An important theme running through Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is of pratyahara or withdrawal of mind from its scattered externality to interiorising it and focusing on the origin of thought. Patanjali details several practical steps to initiate this withdrawal including yama-niyama, svadhyaya and satsang. He also emphasises the need for vairagya or dispassion as the crucial prerequisite temperament to be cultivated for pratyahara. The distinction between real and momentary vairagya is repeatedly emphasised in Vedanta. It is said that even Brahmn vichara or enquiry into Self and all yogic practices become redundant if the mind has not yet fully turned away from externals because vairagya is absent. Sages have pointed out that most people go through momentary phases of dispassion that arises out of personal disillusionment in a situation, but they are unable to sustain this state for long. This is because they are distracted by externalities. Then there are those who hypnotise themselves into believing that this 'accidental' vairagys is a real state of renunciation and, curiously, the so-called renunciation itself becomes a means to seek external vanities. True vairagya, say the wise, can arise only when there is genuine inner discrimination developed through vichara to be able to distinguish between the glamorous outer that is transient at best and the witness-Self which is beckoning to a dimension beyond what is transitory.
Bhartrihari alludes to true vairagya in his classic work 'Vairagaya Shatakam' - Hundred verses on renunciation - pointing out how, despite the transitory nature of the world that's staring us in the face and which is full of death, disease, deceit, greed and what not, we continue to desire a slew of things, and never get satiated. And so get trapped in a vicious cycle of pleasure and pain. Nothing seems to stop us from desiring more, says Bhartrihari, for desire arises from our mis-understanding of what is real and permanent. In perceiving outer empirical reality as the only reality and in perpetuating this notion, we keep desiring external 'enjoyments' and thereby get addicted to them. Desire gives birth to more desire, triggering a self-consuming mind-reality that is desperate to possess just that bit more - be it riches, fame or position.
The play of the mind creates in us dissatisfaction with our identity and so makes us restless. This is because we fail to recognise that identity is never static; it is fluid. A true yoga practitioner tries to reverse this notion through pratyahara and vairagya. One more thing - vairagya does not entail going to the other extreme, of the abnegation of social responsibilities by running away on a whim. If the mind is not disciplined enough, desires will follow you even in the most secluded of spots. The path of a Buddha or Sankara must be taken only when the seeker has cultivated intense vairagya, a state of total disregard for all things material; not merely momentary disenchantment.
Vedanta says that the mind itself must be used as an enquiring tool to look deeper into the purpose of life, beyond the visual-auditory-sensory matrix of impressions. A discriminating mind would be able to distinguish between what is essential and what is perishable, even as you go about your duties in life.
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