Tattva-viveka
yukta vairagya
Niscala Dasi - November 8, 2006 2:16 am
In the gita, Krsna speaks of detached action; action in knowledge and action in devotion, as a sort of progression. Where does yukta vairagya, engaging the material energy in the service of the Lord, come into this? It would seem that it is the process by which detached action becomes more than an attitude only. For example, one may have a carefree attitude towards life- que sera sara- accepting whatever comes ones way- that would be detached action, but is that karma yoga? On the other hand, if one acts for the Lords service by utilization of the material energy, then one is purposefully detached, because one knows that the result is Lord Krsna’s to enjoy. But such an attitude is jnana, as it is infused with knowledge of Krsna as the proprietor/enjoyer, and it is also bhakti as it is acting on the Lord’s behalf- for His pleasure.
Is it not that the three separate paths are not separate at all, but are all bhakti- in different degrees or emphases- and that yukta vairagya is common to all of them? Or is it that yukta vairagya is primarily one of them?
Babhru Das - November 11, 2006 7:35 am
Here are some thoughts offered in the hope of provoking further discussion. I’d also like to remind anyone who has been to the Classroom forum for Nectar of Devotion discussions that yukta vairagya is a topic in Assignment 16, which I’ll bump up.
I think the quick answer to your question may be Yes, but it probably comes back to motivation again. I don’t think that detached action, action in knowledge, and action in devotion are necessarily discrete “paths.” And I don’t think that either knowledge or detachment is necessarily identical with bhakti. I say not necessarily because neither knowledge nor detachment inevitably yields devotion. Knowledge may be confined to the phenomenal world, or to impersonal Brahman, and Buddhists also teach detached action. I do agree with your suggestion that yukta vairagya is a constituent of bhakti.
Bhakti means activity on the platform of advaya-jnana tattva, knowledge that Krishna is everything and everything is Krishna’s. Such knowledge is itself yukta vairagya. In Bhaktirasamrita-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami tells us what yukta vairagya is:
“Things should be accepted for the Lord's service and not for one's personal sense gratification. If one accepts something without attachment and accepts it because it is related to Krsna, one's renunciation is called yuktam vairagyam.”
What is the nature of the non-attachment that renders it “suitable,” “befitting” (synonyms found in Srila Prabhupada’s books), or “balanced” (given in Bon Maharaja’s and Haberman’s translations)? The understanding that everything, including all manifestations of material energy, is Krishna’s energy and therefore Krishna’s property. They are not created for our enjoyment, our exploitation. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura sometimes defined humility as the absence of the enjoying spirit, which means not identifying anything as meant for our own exploitation, simply because we recognize it as being Krishna’s.
So real knowledge and detachment are naturally components of pure bhakti. And yukta vairagya defines all three, at least in a sense.
This is meant simply to get things going . . .
Niscala Dasi - November 13, 2006 4:46 am
Here are some thoughts offered in the hope of provoking further discussion. I’d also like to remind anyone who has been to the Classroom forum for Nectar of Devotion discussions that yukta vairagya is a topic in Assignment 16, which I’ll bump up.
I think the quick answer to your question may be Yes, but it probably comes back to motivation again. I don’t think that detached action, action in knowledge, and action in devotion are necessarily discrete “paths.” And I don’t think that either knowledge or detachment is necessarily identical with bhakti. I say not necessarily because neither knowledge nor detachment inevitably yields devotion. Knowledge may be confined to the phenomenal world, or to impersonal Brahman, and Buddhists also teach detached action. I do agree with your suggestion that yukta vairagya is a constituent of bhakti.
Bhakti means activity on the platform of advaya-jnana tattva, knowledge that Krishna is everything and everything is Krishna’s. Such knowledge is itself yukta vairagya.
Thank you. What do you think about yukta vairagya being there in karma yoga? Is that possible- that one has attained detachment from the fruits of action because one sees them as belonging to the Lord? Personally, I think that I am on the karma yoga platform, or working towards it, because I certainly haven't mastered dyhana yoga, which precedes bhakti. But yukta vairagya knowledge helps me to be a bit detached.
