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Vairagya and Tyaga

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Home > Paths of Yoga > Raja Yoga > Practice of Raja Yoga > How to f ind Peace of Mind > Vairagya and Tyaga(Dispassion & Renunciation)

By Swami Sivananda What Is Vairagya? If the mind is constantly thinking of tea and if it gets pain when you do not get it, it is said that you have got 'Aasakti' (attachment) f or tea. T his 'Aasakti' leads to bondage. T he practice of 'Vairagya' (dispassion) demands you to renounce this 'Aasakti' f or tea. Mere giving up of taking tea does not constitute the essence of 'Vairagya'. Study Vairagya-Prakarana in Yoga Vasishtha. You will have a comprehensive understanding of the real Svarupa of Vairagya. A clean description of the actual dispassionate mental state of Sri Rama is given. Palatable dishes, ref reshing beverages, af f ectionate f ather and mother, brother, dear f riends, diamonds, pearls, f lowers, sandal, ornaments, sof t beds, gardens had no attraction f or him. On the contrary, their very sight gave him intense pain. In Vairagya, Brahmacharya is Antargata (hidden). Vairagya includes celibacy in thought, word and deed. Two Kinds Of Vairagya Vairagya (dispassion, indif f erence, non-attachment) is of two kinds, viz., (i) Karana Vairagya (Vairagya on account of some miseries) and (ii) Viveka-Purvaka Vairagya (Vairagya on account of discrimination between real and unreal). T he mind of a man who has got the f ormer type of Vairagya is simply waiting f or a chance to get back the things that were given up. As soon as the f irst opportunity of f ers itself , the man gets the downf all and goes back to his f ormer state. Vishaya does havoc in him with a vengeance and redoubled f orce f rom reaction. But the other man who has given up the objects on account of Viveka, on account of illusory nature of objects, will have spiritual advancement. He will not have a downf all. How Vairagya Dawns Note how Vairagya arises in the mind. T he transitory and perishable nature of all things creates a sort of disgust in all minds and, in proportion to the depth and subtlety of nature, this reaction f rom the world works more or less powerf ully in the mind of every individual. An irresistible

f eeling arises in our mind, viz., that the f inite can never satisf y the Inf inite within us, that the changing and perishable cannot satisf y the changeless and deathless nature of ours. When you are not impressed with the idea of rich living, rich style of living cannot attract you. When you are impressed with the idea that meat and wine are not at all pleasurable, they cannot tempt you. In that case, if you do not get meat and wine or rich living, you will not be agonised at all in your mind. Why are you attracted towards a young, beautif ul lady? Because, owing to your ignorance, you vainly think you will get pleasure through her. If you have got Viveka, it will at once tell you that you will get immense pain through her. T hen the mind will recede or withdraw f rom the object, woman. Sadhana Without Vairagya Goes To Waste When Vairagya appears in the mind, it opens the gate to Divine Wisdom. From dissatisf action (with the sense-objects and worldly sense-enjoyments) comes aspiration. From aspiration comes abstraction. From abstraction comes the concentration of the mind. From the concentration of the mind comes meditation or contemplation. From contemplation comes Samadhi or Self -realisation. Without dissatisf action or Vairagya, nothing is possible. Just as cultivation in a stony land or saltish earth becomes absolutely f ruitless, so also Yogic practices and Atma-Vichara (enquiry of the Soul) done without Vairagya (dispassion and indif f erence to the sensual enjoyments) becomes f ruitless. Just as water, when it leaks into the rat-holes, instead of running into the proper channels in agricultural f ields, becomes wasted and does not help the growth of plants, grains, etc., so also, the ef f orts of an aspirant become a wastage if he has not got the virtue Vairagya. He gets no spiritual advancement. Intense Vairagya Necessary For Moksha T here must be intense (Tivra) Vairagya in the minds of the aspirants, throughout the period of their Sadhana. Mere mental adhesion will not do f or success in Yoga. T here must be intense longing f or liberation, a high degree of Vairagya plus capacity f or Sadhana (spiritual practice). T hen only they will get Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Moksha. It was only Raja Janaka and Prahlada who had Tivra Vairagya (intense dispassion). T his kind of Vairagya is necessary f or quick realisation. It is very dif f icult to cross the ocean of Samsara with a dull type of Vairagya. T he crocodile of sense-hankering (Trishna) f or sense-enjoyments and sense-objects will catch the aspirants by the throat and, violently snatching away, will drown them half -way. Enemies Of Vairagya T he Curse of Af f ection Delusion proceeds f rom af f ection. It is a common observation that a person is distressed if the cat eats his domestic f owl; but when his af f ections are not touched, f or instance, if the cat eats a sparrow or a mouse, he expresses no sorrow. You must, theref ore, root out af f ection, which is the cause of vain attachment. T he body generates numerous germs which people are anxious to remove; but to one variety they give the name "children," f or which their lives are wasted away. Such is the delusion of the world. At the back of af f ection and love, there is grief and sorrow. Af f ection is mixed with sorrow. At the back of pleasure, there is pain. Pain is mixed with pleasure. Man sows the poisonous seed of sorrow under the name of love, f rom which quickly spring up shoots of af f ection which contain a f ire dangerous as lightning; and f rom these shoots, grow trees of sorrow with innumerable branches which, burning like a heap of covered straw, slowly consume the body. T he knot of af f ection is strengthened by long indulgence. Af f ection has entwined its threads around the hearts of men. T he principal means to get rid of af f ection is to consider that this is a f leeting existence. In this wide world, how many millions of parents, wives, children, uncles and grandf athers have passed away. You should consider the society of f riends as a momentary f lash of lightning and, revolving this of ten in your mind, enjoy f elicity. Hope and Anticipation Hope and anticipation are the opposite of Vairagya and Tyaga. T hey f atten the mind. To be perf ectly hopeless is a very high state f or a philosopher. It is a very bad state f or worldlings. T hey always say with contempt: "He is a hopeless man." Worldlings and philosophers move

