CHENNAI: Jnana needs vairagya (dispassion) as its companion. It is of little use to master jnana with intellect. To obtain the state of jnana, you need vairagya. Vairagya does not mean you live in a forest with ash smeared all over your body. Vairagya means disinterestedness or the state of being without attachment. Vairagya is obtained by the conviction that the world is unreal and by giving up involvement with the world.Renouncing attachment is vairagya: Intelligent people find it easy to understand what jnana is. But they find vairagya rather difficult to understand. This is because we are conditioned to misread the unreal as real and then rush towards it. To counter this pull, the sadhaka should be firm in his conviction that sense-objects are unreal and root out his attachment to them. This practice of giving up of attachment is vairagya.Root out desires from the mind: The knowledge of being the atman, which is beyond name, form, shape and qualities, has to include the experience of vairagya. This will be possible only if you give up all desires. Atma-jnana is impossible for those who retain their attachment to worldly life.Dear sadhakas, you should be in the house but the house must not be in you. It does not matter if you are in the world but the world should not be in you. There is no harm if the boat is in the water, but water must not get into the boat as it will cause it to sink. You may live in the house with your relatives but make sure that the house, relatives and the world do not get into your mind. Abandon the ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Reject vasanas or cravings. Always be aware that you are the atman. As a matter of fact, all worldly events are external and they take place only outside of you. They trouble you only when you absorb them into yourself — when you take more interest in them and worry about them. Thus, by allowing the external world to remain outside and remaining free from vasanas you can attain vairagya. Practice is the key. Question: Sir, it is easy for you to ask us to give up vasanas but we find it difficult to give them up. So kindly tell us what sadhana we must perform for this purpose.Answer: Practice keeping your mind in a state of equanimity. Station your mind firmly in the atman. Don’t ever doubt if it is possible to control the mind; simply start your practice. Keep faith in the words of Krishna, who says in the Gita, “The mind can be captured and mastered by constant practice.”
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