Rama raised this doubt because he could not understand why Sage Vyasa—the father, guru, and all-knowing sage—had not attained Videhamukti, the presumed highest fruit of knowledge, while his son Shuka did.
Life is filled with countless troubles and unexpected turns. Why do these occur? What is the primal cause of this creation? What happens after death? Such perplexing questions confront ordinary human beings every single day. For a seeker caught in such turmoil, this episode of the Yoga Vasistha serves as an extraordinary guide, revealing the nature of the Supreme Self and showing the right path. This timeless teaching imparted by Sage Vasistha to Sri Rama remains hundred percent relevant to our modern lives.
📚 Yoga Vasistha — full guide & all episodes
At a very young age, after returning from a pilgrimage across various holy lands and realms, Sri Rama fell into profound dispassion. Royal pleasures and the duties of governance appeared entirely futile to him. In the royal assembly, Rama poured out the intense anguish and dispassion burning within his mind before his preceptors. Everyone gathered in the court was astonished by his words. Sage Vasistha then prepared to dispel the veils of ignorance clouding Rama’s intellect and bestow upon him the supreme wisdom of Self-realization. It is from this point that the crucial section of the Yoga Vasistha, the ‘Mumukshu Vyavahara Prakarana’, begins. A seeker of liberation is one who yearns for spiritual freedom and strives to attain the knowledge of the Self.
The Great Secret Taught by Lord Brahma at the Dawn of Creation
Sage Vasistha addressed Sri Rama with deep affection: “O beloved disciple Ramachandra! At the beginning of creation, with the noble intent of establishing peace throughout the world, Lord Brahma himself imparted this supreme philosophy of the Self to me. I shall now unfold that magnificent wisdom before you. Listen with complete attention.”
Rama’s Profound Doubt: Are There Degrees of Liberation?
When entering a new domain of knowledge, doubts naturally arise. Even Sri Rama experienced such a profound inquiry. Before delving deeper into Self-knowledge, he placed a vital question churning in his mind before Vasistha.
“O venerable master! Before you instruct me in the science of liberation, I have a doubt; please dispel it,” Rama requested.
- “Earlier, Sage Vishwamitra stated that Shukadeva (Sage Shuka) attained Videhamukti (liberation without a physical body),” Rama recalled.
- “Why then did Sage Vyasa—who is Shuka’s father, his own guru, an intellect of vast wisdom, and all-knowing (pointing to Vyasa seated in the assembly)—not attain Videhamukti?” Rama asked.
- “Why did only Shuka attain Videhamukti? Is not Videhamukti the highest fruit of Self-knowledge? If so, why has Sage Vyasa not attained it? What made Yogi Shuka unique?” Rama placed his innocent yet profound doubt before the sage.
Countless Universes: The Secret of Cosmic Creation
Vasistha smiled gently and addressed Rama’s inquiry with immense patience.
Just as rays of light emanate continuously from the sun, countless universes emerge perpetually from the conscious radiance of the self-luminous Paramatma.
- Just as innumerable motes of dust dance within a single beam of sunlight, millions of universes arise, function, and ultimately dissolve into the infinite Consciousness of the Paramatma.
- Even in this present moment, universes containing the three realms—heaven, earth, and the netherworld—are born like grains of sand, defying all counting.
- Just as waves rise ceaselessly from the ocean and merge back into it, in the future too, countless worldly waves will arise and dissolve within the boundless ocean of the Paramatma.
Real to the Ignorant, a Dream to the Wise!
These infinite cosmos and realms are merely fleeting bubbles upon the vast ocean of the Supreme Self. Vasistha clearly delineated how ordinary beings bound in ignorance perceive this world, compared to how the wise see it.
Dwelling within these tiny cosmic particles, beings caught in illusion act under the false conviction: “All this is real, this house is mine, these possessions belong to me, and these bonds are eternal.” In truth, they do not realize that all this is an illusion.
However, for the liberated living beings (Jivanmuktas) who have attained Self-realization, the reality is entirely different. They clearly perceive that everything in this world is transient and unreal. To them, worldly existence appears merely like an occurrence within a dream.
