Vairagya
Vairāgya (IAST)Translation: "renunciation"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: वैराग्य
Transliteration: Vairāgya
Translation: "dispassion; detachment; renunciation; non-attachment"
Definition: "Renunciation is giving up all the pleasures of the eyes, ears, and the other senses, giving up all objects of transitory enjoyment, giving up the desire for a physical body as well as for the highest kind of spirit body of a god."
The Philosophy of the Panchadasi (Swami Krishnananda)
"The first stage of Vairāgya is called Yatamana-Samjña, or the effort towards freeing oneself from attachment to things. The second stage is Vyatireka-Samjña, or the isolation of the thing to be avoided from among the many things in the world. The third stage is Ekendriya-Samjña, where one discovers that it is, after all, the mind from which freedom is to be attained – the one sense which is the cause of all trouble – and not from the world as such. The fourth stage is called Vasikara-Samjña, or the complete mastery over all things, by a total absence of desire for everything, whether seen or only heard of. Vairāgya reaches its climax when one has no desire even to exist as a personality or individual and abandons even the primordial properties of Prakṛti."
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Swami Krishnananda. The Philosophy of the Panchadasi. Rishikesh, India: The Divine Life Society. p. 49.
