Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c16.208

c16.208

**Four Stages of Vairāgya.** *Vairāgya* is to be achieved in four stages of consciousness: (*a*) *Yatamāna-saṁjñā*. This stage is marked by the effort (*yatna*) to purge the mind of its impulses or impurities (*mala*) like attachment or hatred which stimulate the senses and drive them towards objects. (*b*) *Vyatireka-saṁjñā*. In this stage is to be examined to what extent the senses are withdrawn from objects so as to find out by elimination the remaining objects to which the senses are still drawn. (*c*) *Ekendriya-saṁjñā*. This refers to the stage where, even when the senses are all withdrawn from objects, the *Chitta*, as the sole sense left operative, still thinks of objects with zest, which thus still persist and find a habitation there. (*d*) *Vaśīkāra-saṁjñā*. The last and highest stage of *Vairāgya* is marked by a complete conquest (*vaśīkāra*) of all faint or latent desire.