Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-20)

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Namaste

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

advaitin/message/27766

 

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/28149

 

 

SEC.16. VAIRAAGYA (DISPASSION) – (Continued)

 

We saw that the Acharyal has given the definition of

‘vairAgyaM’ as *darshana-shravaN- AdibhiH jugupsA*, that

is, “a distaste for all that is seen and all that is

heard”. He thus talks about two things ‘seen’ and ‘heard’.

Recall that Lord Krishna also mentions (in II – 52) two

things *shrotavyasya shrutasya ca* -- that which is to be

heard and that which has been heard. All the nonsensical

things that we have heard and stored up in our memory

constitute those that have been ‘heard’. Further those

about which we are dead curious and itching to know – ‘I

should know about that and about this’ – these are the ones

‘to be heard’. From both of these we should get ‘nirvedaM’

– is what the Lord is saying (in II – 52). When the

Acharyal writes the Bhashya for this he interprets

‘nirvedaM’ as ‘vairAgyaM’. The Lord says here that when

the intellect which has been totally tainted because of its

being immersed in the gutter of delusion comes out of that

gutter, then one gets vairAgyaM in whatever that is heard

or whatever is to be heard. The point of taintedness by

delusion is explicitly named by the Acharya as “the

confusion of the intellect in discriminating between Atman

and anAtman”. That is what was listed as number one in

chatushhTayaM. The next one is vairAgyaM. The Lord also

lists them in the same order in this shloka.

 

VairAgyaM is the absence of ‘rAga’, that is, desire. One

who has VairAgyaM is VairAgi, also BairAgi. The bairAgi

homeless renuciates of north India are so called because

they are VairAgis. In other words we have been equating

sannyAsa with vairAgyaM. One who has renounced rAga is

VairAgi. One who is subject to rAgas (desires) is rAgi. He

who has rAga is rAgi. Such desire-prompted individuals are

called ‘kAmayamAnaH’ in the Upanishad (Br.U. IV-4-6).

Desires actually destroy a person; so the Upanishads speak

of him as ‘kAma-hataH’ (Tait. U. II – 8; Br. U. IV-3-33).

Analogously, he who is not subject to desires is called

‘akAmayamAnaH’ or ‘akAma-hataH’.

 

Usually we interpret ‘rAga’ and ‘kAma’ both as ‘desire’ and

identify them. But there is a subtle difference between the

two. At one place in the Gita (VII – 11) Bhagavan says

*kAma-rAga-vivarjitaM*, to mean ‘without kAma and rAga’.

This shows that ‘kAma’ and ‘rAga’ are two different things.

What is the difference? These are the subtle situations

where our Acharyal by his extraordinary intelligence helps

us with explainations. “ ‘Kama’ is the thirst or ‘trishhNA’

in objects not yet attained; ‘rAga’ is the attachment in

objects already attained” – thus does the Acharya

distinguish the two. We shall not need this minute

distinction here. Let us take both ‘kAma’ and ‘rAga’ to

mean the same thing, desire.

 

The Upanishad says: He who has no vairAgyaM is a

‘kAmayamAnaH’ and he who has vairAgyaM is ‘akAmayamAnaH’.

The Upansihad further talks about them. The ‘kAmayamAnaH’

thinks that karma is everything and keeps on performing his

karmas, then he reaps their fruits in the other world; when

that gets exhausted he is born again here and revolves in

the same rut of karma. On the other hand the ‘akAmayamana’,

that is, the one who has vairAgyaM, is, the Upanishad goes

on, ‘akAma’, ‘nishkAma’ and ‘AptakAma’ . When he throws

off his desires he is ‘akAma’ (desireless). Instead of his

making efforts to get rid of desires, when they themselves

run away from him, he is ‘nishkAma’ (devoid of desires).

Then he becomes an ‘AptakAma’ – one who has attained his

desires! When the Upanishad speaks like this, one gets the

doubt: ‘How does an ‘akAmayamAna’ (one who is not subject

to desires) have desires? What does he desire to obtain?’.

But this is explained by the next epithet which the

Upanishad uses in the series: ‘akAma’, ‘nishkAma’,

‘AptakAma’ and ‘AtmakAma’. ‘AtmakAma’ is one who has desire

for the Atman only. When he gets that he becomes an

‘AptakAma’ – he who has attained his desire. Thus the one

who has vairAgyam becomes an akAma, nishkAma, AptakAma and

AtmakAma; when he dies his jIva does not go to any other

world. The Upanishad says that he is Brahman even while

living and when the body falls, he is still immersed in

Brahman (Br. U. IV – 4 – 6) . It is the state of

desirelessness, that is, VairAgyaM, that has been said to

be so qualified for Brahman-experience.

 

If one is not just a ‘shrotriya’ – a scholar with deep

understanding of the vedas – but is also an ‘akAmahata’ ,

that is, one who is not destroyed by desire, he is the one

who rises step by step, each times a hundredfold, in the

bliss that starts from that of a ruler of this world to the

ultimate bliss of Brahman, says Taittiriyopanishad (II –

8) and also (though slightly in a different way) Br.U. IV

– 3 – 33. Thus here also, it is the destruction of desire,

that is, being with VairAgyaM, is the prime qualification.

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: Shrimad Bhagavatam and advaita bhakti. Introduction.

Chatushloki Bhagavatam. Vidura and Maitreya. Kapila Gita.

Dhruva charitam. JaDabharata, Ajamila Stories. Prahlada Charitram.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/Bhagavatam_Introduction.html

 

and succeeding pages.