- When a person sleeps, dreams arise. In a dream, one might rule kingdoms or suffer great tragedies; yet upon awakening, one immediately realizes it was unreal. To the enlightened, this entire world is precisely like such a dream.
- Within these dream-like universes, our physical bodies are also perishable, dream-like, and essentially devoid of independent existence.
With or Without a Body: The Wise Lose Nothing!
“Therefore, Rama! What distinction can there be in possessing an illusory physical body (Jivanmukti) or in being devoid of it (Videhamukti)?” Vasistha questioned Rama.
From the perspective of the enlightened who know the Truth of the Self, a Jivanmukta living with a physical body suffers no disadvantage whatsoever. The wise never consider embodied liberation inferior to disembodied liberation. The true secret lies not in the physical body, but entirely in the direct, experiential knowledge of one’s true Self as the Paramatma.
Rama’s Second Inquiry: How Can the Eternal Paramatma Be Known Through a Constantly Changing World?
Hearing Vasistha’s words gave Rama clarity regarding the cosmic process, yet another logical question arose in his mind.
“O sage! Your explanation of how universes arise and dissolve across past, present, and future makes complete sense. However, the world visible to our eyes changes at every single moment. In this present moment situated between past and future, all objects and entities appear entirely unstable and uncertain,” Rama observed.
- “Therefore, by merely studying the characteristics of changing objects in the present universe, I feel we cannot truly know the unchanging, eternal nature of the Paramatma or the authentic reality of the Self,” Rama stated.
- “Setting aside this fleeting present caught between the two banks of past and future, we must inquire into the origin and ultimate destination of this cosmos,” Rama expressed.
- Rama doubted whether scrutinizing this transient world—which is constantly obscured by the past and future—could ever yield the highest knowledge.
The Three Bodies: Gross, Subtle, and Causal!
Vasistha was pleased with Rama’s sharp intellect: “O Rama! I admire your acute discernment and your capacity to grasp the truth. Yet, remember that time, universes, and all transactional reality appear real only due to ignorance. Keeping your inquiry in mind, listen carefully to the secret of the three bodies.”
The scriptures declare that a human being possesses three distinct bodies rather than just the visible physical form.
1. Gross Body (Sthula Sharira): We witness the departure of life in animals, birds, beasts, humans, and celestial beings. This tangible body composed of flesh and blood is called the ‘gross body’. It is formed by the combination of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. At the time of death, this physical frame alone perishes and collapses to the ground.
2. Subtle Body (Sukshma Sharira / Ativahika Deha): This is of vital significance. Though the physical gross body dies, the inner faculty comprising the mind, intellect, memory, and ego does not perish. This invisible composite structure is known as the ‘subtle body’ or ‘Ativahika Deha’.
- What constitutes this subtle body? It is the sum total of an individual’s likes, dislikes, impressions, opinions, desires, emotions, and attachments accumulated over a lifetime.
- The scriptures also refer to this as the ‘residual impressions’ (latent tendencies—Vasanas).
- When a person dies, only the gross body falls away; this subtle body remains intact and continues its journey.
- Ignorant relatives, capable of perceiving only the elemental physical form, weep and lament saying, “Alas, our loved one has died!” They do not realize that the subtle body within has already embarked upon another journey.
3. Causal Body (Karana Sharira / Pratyagatma): Transcending both gross and subtle bodies and serving as their substratum is the ‘causal body’. It is the ultimate Experiencer. It is the Pratyagatma—the Conscious Self identical with the Paramatma. The scriptures designate it as ‘Tat’ (That), ‘Sah’ (He), and ‘Svasvarupatma’ (One’s true nature). This causal reality is our authentic existence prior to the mind and intellect.
Where Does the Jiva Go After Death? The Truth of the Afterlife
Death is the ultimate fear that haunts mankind. What happens to a person after death? Is the afterlife a physical realm located somewhere in the heavens? Vasistha provided a clear and profound answer to these questions.
After the gross body perishes, the Jiva, cloaked only in its desire-filled subtle body, does not travel to a physical location. Driven by its deeply rooted latent tendencies (Vasanas), it projects and experiences the three worlds entirely within the space of its own heart (within its mind). This projection is what we call the ‘afterlife’.