Babhru Das - November 14, 2006 4:54 am
What a great question! Now I have to think a little. It seems to me that karma yoga may be a step in the other direction: that we engage the fruits of our activity in the Lord's service in order to cultivate greater detachment through the vision that they are his. I'm sort of working this out as I write; it has been a long time, I guess, since I've thought carefully about the distinctions between karma yoga and bhakti yoga. I'm in your debt for prodding me like this.
I really appreciate your introspective approach. I've often mentioned the need for regularly taking stock and being honest with ourselves and others. When I was a brahmachari in Honolulu and at our farm here on the Big Island, Goursundar spoke a lot about introspection, partly because he frequently gave class from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's writings. And more recently, I've heard our Swami mention it frequently in his talks. I think it's important that we know the landscape and find our location on the map, or at least hear from a sadhu about where we probably are (as was the case with one of the devotees in Jaiva Dharma). Just as when we're at the mall, we know how to get where we're headed only when we know both the goal and our own location. There's a nice line from the Bhagavatam Swami cites from time to time:sve sve 'dhikare ya nistha sa gunah parikirtitah. True piety (or beauty, as Swami puts it) is to know our real position and to behave accordingly.
The measures I've adopted are trying to locate myself in the progression that Srila Rupa Gosvami suggests in Bhaktirasamrita-sindhu: adau sraddha, etc. This is discussed in many places, such as Madhurya-kadambini and Swami's Siksatakam commentary. I also find it helpful to always keep in mind the six angas of saranagati, which has become my personal project. I remember hearing Swami advocate that devotees get together at the end of the day, perhaps over a cup of hot cocoa, and share with each other what they held back in their surrender that day. I find this an appealing, if daunting, suggestion.
I'd guess, though, that because you have found yourself for so long in the company of Gaudiya vaishnavas that your "karma yoga" probably more closely resembles bhakti yoga at some stage, and that your thoughtfulness has moved you to be cautious about assessing your situation.
Guru-nistha Das - November 15, 2006 11:37 pm
In the gita, Krsna speaks of detached action; action in knowledge and action in devotion, as a sort of progression. Where does yukta vairagya, engaging the material energy in the service of the Lord, come into this? It would seem that it is the process by which detached action becomes more than an attitude only. For example, one may have a carefree attitude towards life- que sera sara- accepting whatever comes ones way- that would be detached action, but is that karma yoga? On the other hand, if one acts for the Lords service by utilization of the material energy, then one is purposefully detached, because one knows that the result is Lord Krsna’s to enjoy. But such an attitude is jnana, as it is infused with knowledge of Krsna as the proprietor/enjoyer, and it is also bhakti as it is acting on the Lord’s behalf- for His pleasure.
Is it not that the three separate paths are not separate at all, but are all bhakti- in different degrees or emphases- and that yukta vairagya is common to all of them? Or is it that yukta vairagya is primarily one of them?
I'm here again, Niscala, giving nozy comments to your questions! 
Let's see...
I would say that karma-yoga becomes yukta vairagya when it's connected with bhakti. Without bhakti the purpose of karm-yoga is to purify your mind by acting without a selfish motive, and thus to stop exploiting your surroundings. But yukta vairagya goes a step further and doesn't only stop exploiting but recognizes the perfect center and acts with him in mind.
I guess that a carefree attitude towards life could not be considered karma-yoga, because normally its purpose is not to end exploitation. Rather, it seems to be often driven by a realizatio, that life becomes more enjoyable by admitting that we are not in control and be happy with the amount of mental and sensual pleasures that come our way.
As I just learned myself, Sambandha-jnana is not considered jnana but bhakti, so the knowledge of Krsna's ultimate proprietorship is not jnana.
Bhakti harmonizes karma, jnana and yoga and has elements of all of them in the context of gradual development towards the goal of bhakti. I guess all action performed by an advanced devotee in the realm of karma can be considered yukta-vairagya and I also have a feeling that all of these separate paths can fall into the category of yukta-vairagya, since you can utilize your physical, mental and intellectual capacity for the satisfaction of Krsna... Damn, I wish I could site verses to back up what I write, but that's not where I'm at yet.
Thanks for the questions, Niscala! Interesting stuff.
