Vairagya means giving up. What is it that we need to give up in our spiritual journey?
It is giving up identity. It is like catharsis. It is like the seed giving up its seed-ness. We know that a seed has to give itself up to be a tree and give rise to many seeds but the seed itself does not know. It only knows that it is getting lost. That it has to give up its seed-ness. From the seed’s perspective “being “a seed feels safe. It requires courage and an adventurous spirit to let go. Our present situation in this world might feel safe and secure. Holding on to the objective world looks safe and sound whereas Vairagya looks very adventurous. We are aware that there are material things outside and we are in need of people too to lead this life but in the state of Vairagya we might become a loner. It does not mean lonely physically but in our heart of hearts we would know that we are alone. People will be with us yet away. You are within you with your original qualities.
Love, a sense of appreciation and divinity are the essential features and qualities within us. Unfortunately, we usually misinterpret this. First of all, they are not our qualities and second, they are mistaken for attachment and possessions. Wherever there is love and sense of appreciation, ego is dissolved and one feels the mood to surrender happily and willingly. In the case of attachment, we are actually trying to establish our supremacy and want to possess and utilize it for our own benefit.
Ego is strengthened in attachment. Vairagya is giving up attachment but not giving up love and sensitivity. It is continuing to maintain a good sense of appreciation and a joyful attitude. Vairagya is mistaken to be serious, to be unaffected by anything, to detach from love. Such wrong mis-interpretation makes people run away from joy and become serious in life. This is very unfortunate indeed. That is the reason Vairagya is painted as heartless and lifeless by many.
It is interesting to note that Vairagya is not new in our lives. We experience this in our day to day lives in a subtle manner. For example: when we climb the staircase, we make sure that the next step is safe and put all our weight on it but once we leave that firm step to go ahead, we are indeed letting go- Vairagya. This is the way vairagya works. If we continue to hold on to the same step then we can never go ahead. Flow of the river is possible because the river leaves the banks no matter how sacred the ghat may be. Flow is known as a river. A candle gives itself up and allows its flame to soar to the limitless space. This is Vairagya. Candle no more remains as candle. Vairagya is the only means for growth and has to be looked at from that angle.
Patanjali and all other yoga acharyas took these two aspects together in pairs- Abhyasa and Vairagya. They can’t be separated. In our association with the objects outside, we become habituated which gradually becomes our dependencies and later they become our inseparable personality. Every habit is a bondage. Every dependency is more than bondage and every wrong identification makes life miserable. Real Vairagya is non-attachment from these things. Since these things percolate deep into us, we need to do the Abhyasa of detaching from these tendencies. Thus, Vairagya and Abhyasa have to go together. Vairagya therefore, is a practice which gives us freedom. Dependency on objects and identification with them is an outward journey and Vairagya is the opposite and is an inward journey. Being constantly with one object, we develop boredom and because we don’t know this truth, whenever we feel bored with one object and develop vairagya we switch over to another object. Similarly, from one person to another person but we don’t even think of journeying inward. We get rid of one activity and plunge into another activity; we distance ourselves from our wife and replace her with another person.
A businessman will give up all the so-called luxuries- skips timely food, sleep etc. in pursuit of his business. A researcher engrossed in research ignores things of the world like clothes, tours, sightseeing, family recreations, lavish parties etc world. One may feel awe about his dedication and his goal-oriented behaviour. We may think he is practising vairagya by sacrificing all luxuries and so he is great. Actually, he is only pursuing his own passion and it is not giving up. He is enjoying his own passion in a focused way but there is nothing spiritual about it. There is no pursuit of an inward journey. Objects and identification are still outside.
Vairagya or tyaga or sacrifice is only when one turns one eighty degrees from the world and turns inwards. The world is mrita or death and Amritatwa is immortality. Upanishad says Tyagenaike amritatwa manushu. Tyaga or sacrifice is that which will take you to Immortality which is self-realization.
Therefore, three things are necessary for making a spiritual journey.
- Abhyasa- discipline and relentless practice till it becomes our own nature
- Vairagya- non-attachment
- Clarity of purpose and goal of life which is essentially the spiritual or inward journey and inward experience.
Yoga Vasishta, a very profound text of yoga, keeps these three parameters together. The first one, corresponding to Abhyasa, he calls Vasana Kshaya. The second one, Chitta Nasha or Vairagya or letting go of the mind. The third one is goal, purpose and establishing an aim of life called Atma Bodha.
Some yoga techniques focus mainly in the area of discipline or Abhyasa while others are rich with non-attachment or vairagya as the focus. According to the division of human beings in modern psychology, the first one is for extroverts and the second one is for introverts. Extroverts focus outside and therefore their progress is assured in outside results. The techniques of Raja yoga and Karma yoga broadly fall into these extrovert techniques. The steps are visible outside, the results are visible outside and the satisfaction is also outside but since they are yoga techniques their goal is inward journey only.
When a paradigm shift takes place in thinking and inward journey gains importance, then, what we are holding and being bothered by becomes unimportant and unnecessary. With certain understanding one starts feeling he has outgrown outside objects and need not bother with outside goals anymore. It is like a child playing with all kinds of colorful stones who is now an adult and has outgrown those colorful stones. One can easily see that as one grows intellectually one can realize this. These are techniques of Vairagya. Broadly yoga practices which are jnana yoga, intellect based yoga, and Bhakti yoga which is around our emotions are practices under the category of Vairagya.
Another important characteristic is that while practices under Discipline are methodical, step-by-step and gradually progressive, techniques under vairagya are like sudden flashes and a sudden jump. You are in ignorance and suddenly you become knowledgeable. It does not matter how long you are in ignorance; one stroke of knowledge shatters all that ignorance. It is like, don’t worry how long the darkness has been there in this space, just bring in the light and the whole darkness goes away. Just like darkness is non-existence of light, ignorance is non-existence of knowledge. Like darkness itself does not have any existence, ignorance also has no existence of its own. This is not orderly and gradual but chaotic and sudden.
Interestingly, creation also has these two ways of expression- chaos and orderliness. When you observe leaves, those of the same species have very similar leaves or structure showing orderliness but when you closely observe, each leaf is totally different from the other, representing chaos. Our hands appear like mirror images but when you observe fingerprints they have no similarities, showing chaos. Orderliness is conforming to a pattern or formula; chaos is nonconforming. Conforming is fixed, predictable and not having free will whereas chaos is nonconforming, unpredictable and having freewill. These are apparently contrary but they are actually complementary like bitter seed and sweet fruit in an orange. Only discipline or only chaos cannot give rise to creation. Similarly, practices of Abhyasa and vairagya also should complement yoga although either of them can be more predominant according to one’s nature of being extrovert or introvert.
Concluding ideas -
- Vairagya is not with negativity or condemnation of the world
- Vairagya is not giving up or forcefully denying but outgrowing
- Vairagya is happening in our daily life without our knowledge
- Raja yoga and Karma yoga techniques can be broadly categorised into Abhyasa or discipline and Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga techniques come under Vairagya
- Techniques of vairagya are not systematic and progressive but chaotic and cause a sudden shift to higher planes