Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c16.207

c16.207

The things of this world are stated to be Woman, Food, Drink, and Power, comprising both animate and inanimate objects. The things of the other world of which one 'hears' from the Vedas comprise attainment of *svarga* (heaven), *vaidehya* (freedom from birth), and *prakṛiti-laya* (resolution into primary matter). *Svarga* is defined as 'pure happiness unalloyed by any touch of sorrow'. Thus in *Vairāgya* the *Chitta* will be unmoved (*anābhogātmikā*) by contact with objects seen and unseen, considering their inadequacy (*vishaya-dosha-darśī*). The mind will be devoid of any desire either to reject, or accept (*heyopādeya-śūnya*) objects. It perceives their deficiencies such as 'the trouble to acquire them, to preserve them, and their inevitable decline' (*arjana-rakshaṇa-kshaya*, etc.). This indifference to objects results from *prasaṁkhyāna*, the constant contemplation of the inadequacy of all objects followed by a lively sense of their innate worthlessness.