Implements of enlightenment: indirect instruction in the yoga vasistha

Abstract

This study starts with Northrop Frye's notion that good teaching is ironic or indirect, in the sense that it engages the student and does not simply supply him or her with answers. I take this notion and apply it to the foga Vasistha, a Hindu scripture written between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries CE. This text teaches through a combination of philosophical discourse, sto­rytelling, and dialogue, and I explore how each of these, as it operates in the text, constitutes an indirect mode of instruction, wherein there is no opportunity for a passive or uncritical accep­tance of teachings, and where the student is ultimately obligated to embark on his or her own journey of, or toward, understanding.