Dispassion (Vairāgya)
Not cold indifference but the calm that no longer needs to grasp.
Vairāgya is dispassion: the steady, cultivated freedom from craving for pleasures and rewards, in this world or the next. It is not cold indifference but a clarity that no longer needs to grasp. In the Yoga-sūtra, vairāgya and steady practice (abhyāsa) are named together as the two wings by which the restless mind is quieted; in Vedānta it is a core qualification for the seeker.
How it traveled
- Aṣṭāvakra-gītāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(20)
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
That man who lives devoid of longing, abandoning all desires, without the sense of 'I' and 'mine,' he attains to peace.
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Thou, O Nakiketas, after pondering all pleasures that are or seem delightful, hast dismissed them all. Thou hast not gone into the road that leadeth to wealth, in which many men perish.
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Then Kahola Kaushitakeya asked. 'Yagnavalkya, 'he said, 'tell me the Brahman which is visible, not invisible, the Self (Atman), who is within all.' Yagnavalkya replied: 'This, thy Self, who is within
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The good and the pleasant approach man: the wise goes round about them and distinguishes them. Yea, the wise prefers the good to the pleasant, but the fool chooses the pleasant through greed and avari
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Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
'And here there is this verse: "To whatever object a man's own mind is attached, to that he goes strenuously together with his deed; and having obtained the end (the last results) of whatever deed he
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The student from sorrow was not able to eat. Then the wife of the teacher said to him: 'Student, eat! Why do you not eat?' He said: 'There are many desires in this man here, which lose themselves in d
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All this, whatsoever moves on earth, is to be hidden in the Lord (the Self). When thou hast surrendered all this, then thou mayest enjoy. Do not covet the wealth of any man!
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