Thus, the afterlife is not a distant physical territory; it is a mental projection created by the subtle body according to its own latent desires. Vasistha revealed that the three worlds we currently experience here are also the projections of past subtle impressions. Relative to the state prior to our present physical birth, our current world is itself an ‘afterlife’.
Those who identify solely with the physical form cannot grasp this truth. They fall into the delusion that the other world lies far away in the sky and that one travels there long after death. But because the subtle body is subtler than the physical elements, it is not bound by physical distance or time.
Vasistha presented a practical insight: “The Jiva operates even this physical body solely through the subtle body. For example, as I speak to you now, the inner faculties of mind, intellect, memory, and ego within me are interacting with the corresponding faculties within you. Mere inert organs like the ears and mouth cannot communicate on their own.”
How Does Rebirth Occur? Is Creation an Illusion?
“O Rama! The Jiva who experiences this world, the afterlife, the past, the present, and the future is in reality none other than the Pratyagatma,” Vasistha declared. The true Self is untouched by birth, death, or any modifications at any time.
The Supreme Self, who is pure Consciousness, experiences all these projected scenes within the expanse of the heart through the subtle body bound by desires. This constitutes the Jiva’s experience of ‘the world’. The physical body we see is merely an object within that cosmic projection.
Driven by the latent tendencies in its mind, every living being continuously adopts and discards physical bodies to fulfill its cherished desires. The Jiva possesses the power of creative will; whatever it intensely conceives becomes its lived reality.
At the moment of death, whichever desires dominate the subtle realm of the Jiva determine the new physical form it assumes. People in this world celebrate saying, “A child is born!” According to its karma, the Jiva assumes forms among humans, beasts, birds, gods, or demons. As stated in the Upanishads, a Jiva transforms into a lion or a tiger according to its dominant mental disposition.
6 Illuminating Metaphors Describing the Cosmic Illusion
To illustrate that the physical world we perceive is not an absolute reality but an illusion born of ignorance, Vasistha offered six analogies:
- Imaginary Kingdom (Manorajya Vilasa): This world is like an imaginary city constructed purely out of someone’s mental fantasy.
- Magic Show (Indrajala): The universe appears like a grand illusion conjured by a master magician.
- Poetic Fiction (Kathartha Pratibhasa): Creation feels like finding oneself living in the middle of a story woven by a creative poet.
- Tremor of Wind-Disorder (Durvata Bhukampa): It is like the illusion of an earthquake experienced by a patient suffering from a nervous disorder, feeling the ground shake even when it is still.
- Frightened Child’s Ghost (Trasta Bala Pishacavat): Just as a child who hears ghost stories wakes in the dark and trembles at a harmless shadow, mistaking it for a ghost, humanity fears this illusory world.
- Moving Shore from a Boat (Nauka Prayana): Just as stationary trees on a riverbank appear to move to a person traveling in a boat, and as nonexistent celestial flowers seem real in fancy, this universe is a perceptual illusion.
Due to this ignorance, the Jiva perceives this false world within the space of its heart whether it has a physical body or not. Just as desires and tastes shift constantly, old impressions fade and new ones arise. Like peeling the layers of a plantain trunk where layer follows layer without core, the wheel of worldly existence (Samsara) spins ceaselessly. Yet from the perspective of the Self, the five elements and this creation do not exist at all. Everything is merely the illusory play of beginningless ignorance.
Secrets of Sage Vyasa: Vasistha’s Divine Vision!
Turning his divine vision toward Sage Vyasa seated in the assembly, Vasistha revealed an astonishing truth to Sri Rama.
“Rama! Though this creation is an illusion, listen to what I perceive regarding this Vyasa through my divine vision. The Vyasa present in this assembly appears to me as the 32nd Vyasa. The first 12 Vyasas were similar in form and history but possessed limited knowledge of the Self. The 13th Vyasa belonged to a different lineage. In the future too, many Vyasas and Valmikis will be born. In this cosmic cycle of time, this is the 72nd Treta Yuga.
