Patanjali's yoga sutras

1.15

दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम्

dr̥ṣṭa-anuśravika-viṣaya-vitr̥ṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjṇā vairāgyam

dr̥ṣṭa = seen

anuśravika = heard

viṣaya = object

vitr̥ṣṇasya = of the one without craving

vaśīkāra = mastery

saṁjṇā = emblem

vairāgyam = detachment

An emblem of the mastery of detachment is to see and hear something without craving it.

Do you find yourself constantly opening the refrigerator, endlessly scrolling online, mindlessly consuming entertainment, or indulging in less-than-healthy behavior? Are you perpetually unsatisfied with what you have, always wanting more stuff or love or money or prestige? Even as you acquire more of whatever it is you think you need, are you still dogged by a nagging sense of insecurity or a feeling that you’re still unfulfilled?

Craving is the root of humanity’s most basic problem: duhkha. Sometimes translated as “suffering” or “dissatisfaction,” Eknath Easwaran, in his translation of the Bhagavad Gita, says there is another connotation to the word: duh means ‘bad’; kha means ‘hole.’ As Easwaran explains, “[T]here is a fathomless hole running through our consciousness. To fill this emptiness inside, we keep running to bring pail after pail of dollars and pour them in; but at the end of the day it is still duhkha, the fathomless hole. We pour in money, material possessions, pleasure, power, prestige, and it all goes down the fathomless drain.”

The ancient yogis had cures for this craving, and now science is finally catching up to this 5,000-year-old wisdom. Every day, it seems, a new study confirms that yoga is clinically proven to conquer craving.

The evidence-based techniques of present-moment awareness, acceptance, and decentering are the time-honored brain-training techniques of the mystics of old, refined through modern methods. These mindfulness practices make it possible to release bad habits, prevent regrettable behavior, and establish yourself in the contentment that is the basis of deep and lasting happiness.

This is the subject of the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gite where Sri Krishna, charioteer for the warrior prince Arjuna, urges him to fight the only war of any significance, the one to destroy his own cravings. Summarizing Eknath Easwaran’s translation and commentary, this is what Sri Krishna tells Arjuna about how to do that:

You lock the door to the kingdom of heaven within when you refuse to eliminate your ego by failing to turn your back on self-will and separateness. The states you fall into to avoid fighting your cravings are unworthy of you. Get rid of your depression, despair, and self-pity, and get on the path to liberation. Your capacity to forget your own personal pleasures and petty satisfactions and instead bring about the happiness of all those around you and bless those who curse you—these are what mark a human being. (Verse 2)