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Dispassion (Vairāgya)

Not cold indifference but the calm that no longer needs to grasp.

Vairāgya is dispassion: the steady, cultivated freedom from craving for pleasures and rewards, in this world or the next. It is not cold indifference but a clarity that no longer needs to grasp. In the Yoga-sūtra, vairāgya and steady practice (abhyāsa) are named together as the two wings by which the restless mind is quieted; in Vedānta it is a core qualification for the seeker.

How it traveled

  1. Aṣṭāvakra-gītā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1450
    explains

Key passages(20)

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

Very high

Yoga-sūtra · Patañjali

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

Very high

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Gītārtha-saṃgraha · Yāmunācārya (Ālavandār)

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

High

Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā · (attributed to Gheraṇḍa)

High

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

High

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

Moderate

Īśā Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate