(for) seen (here in this world); visible; physical (and) heard;promised in the scriptures; revealed objects of him who has ceased to
thirst consciousness of perfect mastery (of desires) non-attachment; detach-
ment.
- The consciousness of perfect mastery (of desires) in the case of one who
has ceased to crave for objects, seen or unseen, is Vairagya.
This Sutra defines Vairagya the second general means of bringing about the
suppression of Citta-Vrttis. The full significance of Vairagya and its role in bringing
the mind to a condition of rest will be fully understood only after the study of the phi-
losophy of Klesas outlined in Section II. Here we shall discuss only certain general
principles. The word Vairagya is derived from the word Raga which has been defined
in II-7 as the attraction which arises due to pleasure derived from any object. Vairagya
therefore means the absence of any attraction towards objects which give pleasure. The
question may be asked: why absence of attraction only, why not absence of repulsion
also, because attraction and repulsion are a pair of opposites and repulsion binds the
soul to the objects as much as attraction. The reason why Dvesa has been left out in
the etymological expression of the idea as Vairagya is not oversight but the fact that
Dvesa is really included in Raga and forms with it a pair of opposites. The alternation
of attraction and repulsion between two individuals who are attached to each other
shows the underlying relation of attraction and repulsion and their common derivation
from attachment. So, non-attachment which means freedom from both attraction and
repulsion correctly expresses the underlying meaning of Vairagya.
The reason why Vairagya plays such an important part in restraining and then
eliminating Citta-Vrttis lies in the fact that desire in its two expressions of Raga and
Dvesa is a tremendous driving and disturbing force which is incessantly producing
Vrttis in the mind. In fact, in the earlier stages of evolutionary progress, desire is the
sole driving force and the development of the mind takes place almost solely as a re-
sult of the constant driving to which it is subjected by desire. In the later stages other
factors also come in and as desire gradually changes into will the latter more and more
becomes the driving force behind the evolutionary development.