha Ramayanam, Jnana VasishTham, etc.  Surely the above are not
> Acharyas who would accept as pramana a text that is not authentic, that has
> come down in the sampradaya from earlier Acharyas.
>