Mokshopaya
Sanskrit text on salvation for non-ascetics, later vedanticized into the Yoga Vasistha
The Mokṣopāya or Mokṣopāyaśāstra, also known as the Yogavāsiṣṭha, is a Sanskrit philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics (lit. 'means to liberation'), written in Kashmir in the 10th century. The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content. This text was later (11th to the 14th century) expanded, showing influences from the Saivite Trika school, resulting in the Yogavāsiṣṭha, which became an orthodox text in Advaita Vedanta.
Text
Dating and development
According to Slaje, the Mokṣopāya was written on the Pradyumna hill in Śrīnagar, Kashmir, in the 10th century. The Mokṣopāya was later (11th to the 14th century) modified, showing influences from the Saivite Trika school, resulting in the Yogavāsiṣṭha, which became an orthodox text in Advaita Vedanta.
Composition
It has the form of a public sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 śloka's (making it longer than the Rāmāyaṇa). The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content.
Contents
The Mokṣopāya expounds a monism ('advaita') that is different from Advaita Vedanta. It makes use of other Darśanas in an inclusive way. The text teaches that the recognition that cognitive objects are non-existent, leads to ultimate detachment, which causes an attitude of "dispassion and non-involvement with worldly things and matters", though still fulfilling one's daily duties and activities.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mokshopaya” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.