Advaitacentrum

The Yoga Vasistha is a work that is attributed to Valmiki, to whom the Ramayana is also attributed. The original work contained 32000 verses. In the Yoga Vasistha wise Vasistha informed his student Rama how men can reach the unchangeable reality that lies as the foundation of the changeable world of sensory impressions.  The philosophy that is expressed in the Yoga Vasistha has a strong resemblance with the teachings of the Kashmir Shaivism. The principle position is that everything is Consciousness, also the material world. Abhinavagupta, one of the great teachers from the tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, also says: “Shiva, the independent and pure Self that always vibrates in the mind, is the Parashakti who in the form of joy arises in the different sensory experiences. The experience of the outer world is thus an appearance of the Self”. That is also the philosophy of the Yoga Vasistha.

Vasistha: “O Rama, do you remember what I have so far said to you, the words which are capable of awakening a knowledge of truth or self-knowledge?
By resorting to dispassion (the unconditioned mind) and a clear understanding of the truth, this ocean of samsara (bondage to life and death) can be crossed.  The one infinite absolute existence or cosmic consciousness alone is.  Knowing this, be free of the ego-sense and rejoice in the self.  There is no mind, no ignorance, no individual soul: these are all concepts that arose in the Creator.  As long as one considers the body as the 'I' and as long as the self is related to what is seen, as long as there is hope in objects with the feeling 'this is mine', so long will there be delusion concerning mind.
The illusory notion of the existence of the mind persists only as long as the sublime realization of the truth is not experienced through the company of the wise, who are totally unattached, and as long as wickedness has not been weakened.  As long as the experience of this  world as a reality has not been shaken by the energy derived from the clear perception of the truth, so long the existence of the mind seems to be self-evident.  Such a notion continues as long as there is blind dependence, on account of craving for objective experience, and as long as there are wickedness and delusion as a consequence.
But in the case of one who is not attracted by pleasure, whose heart is cool because of its purity and who has shattered the cage of desires, cravings and hopes, the deluded notion of the existence of the mind ceases to be.  When he sees even his body as the deluded experience of a non-entity, how can a mind arise in him?  He who has the vision of the infinite and into whose heart the world-appearance has merged, does not entertain the deluded notion of a jiva.
When incorrect perception has come to an end and when the sun of self-knowledge arises in the heart, know that the mind is reduced to nothing.  It is not seen again, even as burnt dry leaves are not seen."

From: The Concise Yoga Vasistha by Swami Venkatesananda, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1984