Vairagya is non-attachment or dispassion towards all temporal objects.

The Vairagya Shatakam of Bhartihari says,”In enjoyment there is fear of disease; in social position, the fear of falling off; in wealth, the fear of (hostile) kings; in honour, the fear of humiliation; in power, the fear of foes; in beauty, the fear of old age; in scriptural erudition, the fear of opponents; in virtue, the fear of traducers; in body, the fear of death. All the things of this world pertaining to human beings are attended with fear; renunciation alone stands for fearlessness”.

The Sadhana Chatushtaya speaks of four stages: Vivek, Vairagya, Shadsampat and Mumukshatwa. Vivek is the discrimination between nitya and anitya, sat and asat, tattwa and atattwa. When vivek arises, it brings with it vairagya, which gives spiritual strength.Vairagya helps in concentration and is followed by Shadsampat, which is the six fold virtues. The first one is Shama i.e. serenity of mind through constant eradication, dama – restraint of the indriyas, uparati which means renunciation, titiksha which means endurance, shraddha which means faith and samadhan which is a one-pointed mind. Shadsampat is followed by Mumukshatwa, which is a burning desire for self-realisation or liberation.

Once we realize that the world in which we live is transitory and all the persons and things we are attached to will be destroyed, we start getting detached from this world. We realize that time is fleeting and soon it will be time to go. So, now is the right time to start our sadhana. All other worldly matters are unimportant.
This is the vivek which comes to us and is a prerequisite of vairagya. When we realize that our body is nothing but blood, bones and filth, the attraction towards our body goes and we start considering it only as a vehicle to attain our spiritual goal.Gurumaa says,”Jeevan ki ghariyan birtha na kho, Om japo, Hari Om Japo.Tera ye jeevan phir ho na ho, Om japo, Hari Om japo.”

Some people have the idea that ‘vairagya’ means that we should give up our worldly responsibilities and retire to the forest to do our sadhana. This is a very wrong concept. We can live in the world, perform our worldly duties and be detached from everything. We should play our part well as seasoned actors, at the same time not forgetting that we have been blessed with human form for a higher purpose.

We go after worldly things for the pleasure they bring us. But vivek teaches us that all these pleasures are temporary. The permanent pleasure or bliss is within us, which cannot be bought by money. Vairagya is an internal mental state. It has been proved that a person who leaves the world and lives in the forest could be still thinking about sensual pleasures and cannot still his mind while a man staying in the world and having a busy life, may be a complete vairagi!

Before we delve deep into our sadhana, the primary class we must attend is of yoga and pranayam. We have to accomplish Asan Jay, which is the right way of sitting for pranayam and meditation. We should also try to develop virtues such as honesty, getting rid of anger, courage, mercy, empathy and love for all beings and contentment .This will help us in burning our negative qualities. All the while, we must have faith, reverence and love for our guru. The guru watches over us and helps us in our spiritual journey.Once we develop positive and noble qualities, we will become worthy of becoming a passenger in the train which takes us to the station of self-realisation.We have many a time heard Gurumaa singing,”Tiktaan lelo ji, Satguru rail chali. Tiktaan le lo ji, iska na lage mol. Aa ke be jaao ji, Satguru rail chali.”The Satguru is taking you on a journey towards the truth, free of cost. The only pre-requisite is that you must leave back all your negative qualities and have firm faith in the guru.

The control of the mind and the body is also very important in spirituality. This is called brahmacharya. This can be done through fasting, moun, celibacy, detachment towards worldly things and people, tratak and other forms of meditation. One must take a resolution or a sankalpa to change one’s life from within.This needs a lot of courage. But the sankalpa has great power, as Gurumaa says in her Yog Nidra meditation. Once we make our sankalpa, we find the positive forces supporting us in our mission. Meditation helps in strengthening our will.

The sadhak should develop humbleness, in the view that everything belongs to God. Some things have been given to me to use for a short while, so I must use them in the right way. All our actions must be offered to God. Like we offer food to God. God does not need our food, but this is our bhav, that you have provided us the food, we are offering it to you before we consume it. This will enable us to get rid of our false pride.

Another way which I have found very useful, is to keep watching all your actions like a witness, so that you may keep improving your behaviour towards others. Once the vivek comes, you will be able to discriminate between right and wrong and act accordingly. Also, improvement of concentration is very necessary to develop spiritually. The exercise of two circles, one with a horizontal line running through it and the other with a vertical line running through it is very beneficial. Two circles are drawn side by side on a piece of paper, with one having a horizontal line running through it and the other, a vertical line.We try to merge the two circles with our eyes that is try to see one circle with a cross in it. You can start doing it for a minute and increase the time everyday. The visualization exercise done during Yog Nidra is also very helpful in concentration. There are people who have developed concentration to such an extent that they can do eight things simultaneously without any mistake.

Make your body strong to sustain itself in this world and go ahead with your sadhana. But do not have moh or attachment to this body, which will ultimately perish. Make the body and mind your servant, and you will find happiness and bliss appearing in your life. Do not be a servant of your body and mind or they will drag you into the quagmire of negativity.

There is a story about Buddha’s shishyas who were traveling on foot when they met a woman who was unable to cross a river which was in spate. It was necessary to cross over to get to the other side. She requested the bhikshus to help her. One of them refused saying that they were not supposed to touch women. The other one quietly picked up the woman on his back, crossed the river and deposited her on the other bank. He then continued his journey along with the other monk. When they reached their destination, the first monk complained about his fellow monk to Buddha. Buddha replied,”He has already cast off the woman from his shoulder, but you seem to be still carrying her with you.” So, your detachment and vairagya is how you view it. The real detachment is in doing your duty without getting attached.