How Did You Know

“All the persons I have just mentioned obtain temporary fruits from their material work. Indeed, the meager and miserable situations they achieve bring future unhappiness and are based on ignorance. Even while enjoying the fruits of their work, such persons are filled with lamentation.” (Lord Krishna, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 11.14.11)

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आद्यन्तवन्त एवैषां लोका: कर्मविनिर्मिता:
दु:खोदर्कास्तमोनिष्ठा: क्षुद्रा मन्दा: शुचार्पिता:

ādy-anta-vanta evaiṣāṁ
lokāḥ karma-vinirmitāḥ
duḥkhodarkās tamo-niṣṭhāḥ
kṣudrā mandāḥ śucārpitāḥ

In this fictional tale, we have a young man who happens to encounter someone explaining the science of self-realization. The teacher introduces the man to the basics, such as the difference between matter and spirit, the identity of the individual as a steadily animate spiritual force, and the urgency particularly within the human birth to purify consciousness. The young man is polite. He is attentive. He asks some kind questions in return; more so due to etiquette than anything else. After the teacher has gone through the initial presentation, including touching on the idea of reincarnation, the young man offers the following as a dismissal:

“I hear what you are saying, but I am still young. I have my entire life in front of me. I want to chase after things. I am not ready to dismiss everything as maya, or fake. Let me at least experience it first. What if you are wrong? What if you are only following this way of life due to defeat? What if you are experiencing a kind of sour grapes? If I succeed, I doubt that I will be feeling lost, lacking direction, or desperate to find a meaning to my existence.”

The main point of contention is the emphasis on vairagya. This is a Sanskrit word that literally means “the lack of attachment.” Vairagya is dispassion or renunciation. Vairagya is specifically targeted for the human species, as it is a way to create the conditions necessary for advancement of the consciousness. We can think of it like training for a race, stretching prior to exercise, or taking prerequisites in a course of study at a university.

We find implementations of vairagya everywhere, if we are aware enough to spot it, though the concept is rarely taught outside of spiritual circles. The most common implementations of religion today focus more on dogmatic insistence than any change in qualities, behavior, or ability to deal with adversity. Surrender to the chosen savior, show up periodically to a house of worship, make your affiliation publicly known, and you are good to go. You will be saved at the time of judgment. You will not suffer eternally in a hellish place.

Some sort of limitation or restriction is necessary for success in practically every venture. Choose a specific desire. Then consider ways to go about meeting that desire. Indeed, there will be some strict attention paid to regulation, to avoiding certain enjoyments and behaviors. Otherwise, the lack of control in decisions will be detrimental to success. The absence of vairagya, though likely not identified through that term, will spell doom.

आपूर्यमाणम् अचल-प्रतिष्ठं
समुद्रम् आपः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत्
तद्वत् कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे
स शान्तिम् आप्नोति न काम-कामी

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ
samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

“A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still—can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.70)

Years later, that young man happens to bump into the same teacher. The man is no longer young; they look older, but also respectable. They pull up in an expensive vehicle. They are wearing nice clothes. Their appearance as a whole signals success. They must be someone in society. Surprisingly, the man is not here to boast. They are admitting to certain failures:

“How did you know? Seriously, I want to understand this. It is like you accurately predicted my future. I am wildly successful. I have a beautiful family. The community loves me. I can have any desire fulfilled, at a moment’s notice. But I am also miserable. I am terribly unhappy. I constantly wonder what it is all for. Why are we even here? What is the purpose to my existence? So much time has already been lost. I can never get my youth back. What should I do now?”

Shri Krishna directly addresses this before-and-after sequence in Shrimad Bhagavatam. We can think of the ways to fulfill desires as individual dharmas, in their own right. Perhaps they are not associated with religion, but there is an actor, a desire, a goal, and a means towards achieving that goal. The system can be collectively known as dharma, in a single instance.

Throughout recorded history we can thus find all sorts of dharmas, created to correspond with desires. People are still miserable, even after succeeding. They have the fruits right there to enjoy. The phala to karma manifests as they had anticipated. Still, they are in an unhappy situation. They become fully aware of the influence of time, and how it is known to only destroy. Soon, everything will be gone.

Fortunately, there is the real dharma, which never changes. Someone who understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead finds a different situation. They are always enthusiastic, hopeful, and satisfied. This is because they are always connected to the person who has transcendental qualities, gunas. There is no end to these glories. Simply connecting the consciousness in that way is sufficient for reaching the platform of vairagya and more. Indeed, that is the ultimate objective of the recommendation for vairagya.

In Closing:

Vairagya today to recommend,
But your position first defend.

Is not only to sour grapes due?
What if I succeed, unlike you?

Truth that presentation on success based,
How time any enjoyment to erase.

Where still feeling empty and alone,
Saved only when Krishna known.