Unsent Letter #15: Qualifications of the Aspirant: Vairagya

May, 2007

Dear Friend

I feel that I should warn you first of all that non-dual teachings such as this one can be dangerous. If you approach it in the wrong way, without the proper preparation, or without the proper guidance, it has the potential to create some serious problems in your life.

The kind of problems I am thinking of are mental conflicts that arise from studying and practicing a philosophy that states that the world is illusion, while at the same time living in that world and participating in it. The danger is that you end up losing interest in the world while remaining attached to it. If you remain attached to it, you will be subject to desires for worldly things while your mind is telling you that they are not real. You can then be stuck in a space where you can neither enjoy life whole-heartedly nor reject it entirely. To avoid this situation, detachment from the world (vairagya) should come first, and for this reason it is generally regarded as a pre-qualification for the study and practice of non-dual teaching.

Vairagya begins when you first become tired of the pleasures of life and feel that there must be something beyond, something more important and significant. As vairagya matures, the mind turns inward and seeks its source. In doing so, it becomes purer and more sattvic in nature. Desires, such as the common ones for sex and money, automatically lose their appeal. Ideally, it is at this stage, when desires have been rendered relatively harmless, that one should take up the study of this teaching. Then the ideas make sense because they explain that the world is unsatisfying because it is untrue.

The sadguru, the true Master who is within you, is always working for your good. Vairagya is the result of His grace. The study of these ideas by themselves will not get you very far and may lead you into confusion. A friend recently wrote to me saying that he felt that he should stop reading books on non-duality as it evoked too much fear in him. I had no hesitation in supporting his decision. Non-dualism may be the closest approximation to the truth that it is possible to make in words and ideas, but it is not for everyone.

So I think that you should look at your situation very carefully before undertaking a serious study of this teaching.

A.

?

?