The two wheels of this cart are abhyasa (practice) on one side and vairagya (dispassion) on the other. What is vairagya?
The 15th sutra of the Patanjali Yogasutras explain vairagya (dispassion) as- Drishtanu shravikavishaya vitrush’asya vashikara sanjna vairagyam meaning, “dispassion is that state of supremacy of consciousness in which one is free from the thirst of the perceptible and celestial enjoyment”.
You just keep quiet, close your eyes or open your eyes or do anything. Where does your mind go? It travels towards the sense of sight, smell, taste, sound or touch. Or it gallops towards something it has heard.
Vitrushnasya vashikara sanjna vairagyam. The mind that gallops is an obstruction. Whenever you want to meditate, your mind should be in dispassion. Without dispassion your meditation is no good and cannot provide you the rest that you are longing for. An expectation in meditation is an obstruction.
Even a few moments of retrieving our senses, the craving or thirst for objects and going back to the source is vairagya. Vairagya is that, when, for a few moments, however beautiful a scenery is, you say: “I am not interested at looking at it right now”. However good the food is, you say, “This is not the time. I am not interested in it”.
Your mind is tired and bogged down by galloping through desires. It is so tired. Just turn back and see all the desires you have had. Have they given you rest? No. They have only created a few more desires and then more desires. They have given you more, for you to achieve more and have another trip on the merry-go-round horses, which do not go anywhere. They just go round in the same place.
Your desire for pleasure or happiness makes you unhappy. Examine whenever you are unhappy or miserable. Behind that is your wanting to be happy. Craving for happiness brings misery. If you do not even crave even for happiness, then you are happy. If you get whatever you wanted, then are you happy? Happiness is a mere idea in the mind.
Vairagya is putting a stop to craving for happiness. That does not mean you must be miserable. It does not mean you should not enjoy yourself, but only when you retrieve your mind from the craving for joy, can you meditate and yoga happens.
Free yourself from this feverishness that is gripping your mind. Free yourself from this craving for happiness. Before this earth eats you up, become free. Skillfully handling the objects of senses and bringing it to the self is dispassion or vairagya. The first step is when you do not care for happiness. The second step is param vairagya or supreme dispassion when you do not even care for liberation. Then you are free. You are liberated and you attain love.