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After explaining and having dealt with abhyāsa, Maharishi Patañjali beautifully describes what is vairāgyam. The word vairāgya, virāga, we keep on hearing many times that one has to have vairāgya-buddhi. And from this particular word vairāgya, the commonly known vairāgi word comes without rāga.
The important Sutra, Sutra number 15 of the Samādhipāda, Maharishi Patañjali describes what is vairāgya. The Sutra is -
दृ॒ष्टानुश्रविकवि॒ष॒यवि॒तृष्णस्य व॒शीकारसंज्ञा॑ वैरा॒ग्यम् ॥ १.१५॥
Dṛṣṭānuśravika-viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjñā vairāgyam || 1.15 ||
Dṛṣṭānuśravika-viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjñā vairāgyam, very simple and easy method of defining and almost a perfect way of defining what is vairāgyam. And the definition is dṛṣṭā-anuśravika-viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjñā vairāgyam. That is the definition.
So what is vairāgyam? Vairāgyam is vaśīkāra-saṁjñā. Vairāgyam is defined as vaśīkāra-saṁjñā. Vaśīkāra is perfect subjugation, mastery. Vaśīkāram, perfect mastery. It is absolutely under control. Absolute mastery. That is called as vaśīkāra. Vaśaḥ, it is under control. Saṁjñā, sign or awareness. It is a definition, it is a designation. And what is the vaśīkāra-saṁjñā? Vaśīkāra-saṁjñā of what? Or awareness of what? A perfect mastery, awareness of perfect mastery is vairāgyam. So awareness of perfect mastery of what? That is defined beautifully. That is viṣaya, subject. Or it can be object. So vaśīkāra-saṁjñā of the object or subject. Of what? dṛṣṭā-anuśravika-vitṛṣṇa (dṛṣṭā-anuśravika-vitṛṣṇa), dṛṣṭā is seen. anuśravika, anuśravika - śravika is śravaṇam, we know śravaṇam. śravaṇam is listening. śravika, heard. anuśravika, after hearing.
Vitṛṣṇa, tṛṣṇa is desire. Vitṛṣṇa, no desire. tṛṣṇa is craving. An intense thirst for a particular sense of joy. And vitṛṣṇa is not having. So the Sutra says, the general translation of the Sutra says that vairāgyam is awareness of disinterestedness of the viṣaya, object, of seen or heard. This is termed as vairāgyam.
There is an awareness and there is a feeling, alertness of what? Seen and hearing or listening. That means, if we can slightly understand clearly, all desires to enjoy, all temptations to enjoy, they come from mostly, basically through our senses — and the sense of touch, the sense of taste, the sense of hearing, and the sense of seeing.
So how a desire comes in the mind? The desire comes in the mind to enjoy that particular object, the object of enjoyment which is there. The desire germinates, rises in the mind by two important things. One is by seeing an object and other one is by hearing about the object.
You see something in the front, an object to be eaten, say a laddoo, a kheer, a payasam, a rasagulla, a sweet, or it can be a kara also. You see something in the front, by seeing that a connection is made between the object of seeing, object, the seen, and that pushes up, kicks up a desire inside, and that is the tṛṣṇa to get it, to have it, to enjoy it.
And for this tṛṣṇa, what was responsible? The seeing was responsible. So we keep on seeing in the world so many things. We see a beautiful flower, a tṛṣṇa rises to enjoy the flower. We see a beautiful picture, tṛṣṇa rises to enjoy it. A beautiful person, a handsome person, anything which is very beautiful, or the cause of the desire, tṛṣṇa, longing, craving, thirst, is by seeing. That's why Patañjali uses the word, actually begins the Sutra by that dṛṣṭā. If dṛṣṭā is not, if the process of seeing is not there, or if it is not seen, how can the desire and enjoyment, thirst, longing and craving be kicked up in the mind? Maybe by hearing. Somebody said something, you heard something, and there is a desire for that. Somebody says, oh that film is beautiful, very good. A desire comes, I should see the film. Somebody says, oh that place is wonderful. You develop a desire to see that place, to enjoy that place, to go there.
Why only two senses have been taken? Why not all other senses were taken? This is also a point to understand. Maybe other three sense objects, objects of sense of enjoyment through the other three senses, can be removed or easily controllable, easily mastered. But the sense through the eye, the longing of the sense, the craving, and listening, this may be a little bit tougher. That is how these two things have been mentioned.
But vaśīkāra is another important word — perfect mastery. One has to master the power of the senses, the push of the senses, rush of the senses, and this rush of the senses, push of the senses, has to be subjugated. All the five senses may be pushing, demanding, but how do we handle them is an important dimension. That is why traditionally it is said that vairāgya has four dimensions, four levels, four stages. And those stages are termed as yatamāna, yatamāna, and second is called vyatireka, and the third is called ekendriya, and the fourth and the last is vaśīkāra.
That is what Patañjali used in this particular Sutra — vaśīkāra, highest mastery. And before that the three more stages: yatamāna. yatamāna means a desire to control, a desire to overcome. There is an awareness in that — that is saṁjñā, that is awareness — oh this is to be controlled, I am becoming a slave of it, I am becoming addicted to it. This awareness, that is called as yatamāna. A desire to detach, a desire to be free, a desire to cut — this is important. That is the first stage, yatamāna.
And the second is, as the awareness increases that I am getting trapped, I am getting hooked, I am getting addicted, once this awareness becomes more and more, slowly there will be a detachment from some things, there will be attachment for some more things. So this play of detachments and attachments, the play of hunger for some senses, the play of mastery over some senses, the senses can differ, that keeps on happening. It is a play of sense hungers. For some senses you will get a mastery, on some senses you will not be getting mastery. So that struggle will be going on, and that is the state which is termed as vyatireka. On some you have vyatireka.
And the third is ekendriya. Out of the five senses, four have been mastered but one is troubling. This is called ekendriya. That which is troubling is ekendriya. Other four senses have been mastered. It can be anyone, out of the five senses — four have been mastered, one is not mastered. That is called as ekendriya state. You have mastered four senses, temptation of four senses, craving and longing of four senses, but one is to be controlled, this is ekendriya stage.
Vaśīkāra, which Maharshi Patañjali used in this particular Sutra, is mastery on all the five senses. So a desire to detach, to detach from the longing and craving, is the first stage. One should have that detachment, sense of detachment, a desire to detach — yatamāna. And there is a play, a game of detachments and attachments. And then the third one is the ekendriya. Mastered all but one is difficult. The one can be anything. And the last is a real mastery. That real mastery is the vaśīkaraḥ, and that is vairāgyaḥ - dṛṣṭānuśravika-viṣaya-vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjñā vairāgyam. That is termed as vairāgyam.
A wonderful Sutra to analyze ourself, at what level we are, and to attain that real, perfect, true vairāgyam, free from the troubles of the senses, is the important dimension in the practice of yoga.
That is how Maharshi Patañjali suggests, deals abhyāsa and vairāgya. Two Sutras on abhyāsa and one Sutra on the vairāgya. And the next Sutras are the further descriptions of the Samādhipāda, which we shall see in our continuous series.
Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||
To Be Continued..
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These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/CwKOBy32Vro?si=EPwTkWjFDJULRPnl
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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