PRACTICE AND DISPASSION

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

45. PRACTICE AND DISPASSION
Lord Krishna’s special prescription for attaining success in the spiritual life in and through
the world was abhyasa and vairagya (practice and dispassion). Abhyasa and vairagya are twin
corollaries. They cannot be separated. They are mutually supportive. The more you do abhyasa, the
more you grow in vairagya. The more you practise vairagya, the more your abhyasa begins to
progress and begins to be effective. They are like two wings of a bird.
This ancient divine teaching of Lord Krishna, His prescription for attaining supreme bliss
and blessedness, was also expressed by Gurudev in his permanent message to mankind: Detach.
Attach. Detach means vairagya. Attach means abhyasa. Doing and not doing both constitute
practical religion. They are the obverse and reverse of the same coin.
Doing good to others is the positive aspect. Not harming, hurting or injuring others is the
negative aspect of religion. To cultivate satsanga, the company of the wise, means to avoid the
company of that which is asat or the company of that which is likely to take or turn you away from
the sat.
This avoidance is as important an aspect of spiritual life, sadhana and Self-realisation as is
the cultivating. Lord Krishna said: “trividham narakasyedam dvaram nasanam atmanah kamah
krodhas tatha lobhas tasmad etat trayam tyajet (Triple is the gate of this hell, destructive of the
self—lust, anger and greed; therefore one should abandon these three).” And Gurudev said: “Free
us from egoism, lust, greed, hatred, anger and jealousy.”
Thus, the whole of the scriptures contains nothing but cultivating and avoiding. The whole
of religion is nothing but turning away from Mammon and moving towards God. We cannot
worship God and Mammon at the same time. You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the
hounds.
This avoidance is not an external practice. There is nothing outside to avoid because
everything is God—all this is Brahman: sarvam khalvidam brahma. This sadhana of avoidance is
something which is carried on within yourself, within your heart, your mind, your personality. Lust,
anger and greed are not outside. There is no sin or evil outside. There is nothing to be avoided
outside. If the inner avoidance has been done the outer avoidance is meaningless. For one
established in brahmacharya all company is the same.
Within you there are also things which you must cultivate, you must cherish, you must
practise. Abhyasa is also within you. Abhyasa is for the svarupa (divine essence) to constantly
affirm Itself, assert Itself, manifest Itself in an active manner.

Vairagya and abhyasa are both to be done in the realm of the kurukshetra (battlefield)
within you. A sadhaka is a being who is at war with himself inside. He fights the battle on two
fronts: the practice of the active presence of the inner svarupa and, at the same time, dispassion for
all those things that mitigate against this practice.