Sutra 1.13
Aranya
"Exertion to acquite ‘sthiti’ or a tranquil state of mind devoid of fluctuations is called practice"
The effort, energy and the enthusiasm needed to achieve a calm state of mind is called practice.Constant practice is needed to maintain whatever state of calmness one has achieved and strive to go deeper with further practice. As per Mandukya Upanishada, "…. when the wise man exerts himself with energy, knowledge and renunciation, his soul reaches the abode of Brahman".
Sutra 1.14
Aranya
"That practice when continued for a long time without break and with devotion becomes firm in foundation"
The word ‘constantly’ implies daily and, if possible, every moment. Quote from Chhandogya Upanishad, "that whic is done with proper knowledge, with devotion and in conformity with the scriptures, becomes more forceful".
Sutra 1.15
Aranya
"When the mind loses all desire for objects seen or described in the scriptures it acquires a state of utter desirelessness which is called detachment"
Objects seen may include women, food, drinks, power etc and those described in scriptures may include ‘going to heaven’. Only when the mind, as a result of acquiring discriminative knowledge, is not influenced by the above objects and is indifferent to good and evil, it is said to have reached ‘vairagya’.Through discriminative knowledge one begins to realize that worldly things breed the three-fold misery (physical, mental and supernatural -‘adhibhautika, adhyatmika, and adhidaivika’) and that enjoyment of worldy objects is being scorched by fire.
The final state of ‘vairagya’ is reached in three stages – (1) yatamana – making a constant effort not to indulge in sense enjoyments, (2) vyatireka – partial success in the above, and (3) ekendriya – when by practice the sense-organs are completely free from objects and only a mental tendency to attachment remains. Complete vairagya happens when even that mental tendency disappears.
Discussion
Pashupati raised a question, "is depression same as vairagya since you have no desire at that time?". The general feeling was that the answer was ‘no’ since depression is a mental disease and is, in fact, caused by unfulfilled desires. Another question, "should we not fight evil?". The answer that came up was that we need to fight evil but even that has to be done with a sense of detachment, that is, without the ego getting involved. Subhsh cited the example of Bhagavad Gita where the whole war was fought to fight evil so that righteousness can be upheld.
Lea asked the question as to how to determine what is evil and what is not. This can be determined under the guidance of a ‘guru’ or study of the scriptures. ‘Satsangha’ or the company of good people can also help us understand what evil is so we can act appropriately. Pashupati wanted to clarify the difference between ‘vairagya’ and ‘tyaga’. Vairagya is derived from the root ‘raga’ which means color. So in vairagya our mind is not ‘colored’ by any of the wordly objects even though we are living in this world, whereas ‘tyaga’ implies compleley giving up all worldly objects.
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