Spiritual Message for the Day – Essence of Vairagya by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Baba Times Digest© | 25 April 2015 21.17 EST | New York Edition
Essence of Vairagya
Divine Life Society Publication: Essence of Vairagya by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
Vairagya is the opposite of Raga (attachment). Vairagya is dispassion. Vairagya is detachment. Vairagya is indifference to sensual enjoyment here and hereafter. It is the second item in Sadhana Chatushtaya—Viveka, Vairagya, Shadsampat and Mumukshutwa.
Vairagya is born of Viveka, or discrimination between Nitya and Anitya (Eternal and non-eternal), Sat and Asat (Real and unreal), Tattwa and Atattwa (Essence and non-essence). Viveka comes through selfless service done in several births and through Puja and Aradhana (worship and adoration of God), and through the Grace of the Lord. From Viveka is born Vairagya. It gives spiritual strength.
A man of Vairagya has no attraction for the material world. So Vairagya is a supreme, inexhaustible wealth for spiritual aspirants. Vairagya aids concentration of mind (Samadhana) and generates burning Mumukshutwa, or strong yearning for Liberation or Emancipation, or Release.
Raga is attachment to objects. Wherever there is a little pleasure, there is Raga. Wherever there is pain, there is dislike. Like and dislike are inter-related. Raga-Dwesha is also one of the important afflictions, according to Patanjali Maharshi. The five afflictions are Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism), Raga-Dwesha (like and dislike) and Abhinivesha (clinging to life). First, there is ignorance, the original Avidya. From this is born egoism, Asmita, and from Asmita is born Raga-Dwesha, and from Raga-Dwesha, Abhinivesha, or clinging to this life.
Vairagya is of different types or degrees—Mridu, Madhyama and Teevra (mild, moderate and intense). Intense Vairagya only will help the aspirant to stick to the spiritual path. If it is of a dull type like Smasana Vairagya, the mind will simply be waiting to get back the objects that were renounced previously, and the aspirant will get a downfall. He will not be able to climb again to the heights he formerly reached. So, the aspirants should be careful. Even though their Vairagya is of a mild type, they should try to make it moderate and then intense.
Vairagya comes through looking into the defects of sensual life. Sensual pleasure is not real happiness. It is illusory, transient, impermanent. It is mixed with pain. So, again and again by looking into the defects of sensual life, Vairagya dawns. It should be strengthened through the study of spiritual books, Satsanga, Vichara (discrimination) and enquiry.
Vairagya should be born of discrimination, enquiry and analysis. By these, the mind is weaned from sensual enjoyments and rendered thin like a thread (Tanumanasi) and only then is Vairagya lasting. Again and again you will have to make enquiry. Physical nudity and external penance do not constitute real Vairagya. Real Vairagya should come from enquiry, Vichara. All these material objects do not give us lasting happiness. They lead us unto pain and sorrow. Such deep enquiry, again and again persisted in for a very long time, produces lasting Vairagya.
Vairagya is the real wealth for an aspirant. It helps him to do real Sadhana. It makes the mind introvert. Vairagya puts a brake to the extrovert tendency of the mind. Even if the mind runs towards objects, at once Vairagya will point out that there is pain there, that sensual enjoyment is the cause for rebirth and intense suffering. So the mind is bridled, and gradually through intense practice, it is established in real, lasting, sustained, intense Vairagya.
Vairagya is of two grades: Para (supreme) Vairagya and Apara (relative) Vairagya. Para Vairagya comes after one attains Self-realisation. The whole world then appears like a straw. This gives intense spiritual strength.
Without Vairagya there cannot be any real spiritual progress. In Vedanta it is the only vital, fundamental Sadhana. If you have Vairagya, all other virtues will come by themselves. Patanjali Maharshi says: Abhyasavairagyabhyam tannirodhah—"the mind is controlled by meditation or Sadhana and Vairagya." They are the two wings of the aspirant to soar high into the realm of Immortal Abode. The same thing Lord Krishna also says:
Abhyasena tu Kaunteya, vairagyena cha grihyate—"the mind is controlled by practice and dispassion and intense detachment." By Vairagya, the mind is detached. He who works in a detached way is not bound by Karma (action). So it is the aspirants’ duty to cultivate this one virtue, or Sadhana-anka-Vairagya.
Vairagya is, doubtless, a mental state whereby the mind does not run into sensual grooves. It moves towards Atman, towards God. Queen Chudalai ruled a kingdom, and yet she had absolute (Para) Vairagya. Even amidst the temptations of the world, she had mental Vairagya, through Vichara and wisdom. So she was not affected in the least by the attractive objects of the world, whereas her husband, Sikhidhwaja, went to the forest, renouncing his kingdom, and yet he was not established in Vairagya. He was attached to the body; he was attached to his Kamandalu (water-bowl). A man may get attached to any object.
You see a Vairagi, the common type one comes across. His whole body is smeared with ash, but he will fight for a rupee if he finds you giving a rupee to another Vairagi. This is his mental state. So by external appearance you cannot tell that one has Vairagya. Vairagya is a mental disposition. Sri Ramanuja does not belong to this extreme type of Vairagya—wearing only a rope loin cloth. He lived amidst luxurious things, but his mind was not polluted. He had that mental state of Vairagya, detachment, indifference, born of Viveka.
Lord Krishna says that He is not in favour of extreme asceticism: Karshayantah sareerastham bhootagramamachetasah, Mam chaivantahsareerastham tanvidhyasuranischayan—"They torture all the elements in the body and Me also who dwells in the body". Lord Buddha also tortured his body in the beginning but later on he found out that there was not much spiritual progress, and then he came to the golden medium, the middle path. So we should go by the middle path always. The body is an instrument for attaining Self-realisation. So you should not torture the body. Whatever is needed for the body, you should have.
You should not expose the body to chill. God has given commonsense. So you should practise commonsense Sadhana. There is no harm in taking good, nutritious food, especially if the constitution requires it. You should use commonsense. If you are weak and if you cannot sit for a long time in one Asana, there is no harm in taking a little Chyavanaprash or some fruits.
Generally aspirants say, "I have given up umbrella," "I take only one meal." Their whole Sadhana is, "I have given up shirt, I have given up sweater, I have given up shoes, I live only on bread and dal." Their Sadhana consists in "giving up"—give up this, give up that. Real spiritual life does not involve any giving up or taking. The only thing is that you should not give too much leniency to the mind. It will hurl you down. Always be watchful. Be eternally vigilant.
Excerpts from: Essence of Vairagya by Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda
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