Yukta Vairagya

#Yukta Vairagya

 

What is the difference between yukta-vairagya and phalgu-vairagya and how does that relate to rising above Dharma and Yoga?

I’ve just noticed that the Hare Krsna people sometimes reject Dharma and Yoga in favor or the nine processes of Bhakti which is behind their temple arrangements.

I am thinking that we need to advance from the darkness and ignorance of Adharma – to the light and knowledge of Dharma. Therefore, we must have adequate understanding of Dharma to assume we have achieved Yukta-vairagya in regards to Dharma. The same is true for Yoga.

However, there are some essentials and basics regarding Dharma and Yoga. If we can fully understand and incorporate these essentials into our life on the path to Bhakti, then perhaps we now need only be concerned with Bhakti. The essentials of Dharma and Yoga can be found in Bhakti if we look for it.

 

1. Sri Vidya Rajagopalan

Best Answer – Chosen by Asker
Yukta-vairagya – appropriate renunciation; renunciation which is suitable for entrance into bhakti. This is defined in Bhakti-rasamrtasindhu (1.2.255):

anasaktasya visayan yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate

“Things should be accepted for the Lord’s service and not for one’s personal sense gratification. If one accepts something without attachment and accepts it because it is related to Krsna, one’s renunciation is called yukta-vairagya.” Since Krsna is the Absolute Truth, whatever is accepted for His service is also the Absolute Truth.
(Real renunciation by utilizing everything in the service of God.)

Inappropriate renunciation:
In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.256), markata-vairagya, or phalgu-vairagya, is explained as follows:

prapancikataya buddhya hari-sambandhi-vastunah
mumuksubhih parityago vairagyam phalgu kathyate

“When persons eager to achieve liberation renounce things related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking them to be material, their renunciation is called incomplete.” Whatever is favorable for the rendering of service to the Lord should be accepted and should not be rejected as a material thing.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very much opposed to these markata-vairagis, or pseudo Vaisnavas.

Srila Prabhupada’s explanation of phalgu-vairagya: He said that there is a River Phalgu that flows through Gaya in Bihar. It appears to be only a dry sandy riverbed, but if one pushes his hand into the sand he’ll find water beheath. Similarly, a phalgu-vairagi seems to have renounced the world, but underneath, in his heart, he nurtures a huge desire to become God. Hence his vairagya (renunciation) is in reality phalgu (insignificant).

(The word markata-vairagya, indicating false renunciation, is very important. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in commenting on this word, points out that monkeys make an external show of renunciation by not accepting clothing and by living naked in the forest. In this way they consider themselves renunciants. Such renunciation is called markata-vairagya — the renunciation of a monkey. One cannot be really renounced until one actually becomes disgusted with material activity and sees it as a stumbling block to spiritual advancement. Renunciation should not be phalgu, temporary, but should exist throughout one’s life. Temporary renunciation, or monkey renunciation, is like the renunciation one feels at a cremation ground. When a man takes a dead body to the crematorium, he sometimes thinks, “This is the final end of the body. Why am I working so hard day and night?” Such sentiments naturally arise in the mind of any man who goes to a crematorial ghata. However, as soon as he returns from the cremation grounds, he again engages in material activity for sense enjoyment. This is called smasana-vairagya, or markata-vairagya.)

 

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