It is said that this book alone can lead to spiritual liberation. The conversation between Sage Vasistha and Prince Rama is of that between a great enlightened sage and a seeker who is about to reach completeness. This is amongst those rare conversations which directly leads to Truth.

    This scripture provides several understandings, scientific ideas, philosophies, and explains about consciousness, creation of the world, the multiple universes in this world, our perception of world, dissolution of the world and the liberation of this soul, the non-dual approach to this creation.

    Just as the blue sky is an optical illusion this entire world and the creation is but such an optical illusion. When the illusion ends in the mind, the world and its miseries too end. The self is the seer of all, the self is the perceiver of all and the self is the experiencer of all. And that self is only one. There is no two, there is no subject, seer and the object. It is all one.

    Another oft repeated verse in the text is that of Kakathaliya (coincidence). The story of how a crow alights on a coconut tree and that very moment the ripe coconut falls on the ground. The two events are apparently related, yet the crow never intended the coconut to fall nor did the coconut fall because the crow sat on the tree. The intellect mistakes the two events as related, though in reality they are not.

    All of creation is the play of consciousness. As an unenlightened person may have a desire for action, and then perceives themselves doing action, the two are unrelated as the crow and the coconut. Consciousness is the actor, the action, the process and the witness of action.

The book is divided into 6 parts:

Dispassion
Qualifications of a seeker
Creation
Existence
Dissolution
Liberation
Philosophy and origin
     Some scholars are of the view that Yoga Vasistha is a synthesis of the Upanishadic Brahman, Vijñavāda of Buddhism and the Śaiva Trika philosophy of Kashmir. The philosophy behind the Yoga Vasistha is that in truth there is only Brahman or God.

Importance
     Yoga Vasistha is considered one of the most important scriptures of the Vedantic philosophy.

In the late sixteenth century A.D. Nizam al-Din Panipati translated the Yoga Vasistha into Persian (Jug-Basisht). The book became popular in Persia among intellectuals with Indo-Persian interests since then.

Context
    Prince Rama returns from touring the country and becomes utterly disillusioned after experiencing the apparent reality of the world. This worries his father, King Dasaratha. The King expresses his concern to Sage Vasistha, upon his arrival. Sage Vasistha consoles the king by telling him that Rama's dispassion (vairagya) is a sign that the prince is now ready for spiritual enlightenment. He says that Rama has begun understanding profound spiritual truths, which is the cause of his confusion and he just needs confirmation. Sage Vasistha asks king Dasaratha to summon Rama. Then, in the court of king Dasaratha, the sage begins the discourse to Rama which lasts for several days. The answer to Rama's questions forms the entire scripture that is Yoga Vasistha.