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• Personal Growth

February 2024

Cultivating Vairagya 

Vanitha Vaidialingam talks  about how the scriptures guide  us in gaining mastery over  our desires, to live life with  equanimity 

Who would not like to  increase mental clarity,  reduce stress, and enjoy  calm and peace in their life? The  Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad  Gita offer numerous tools for  achieving this state of being. I am  not referring to any exotic methods  of meditation or elaborate ritualistic prayers but, rather, to the simple  self-control tools presented by these  scriptures for practical living. 

The Buddha asserted that “desire is the  root cause of all evil” and that desire should  be eschewed. However, desire is linked to  our instinct for survival and is a significant  biological drive that can be controlled but not  eliminated. Even monks, like householders,  must use sensory inputs for survival. So, the  cultivation of dispassion, or vairagya, does  not mean complete withdrawal of the senses  and their functioning. It refers to the practice  of consciously controlling and redirecting the  flow of the senses and the mind.  

In this context, the Vedas, Upanishads, and  Bhagavad Gita prescribe a ceiling on desire or  redirection of desire into spiritual living such  that desires can be evaluated, emotions can be  regulated, and senses can be withdrawn from  stimuli. As a consequence, the individual will  experience emotional control, stress reduction,  sensory regulation, and peace of mind. 

It must be noted that these scriptures are  not prescriptive but, rather, suggestive.  They provide a wide range of techniques and  methodologies for achieving dispassion. It is  for the practitioners to choose a method that  suits them best. 

However, the process of acquiring impulse  control or emotional reticence requires  exercising viveka, or discernment. Viveka is a  methodology by which the individual becomes  aware of their emotional response to sensory  stimuli. The individual can then work towards  understanding the triggers that underpin the  response. The result of this awareness and the  subsequent effort at identifying the source  of stimuli will produce vairagya within the  individual. This dispassion, in turn, will help  bring mental clarity, emotional stability, and  peace of mind. 

Let’s consider a scenario: You have created a  wonderful painting, putting your heart and  soul into it. Everyone around you is praising  your talent, but there is one person (whose  opinion you value) who is critical of the piece.  They point out the defects in the painting  and suggest improvements. Your immediate  response is anger. If you let loose your anger,  you may speak words that could sever your  relationship with that person forever. If you  

The Upanishads prescribe a ceiling on desires

The offspring of viveka is vairagya, which is a compound  word composed of ‘vai,’ which means ‘to dry up,’ and ‘raga,’  which means ‘passion.’ Together, the compounded word  means to enter a state in which emotions dry up or cease to  hold sway over you. This detachment results in renunciation  (tyaga), enabling the person to pursue reality and give up  falsities.  control your anger and take time to calm down,  you may even begin to see the truth behind  their comments and appreciate their honesty  and goodwill towards you. 

In this scenario, viveka requires you to name  the emotion and then proceed to analyse why  you became angry. You may want to leave the  room until you calm down or use one of the  time-tested techniques, such as counting from  1 to 100, before responding. This will help you  calm down and prevent the consequences of  giving the reins to uncontrolled anger. As you  dig deeper into the source of your emotion,  you will find that the root cause of your anger  is desire or expectation. You want everyone  to unconditionally appreciate your work and  recognise your talent. The one critical voice,  however justified, made you unhappy and  gave rise to anger as your expectation was not  fulfilled. Having understood that, you will  then be able to appreciate the criticism and  the goodwill behind the response from the  individual. 

The offspring of viveka is vairagya, which is a compound word composed of ‘vai,’ which means  ‘to dry up,’ and ‘raga,’ which means ‘passion.’  Together, the compounded word means to enter  a state in which emotions dry up or cease to  hold sway over you. This detachment results  in renunciation (tyaga), enabling the person to  pursue reality and give up falsities.  

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1:15 describes a  dispassionate person or vairagi as one who is  in a conscious and controlled state of being  and does not hanker after objects that may be  experienced through the senses, such as sight  or hearing. 

Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita 6:35 says  that vairagya is the key to controlling a fickle  mind that is restless like the wind. The process  is difficult but not impossible. 

The Vairagya Satakam of Bhartrihari is an  excellent treatise on the concept of vairagya. It  narrates the story of a king who was mortified by  a certain turn of events and is reactive. The king  obtains a golden fruit that confers immortality.  He wanted his queen to benefit from the fruit  and gave it to her. The queen gave it to her lover.  

The lover gave it to a prostitute, who in turn  brought it to the king as her gift. On discovering  the sequence of events, the king got angry and  ordered the beheading of the queen. He then  ate the fruit himself. However, appalled by the  range of uncontrolled emotions he experienced,  he analysed the cause of his suffering. He  realised that it was his desires and expectations  that were at the root of his misery. Renouncing  his throne, he left the kingdom to gain mastery  over his emotions. Bhartrihari advises his  readers to beware of emotional responses and  encourages them to gain control over passion  by practising vairagya, or dispassion. 

In the Thirukural, Thiruvalluvar, a renowned  Tamil saint, has elaborated on the practice of  vairagya (verse numbers 341–350 of Chapter  35) in some detail. He points out that those who  can control sensory desire can get rid of it. This  freedom from desires reduces suffering. Until  this happens, there is a constant pendulum-like  oscillation between happiness and sadness. It is  only by vairagya or willpower that the sixth sense  can gain mastery over the five senses. However,  vairagya cannot be obtained without rigorous  practice. Practice is referred to as ‘abhyasa.’ 

