Yoga Vasistha - ancient Indian text (salvation, quote, pray, God)

[Mahayana]

Great Rishi teaches young Avatar Rama:

II 4 O Rama, listen to what I [Vasishtha] am about to say, which instruction is sure to remove the darkness of ignorance. A well-sustained self-effort leads to success in every field of life. Wherever
one encounters failure, it is due to lack of self-effort.
Liberation produces selflessness; we lose our selfishness when we come to know the unity of the soul.
By effort one can attain knowledge which leads to salvation. This is obvious; but what is called God,
destiny or fate is fictitious and is not seen. The dull and the ignorant created God, which is none other
than self-effort of a past incarnation affecting one.
Self-effort, Rama, is that mental, verbal and physical action which is in accordance with the
instructions of a holy person well versed in the scriptures. This will reveal the moon of spiritual bliss
beyond the dark clouds of mental impurities. Such effort, continuous and constant, gives good results,
all the rest is sheer madness. The goal of self-effort is Self-realization.
It is only by such effort that Indra became king of heaven, that Brahma became the creator, and Vishnu
and Shiva earned their place. When right self-effort is sustained, one rises to that lofty state wherein
ruling the vast earth is known as insignificant compared to the glory of Self-realization.

[Mahayana]

More on one keynote of spiritual life - self-reliance:

II 5 Self-effort is of two categories: that of past births and that of this present birth. Past efforts can be counteracted by current labors. There is constant conflict, like battling rams, between these two in this
incarnation. That which is more powerful triumphs. Men of self-effort, by firm and long practice, can
undo the past effort.
Self-effort which is not in accord with the scriptures is motivated by delusion. To go against scriptural
injunctions will lead to disasters. Mental desire alone, without the needed action, is pure lunacy. It will
not only be useless, but it will lead to further delusions.
There is no power greater than right action in the present. Hence, one should take recourse to self-effort,
gritting one's teeth, and one should overcome evil by good and destiny by present effort. Even
obstructions presented by the devas are due to bad actions in past lives.
One’s effort must be maintained until the past negative karma is overpowered. The virtues of this life
are bound to overcome the vices of past lives. Therefore, one must cultivate serenity, self-control,
reflection and meditation by his self-effort.

[Mahayana]

The dialog of Rishi & student continues:

II 9 Rama asked again:
Holy sir, if the latent tendencies brought forward from the previous birth impel me to act in the present,
where is the freedom of action?

Vasishtha said:
Rama, your tendencies brought forward from past incarnations are of two kinds — pure and impure.
The pure ones lead you towards liberation, and the impure ones invite trouble. You are indeed
consciousness itself, not inert physical matter. You are not impelled to action by anything other than
yourself. You are in fact the real Supreme Being. Hence you are free to strengthen the pure latent
tendencies in preference to the impure ones. The impure ones have to be abandoned gradually and the
mind turned away from them little by little, lest there should be violent reaction. By encouraging the
good tendencies to act repeatedly, you strengthen them. The impure ones will weaken by disuse. You
will soon become absorbed in the expression of the good tendencies, in good actions. When thus you
have overcome the force of the evil tendencies, you will then experience the supreme truth with the
wisdom that rises from the good tendencies.

Therefore, follow this blessed path of goodness followed since olden times by the wise. Always
increase you good tendencies (vasanas); understand and become the reality, Brahman.

[Mahayana]

Rishi Vasistha says:

II 7 O Rama, one should, with a body free from illness and mind free from distress, pursue self-knowledge so that he is not born again here. One who tries with his best self-effort to destroy the ideas of God and providence, fulfills his aspirations both here and hereafter. Those who rely on fortune or God and ignore effort are self-destroyers. Self-effort is rooted in an inner vibration that awakens an urge for realization in one's consciousness, then a decision in the mind, and then physical action. The process of self-exertion embraces every part of the individual — spirit, intellect, mind, senses and body.

Self-effort consists of these three — knowledge of the scriptures, learning from one's Guru and your own holy striving. Providence or God's dispensation does not enter here. Hence, he who desires salvation should divert impure mind to pure endeavor by persistent effort — this is the very essence of all scriptures.
The Holy ones emphasize persistently treading the path that leads to the eternal good.
And the wise seeker knows that the fruit of my endeavors will be commensurate with the intensity of
my self-effort and neither fate nor any God can ordain it otherwise. Indeed, such self-effort alone is
responsible for whatever man gets. Only to console blockheads at the time of sorrows or difficulties is
the word God used. No one has seen such a God, but everyone has experienced how an action (good or
evil) leads to a result (good or evil). Hence, from one's childhood, one should endeavour to promote
one's true good by a penetrating study of the scriptures; keeping company with the Holy ones and by
right self-effort.

[Mahayana]

Prayer before study

oṁ tat sat

Salutations to that reality in which all the elements, and all the animate and inanimate beings shine as if they have an independent existence, and in which they exist for a time and into which they merge.

Salutations to that consciousness which is the source of the apparently distinct threefold divisions of: Knower, knowledge and known; seer, sight and seen; doer, doing and deed.

Salutations to that bliss absolute (the ocean of bliss) which is the life of all beings, whose happiness and unfoldment is derived from the shower of spray from that ocean of bliss.

[Mahayana]

I. ON DISPASSION
( V a i r ā g y a P r a k a r a ṇ a ṁ )

(I.1.7)
Verily, birds are able to fly with their two wings: even so, both work and knowledge together lead to the supreme goal of liberation.
(I.2.2)
He is qualified to study this scripture, the dialogue between Rāma and Vasiṣṭha, who feels “I am bound, I should be liberated”, who is neither totally ignorant nor
enlightened.
(I.3.2)
This world-appearance is a confusion; even as the blueness of the sky is an optical
illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it.
(I.5.15)
Even as, in this world, no great changes take place before the coming into being of their cause like the cosmic elements—changes like anger, despondency and joy do not manifest in the behavior of noble ones without proper cause.