towards diametrically opposite poles. How To Develop Vairagya T hose who do not develop the painless Vairagya inherent in one's self and that with great f elicity and happiness are, at best, but vermins in human shapes. When a bee f inds that its f eet are stuck in the honey, it slowly licks its f eet several times and then f lies away with joy. Even so, extricate yourself f rom the mind's sticking and clinging to this body and children-honey owing to Raga and Moha through Vairagya and meditation and f ly away f rom this cage of f lesh and bone to the Source, Brahman or Absolute. It is very dif f icult to wean some children. T hey suck the breast even when they are three or f our years old. T he mother applies some nim-paste to the nipples. T he child is weaned quickly. Even so, you will have to get a medicine of nim-paste f or the mind to get it weaned f rom sensual objects. Sit in a solitary room. T hink of the miseries of this earthly lif e, its cares, worries, anxieties, hunger, thirst, sins, temptations, passion, f ighting, f ears, vanity, disease, death, old age, sorrow, grief , tribulation, loss, f ailures, disappointments, hostility, scorpion stings, mosquito bites, etc. T his will serve as an ef f icient nim-paste to wean the mind f rom Samsara. You must think in the above-manner daily. Remember constantly the pains of various kinds pertaining to this mundane existence. Moha will vanish if you repeat the f ollowing line of Chapter XIII of Gita several times daily: "Janma-mrityujara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosha-anudarsanam-Insight into the pain and evil of birth, old age and sickness." Always make the mind understand clearly that there is only pain in this world. Ref lect of ten on the instability of this world. T his is the f irst Sadhana f or aspirants. T hey can thus develop Vairagya. T he mind will be weaned f rom objects. Attraction f or sense-objects will gradually vanish. Renunciation Brings About Moksha Shun the earthly objects as f ire or poison or of f al. Renounce all desires and cravings. T his itself is Moksha (f reedom). Renunciation of desires brings about the annihilation of the mind. Annihilation of the mind brings on the destruction of Maya, because the mind alone is Maya. Maya is enthroned in the imagination of the mind. How cunning she is! A Viveki knows her tricks well. She is awf ully af raid of the man of renunciation and Atmavichara. She bows to him with f olded hands. What Is True Renunciation? T he mind is the all-in-all and its mastery leads to the renunciation of all. Chitta-Tyaga alone constitutes the renunciation of all. True renunciation lies in the abnegation of the mind. It consists in renouncing all desires and egoism and not world-existence. T hrough such a mental abnegation, you will be able to f ree yourself f rom all pain. T hen will come immortality in lif e or enjoyment of the inf inite delight of existence f ree f rom ego, f ounded on oneness of all in Brahman. Sannyasa-a Mental State Sannyasa is a mental state only. It is Gerua or colouring of the heart and not of cloth alone. He is a veritable Sannyasin who is f ree f rom passions and egoism and who possesses all the Sattvic qualities, even though he lives with the f amily in the world. Chudala was a queen-YoginiSannyasini, though she was ruling a kingdom. T hat Sannyasin who lives in the f orest, but who is f ull of passions is worse than a householder and a worldly-minded f ool. Sikhidhvaja was a worldly man, though he lived in the f orest naked f or very many years. True renunciation is the renunciation of all passions, desires, egoism and Vasana. If you have a stainless mind, a mind f ree f rom attachment, egoism and passion, you are a Sannyasin-no matter whether you live in a f orest or in the bustle of a city, whether you wear white cloth or an orange-coloured robe, whether you shave the head or keep a long tuf t of hair. Shave the mind. Someone asked Guru Nanak, "O saint, why have you not shaved your head? You are a Sannyasin." Guru Nanak replied, "My dear f riend, I have shaved my mind." In f act, the mind should be cleanly shaved. Shaving the mind consists in getting rid of all sorts of attachments, passions, egoism, Moha (inf atuation), lust, greed, anger, etc. T his is the real shaving. External shaving of the head has no meaning so long as there is internal craving,

Trishna. Many have not understood what true renunciation is. Renunciation of physical objects is no renunciation at all. T he real Tyaga (renunciation) consists in the renunciation of egoism (Ahankara). If you can renounce this Ahankara, you have renounced everything else in the world. If the subtle Ahankara is given up, Dehadhyasa (identif ication with the body) automatically goes away. Vedanta does not want you to renounce the world. It wants you to change your mental attitude and give up this f alse, illusory 'I'-ness (Ahamta) and mineness (Mamata). T he snake-charmer removes only the two poisonous f angs of the cobra. T he snake remains the same. It hisses, raises its hood and shows the teeth. In f act, it does everything as bef ore. T he snake-charmer has changed his mental attitude towards the snake. He has a f eeling now that it has got no poisonous f angs. Even so, you must remove the two poisonous f angs of the mind, viz., Ahamta and Mamata only. T hen you can allow the mind to go wherever it likes. T hen you will have always Samadhi only. You must renounce the Tyagabhimana also. T he Tyagabhimana is very deep-rooted. You must renounce the idea, "I have renounced everything." "I am a great Tyagi"-this Abhimana of the Sadhus is a greater evil than the Abhimana of householders, "I am a landlord; I am a Brahmin, etc."

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