“In a specific cosmic order, this is the 10th incarnation of Sage Vyasa. We—myself, Vyasa, and Valmiki—have been born as contemporaries many times. As far as my vision extends, this Vyasa will incarnate 8 more times in the future. He will compose the epic ‘Mahabharata’ eight times, divide the Vedas, and attain immense renown. Thereafter, becoming Brahma, he will attain Videhamukti.
“Yet, Rama! This Vyasa is already a Jivanmukta right now! He is established in supreme self-control and peace. Delusion, egoism, and possessiveness find no place in him. Hence, he shines free of grief, immaculate and radiant,” Vasistha extolled Vyasa’s greatness.
Just as grains poured from a heap never fall in identical patterns, beings vary across different cycles of creation. As waves in the ocean rise differently each time, the waves of creation continuously vary within the ocean of Time.
Conclusion: Jivanmukti vs Videhamukti — The Metaphor of the Ocean and Waves
Vasistha concluded by addressing Rama’s original question: “In the vision of the knower of Truth, these distinctions do not exist. Even as the waves of creation rise and fall, the sage’s inner serenity remains unshaken. When the veil of illusion is removed, the Jiva abides as the Brahman itself.
“Let us take the ocean as an example. Whether waves rise or subside, the water remains water. In the same way, whether enlightened beings are disembodied (Videhamukta) or embodied (Jivanmukta), both are one and the same! There is no difference between them. True liberation consists solely in not being enslaved by sensory pleasures. Whether one possesses a body or not is irrelevant. In the state of Jivanmukti, since there is no desire for sensory indulgence, it is identical to Nirvana Mukti (Videhamukti).
“We look at the sage Vyasa with physical eyes, as one might look at a clay pot or a piece of cloth. But his internal state is transcendent. Therefore, one cannot measure a sage’s wisdom by his physical vehicle. For the liberated who are the embodiments of pure Awareness, no distinction exists. Whether the wind blows or remains still, it is still wind; there is no room for doubt here.
“The true aim of myself and Lord Vyasa is not to argue over embodied versus disembodied liberation. Our highest purpose is to demonstrate that the Jivatma and Paramatma are not separate—they are non-dual and one! For that is the ultimate Truth!” With these words, Vasistha began his magnificent discourse for the welfare of the world and the dispelling of ignorance.
Frequently Asked Questions on Paramatma, Jivanmukti, and Videhamukti
What are Jivanmukti and Videhamukti?
Vasistha explained that one who attains Self-realization and becomes liberated while still living in the physical body is a Jivanmukta (embodied liberation), whereas one who attains complete liberation upon relinquishing the physical body is a Videhamukta (disembodied liberation).
Why did Rama ask why Vyasa did not attain Videhamukti when Shuka did?
Rama raised this doubt because he could not understand why Sage Vyasa—the father, guru, and all-knowing sage—had not attained Videhamukti, the presumed highest fruit of knowledge, while his son Shuka did.
How many bodies does a human possess according to Vasistha?
Three: the gross body (physical form made of five elements), the subtle body (mind, intellect, memory, ego, which survives death), and the causal body (the Conscious Self / Pratyagatma that serves as their substratum).
Where does the soul go after death, and what is the afterlife?
When the physical body perishes, the subtle body does not travel to a physical realm; based on its latent tendencies (Vasanas), it projects worlds within the space of its own heart, which is known as the afterlife.
How does rebirth occur according to Sage Vasistha?
At the moment of death, the subtle body assumes a new physical form to fulfill its dominant desires, transforming into human, animal, or divine forms based on its intense mental impressions.
What analogies did Vasistha use to explain that the world is an illusion?
Vasistha used six metaphors: an imaginary kingdom, a magician’s illusion, a poetic story, a tremor felt during a nervous disorder, a child mistaking a shadow for a ghost, and trees appearing to move from a sailing boat.
What did Vasistha reveal about Sage Vyasa through divine vision?
Vasistha revealed that the Vyasa in the assembly was the 32nd Vyasa, who would incarnate 8 more times to compose the Mahabharata before becoming Brahma and attaining Videhamukti, though he was already fully a Jivanmukta.
What is the true difference between Jivanmukti and Videhamukti?
Just as water remains water whether waves exist or not, liberation remains identical with or without a body; true liberation is freedom from sensory desire, making Jivanmukti and Videhamukti essentially one.