What is abhyasa? It is inseparable from vairagya.  The practice has to be constant, repeated, and  conscious. The endeavour must be to focus  attention on our habits and patterns (vasanas)  and to get us out of the rut or groove that has  been formed by their repetition. Abhyasa will  become firmly established when it is pursued  without interruption over a long period. 

Involvement and Intensity in the Practice of  Vairagya 

Individual involvement in the practice of vairagya will determine the intensity of the practice and  the progress of the effort. The effort can vary in  intensity: 

Mild: The individual is conscious of the sensory  forces at play and makes some effort to control  their outcome.  

Medium: The individual is extremely conscious  of the power of the mind in impulsive action  and makes a constant conscious effort to control  actions arising from impulses.  

Concentrated: The individual is intensely  conscious of the causes of sense-driven impulse  actions and makes an all-out effort to be non reactive. 

Stages in the Practice of Vairagya 

The practice of dispassion is divided into two  stages—Apara Vairagya and Para Vairagya.  Apara Vairagya is divided into four steps,  whereas Para Vairagya has one step. 

The four steps of Apara Vairagya 

 Yetamana (Naming or acknowledging  the emotion): The vairagi acknowledges  that their senses dictate their actions and  reactions. The senses go out into the world  in predefined grooves and stimulate desires  and emotions in the person. The vairagi 

identifies the dominant processes by  which sensory input translates into desire.  They then identify each dominant sensory  input and gradually avoid going down that  sensory route. This practice of identifying  the sensory input is called Yetamana.  Repetitive practices like mantra japa, and  meditation, are recommended adjuncts to  the practice of Yetamana. It is considered  necessary to keep the sensory inputs to a  minimum so that the vairagi can progress  with this practice.  

Vyatirka (Enquiry into the action of the  senses): The vairagi who has successfully  named the emotion is ready for step two, the  practice of gradually detaching the sense  from the sensory input. Let us understand  this with the example we used earlier. A  person may experience anger when they or  their work is criticised. A practising vairagi will immediately recognise and name the  emotion that is surging up and set out to  control the emotion by leaving the room or  counting from 1–100 to allow the emotion to  

Self-control requires practice and discipline subside. Thereafter, they may inquire into  the reason for their emotional response.  They may find that they have a deep seated desire or expectation that everyone  should appreciate their work or agree that  they have talent. Once that desire has been  identified and labelled, they will set out  to ascertain the truth of or understand the  point of view of the person criticising their  work. As a result, they will be able to see  the defects in their work and set them right.  In other words, the dispassion will bring  clarity and reduce stress. 

Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), described in  the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, refers to this stage of  Vairagya. You withdraw your attention from the  sense organs, like a turtle pulling its limbs into  its shell. Mindfulness exercises that ask you to  withdraw the senses from external stimuli and  focus inwards are recommended as part of this  practice. 

• Ekendirya (Examining the mind): The  Vairagi realises that controlling the senses  does not result in complete non-attachment.  The mind remains active. The desires  dormant in the mind surface and may derail  the achievements of step one unless one  remains vigilant. The vairagi must examine  the desires that arise in the mind and gain  mastery over them to practice the third step  called Ekendirya. For instance, in Karma  Yoga, the practice of Ekendriya requires  the practitioner to let go of the vritis (waves  of sensations or tendencies) of the mind in  three stages: 

i. Non-attachment to the fruits of action (Phala  tyaga).  

ii.Non-attachment to the nature (pleasurable or  non-pleasurable) of action (Karma tyaga). iii. Non-attachment to the authorship of action  (Kartha tyaga). 

Ekendirya, therefore, can be transliterated as  a ‘controlled mental state’ wherein the mind is  brought to a standstill and there are no reactive  highs and lows. The vairagi begins to view the  world with equanimity, with constant practice.  This is equivalent to Patanjali Yoga Sutra’s  ‘dharana.’ 

 Vasikara (Equanimity): This is the point  at which the vairagi’s equanimity is stable  and spontaneous. It is known as vasikara or dhyana (Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra). With  the senses and the mind under control, the  vairagi is not tempted by external or internal  stimuli. The senses and the mind become  still, and the Vairagi is ready for the next  stage—Para Vairagya. 

Para Vairagya (Liberation)—The Last Step Para Vairagya is the final stage in which the  aspirant moves beyond the natural tendencies,  or gunas. He will try to get rid of Rajas (indulgence), Tamas (laziness), and even Satva (calmness). His practice of dispassion will take  him beyond these tendencies and ease him into  a state of transcendence, or Samadhi, wherein  he realises the truth of the statement “Aham  Brahmasmi (I am Brahman).” 

Conclusion 

Vairagya or dispassion is the method of  reorienting desire. The practice begins with the  observation of the self and the impact of sense  inputs on the body and mind. The practitioner  identifies the vritis (tendencies) and names  them. Thereafter, they set out to identify the  source of the tendency, consciously avoid going  down that path, and attempt to develop non attachment to the action, the actor, and the  fruits of action. Constant practice results in the  steady refinement of the mind and body. 

The initial phase of the practice may be  slow, with the aspirant slipping down to the  earlier stages repeatedly. However, devoted  and constant practice of Apara Vairagya will  gradually result in a shift in the momentum  of the practice, and the progression toward  complete non-attachment, or Para Vairagya,  will become more and more apparent.

Dr. Vanitha Vaidialingam is a retired Commissioner of Income tax, management  consultant, published author and a devoted yoga practitioner. She is the winner of the Golden Book Award 2024, for her book Close-Encounters of the Mystical Kind.