Shraddha, Sadhana and Vairagya - Suggested Discussion Topic

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Subbuji and Vinayakaji:

 

I am of the opinion that any spiritual sadhana (efforts) requires

shraddha (faith with strong conviction) and without Vairagya neither

sadhana nor shraddha is possible. I suggest both of you to be the

discussion leaders by assembling the facts and present to the members.

Sri Sunderji and me and other moderators will certainly participate and

provide our support and inputs during the discussion.

 

Today is the birth day of Sri Ram (Ramanavami) and is the most

appropriate occasion to start this discussion.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Hareh Ram!

 

Ram Chandran

 

advaitin, "Vinayaka" <vinayaka_ns wrote:

>

> advaitin, "subrahmanian_v"

>

> Dear Sir,

>

> It is not only a pre-requisite but also be used as a test to

> ascertain the spiritual growth of a person/preceptor/aspirant. It is

> a nice idea to start a discussion on this topic. We will not achieve

> anything by mind boggling dialetects untill it is backed by real

> viveka and viragya.

>

[Guest guest]

Since we have determined to conduct this discussion on Rama Navami

day, let us start by reading the following article, "Yoga Vashishtha –

Vairagya" by Swami Suryaprakash Saraswati. The entire article is

available at URL:

http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2004/4july04/vashish.shtml

 

Here are excerpts from the first two paragraphs:

 

Yoga Vashishtha contains the spiritual teachings that Sri Rama

received from his guru, Sage Vashishtha, when he was only a teenager.

The main theme of these teachings is that the world is a dream of the

soul from which we must awake. Throughout its six chapters Yoga

Vashishtha helps us identify why the world is a dream and how we can

proceed from a state of sleep to a state of wakefulness, and how we

can overcome the restricting factors of our personality and gain

greater appreciation, awareness, understanding, contentment and peace

in life.

 

The first chapter is Vairagya Prakarana, which deals with the subject

of dispassion. The story begins in the kingdom of Ayodhya, ruled by

King Dasharatha, when peace and prosperity prevailed amongst the

people. Sri Rama and his brothers, the sons of Dasharatha, had just

returned home from the gurukul. After spending a few calm and joyous

weeks in Ayodhya, they had the desire to visit all the holy places,

so Sri Rama asked his father for permission to go on an all India

pilgrimage, a teertha. Eventually, one evening when the stars were

shining bright and the wind was blowing light, Dasharatha granted his

approval and the following day Sri Rama and his brothers, Lakshmana

and Shatrughna, departed from Ayodhya. The third brother, Bharata,

was unfortunately unable to accompany them due to other commitments.

 

 

Second article from Yoga Vasishtha:

http://www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/yogvasistha1.htm

 

Third Article from Yoga Vasishtha:

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Yoga_Vasishta/id/22184

 

The link below contains the article, "Guru and Divine Grace" also

explains Vairagya:

http://swamij.com/swami-rama-guru-grace.htm

 

Note: Vairagya also goes along with devotion (bhakti) and wisdom

(jnanam) and Hanumanji is the greatest example what Vairagya really

means!

 

Hareh Ram,

Ram Chandran

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <ramvchandran

wrote:

>

> Since we have determined to conduct this discussion on Rama Navami

> day, let us start by reading the following article, "Yoga

Vashishtha –

> Vairagya" by Swami Suryaprakash Saraswati.

 

Namaste Ram ji,

 

When i thought of posting messages on Vairagya, i had in mind that a

focussed consideration of this one Element itself will percolate to

the others in the Sadhana-chatushtaya. My idea was to elicit a good

variety of vairagyam-based teachings, observations, anecdotes and

what not, so that the reading of these during this period will

itself be a samskara. It will no doubt spill over to topics of

Bhakti and Shraddha and Karma Yoga too. A person devoid of adquate

Bhakti and Vairagya cannot be a Karma Yogi of a high order. So, we

see that all the sadhanas, of the Chatushtaya, Quartet, are

interconnected.

 

 

To start with, there is the Brihadaranyaka teaching of the sequence:

Avidya, kama and karma. When one is ignorant of his native

Purnatva, there is the thinking, 'I need to acquire something

outside of me in order to become 'adequate''. There starts 'raga',

desire, for something outside of me. As the starting point itself

is 'i am finite', there is a longing for something that is again

finite. And then starts karma to acquire it. But since the finite

thing acquired does not give infinite satisfaction, there is a

search for something else. So goes the samsarik chakra.

 

When the scriptures teach vi-raga, the opposite of raga, there is

the viveka element and the tyaga element. Let me detail these in a

subsequent post, but the tyaga word brings to my mind a humorous

observation by Sri Maha Periyaval of Kanchi:

 

It seems when the Paramacharya was visiting some place, He was shown

a person who was ailing and in bed and had taken 'Aapat-

sannyasam'. ('Aapat-Sannyasam' is a scripturally permitted

arrangement meant for a person who is on the death-bed and desirous

of renouncing his worldly ties. After this not-very-elaborate

ritual, he is deemed to be a Sannyasi and upon death is given a

samadhi, etc. However, if he survives, the rule is that he has to

undergo the elaborate ritual of regular Sannyasa).

 

Coming to the incident, the Paramacharya saw that man and noticing

the variety of eatables stacked in several bottles by his bedside,

remarked: 'Idu sannyaasattukke periya aapattaacche' 'This spells

great danger to Sannyasa itself'. (Aapat = emergency, danger)

 

Warm regards,

subbu