The stages of dispassion (Vairagya)
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| Four Stages of Dispassion (Vairagya) - Yatamana-Samjna, Vyatireka-Samjna, Ekendriya-Samjna, Vasikara-Samjna |
There is a necessity for the
development of dispassion (vairagya) and
for continued practice (abhyasa), which
two, when carried to perfection, are the whole process of yoga. The student
should not do anything which will excite the senses. Pratyahara is
not possible without a detached consciousness. Dispassion is not any force
exercised by the will, but, rather, an understanding. The yoga texts say that
there are various stages of dispassion and one cannot suddenly jump to its
pinnacle.
The first stage is called yatamana-samjna, or
the consciousness of effort necessary towards the attainment of dispassion. 'I
am fed up, and I want to be free', is such consciousness, an attempt towards
the achievement of success in the chosen direction.
The second stage is vyatireka-samjna or
the consciousness of separating the essentials from nonessentials in the
effort. Here, the student sifts the situation of his life, whereby the
necessary and the unnecessary are discriminated and the true target of effort
properly fixed. What really causes attachment, worry and anxiety has to be
clearly known and diligently avoided. It is not that the whole world troubles a
person always; only certain things seem to be needing attention. In the beginning,
one might think that the whole world is bad, but slowly one realizes that a few
situations alone are one's troubles.
There comes the third stage
where one confronts the actual point of the trouble and a single cause is
detected from among the several suspected ones. This is ekendriya-samjna, or
the consciousness of the 'one sense' which is the sole cause of the difficulty
on the way. The student thought once that the tongue was troubling him or the
eyes were the trouble, etc. All the senses were held under suspicion and
watched, as the police would make an initial arrest of all those whose bona
fide is doubted in a case on hand. When the guilty one is found out after
examination, the others are released. First, all the senses are rounded up; and
then it is discovered that the mind alone is the mischief-maker. Here, in the
third stage, the culprit is caught red-handed.
The fourth state is vasikara-samjna or
the consciousness of mastery on account of absence of longing for all things,
whether seen or heard. Nothing that is seen in this world, and none of the joys
of heaven which are only heard, can now attract the student of yoga. It is not
so much a physical isolation of oneself from objects as freedom from craving (trishna) for
them. The 'will-to-pleasure' is the evil, not the objects which are made its
instruments. It is immaterial where one is placed; one cannot run away from the
world, for it is everywhere. Desirelessness (vaitrishnya) is
supreme control (vasikara).
Distance from objects is not dispassion,
for 'while the objects go, the longing does not go', says the Gita. One
is not in physical contact with objects in dream, and yet one enjoys them
there. Pleasure is excited even when objects are not physically present. On the
contrary, there is no pleasure even if there be objects in one's proximity, if
only the mind is detached from them. Thinking of objects is the first stage of
desire. By thought one brings oneself near to them. Complete mastery is that
condition in which the senses do not long for and the mind does not think of
objects. When these do not function at all in relation to objects, that is said
to be the highest dispassion and the zenith of pratyahara.
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