Citta Hari Dasa - November 16, 2006 12:33 am
I guess all action performed by an advanced devotee in the realm of karma can be considered yukta-vairagya
Yes, an advanced devotee sees everything for what it really is: Krsna's sakti, and interacts with it for the sole purpose of serving Krsna with it. That's yukta-vairagya in a nutshell.
and I also have a feeling that all of these separate paths can fall into the category of yukta-vairagya, since you can utilize your physical, mental and intellectual capacity for the satisfaction of Krsna.
Right; to engage any of Krsna's energies, whether it be one's body, mind, or intellect, is in fact yukta-vairagya when done with a view to satisfy his senses. Guru Maharaja mentions in his Gita commentary (somewhere in the first six chapters, I think--I couldn't find the actual quote) that the paths of karma, yoga, and jnana are subsumed within bhakti, i.e., that bhakti contains elements of all of these.
Niscala Dasi - November 18, 2006 6:20 am
I'm here again, Niscala, giving nozy comments to your questions!
Let's see...
I would say that karma-yoga becomes yukta vairagya when it's connected with bhakti. Without bhakti the purpose of karm-yoga is to purify your mind by acting without a selfish motive, and thus to stop exploiting your surroundings. But yukta vairagya goes a step further and doesn't only stop exploiting but recognizes the perfect center and acts with him in mind.
I guess that a carefree attitude towards life could not be considered karma-yoga, because normally its purpose is not to end exploitation.
If karma yoga is about not exploiting your surroundings, then do the environmentalists fall into this category? What those who fight for human rights- or for communism, the end of exploitation of one class by another? Are they all defacto karma yogis- karma yogis without knowing they are, or does karma yoga involve something more than freedom from the propensity to exploit?
I appreciate all the comments put here on this topic- not nosy Guru Nishta but knowsy! And I also appreciate that devotees here value introspection, as elsewhere it is regarded as armchair philosophy, jnana or navel gazing. Looks like I came to the right place. 
Swami - November 19, 2006 2:46 pm
What is karma yoga? It is karma mixed with bhakti. What is the result of this practice? One acquires jnana (self knowledge) and is capable of practicing jnana yoga, which is jnana mixed with bhakti. Devoid of bhakti karma and jnana are fruitless. They are not yoga. This is what Vyasa told Narada:
naiskarmyam apy acyuta-bhava-varjitam
na sobhate jnanam alam niranjanam
kutah punah sasvad abhadram isvare
na carpitam karma yad apy akaranam
“Knowledge of self-realization (jnana), even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities (karma), which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord?
,
Without bhakti there is no yoga, or linking to the Absolute. Only when bhakti is factored into karma and jnana do these practices promote spiritual advancement.
There are two types of karma and jnana yoga, one in which bhakti predominates and one in which either jnana or karma predominates. The former can lead to unalloyed bhakti proper, which fosters prema, whereas the latter leads only to mukti. When viewed in this way the former is understood to be a kind of bhakti yoga in the making—a progression leading to pure motivation and bhakti-sadhana of sravanam, kirtanam, guru seva, etc.
From offering the fruit of one’s actions to Krsna one can progress to desirelessness (naiskarmya/jnana), which is the nature of Brahman. Then with the belssing of a suddha Vaisnava when the eternal activities of sravanam kirtanam that constitute bhakti are performed free of material desire, these limbs of bhakti foster unalloyed bhakti leading to prema. This is the gradual route to prema.
Other than the gradual route described above, Sri Krsna states,
tavat karmani kurvita
na nirvidyeta yävatä
mat-kathä-sravaëädau vä
sraddhä yävan na jäyate
“As long as one is not satiated by fruitive activity and has not awakened his faith in hearing hari katha one has to act in consideration of the scriptural injunctions governing the realm of karma.”
The good news is that this kind of faith can come immediately through sadhu sanga. When one takes up the limbs of bhakti having developed faith in its efficacy through sadhu sanga before one is free from material desire, one’s bhakti is mixed, in as much as one’s motive is not pure. Although sravanam, kirtanam, etc. are limbs of unalloyed bhakti and have the power to cleanse one’s heart and give prema, until they do so one’s bhakti, or one’s hearing and chanting, etc. is not pure—not purely motivated. Nevertheless, sravanam, kirtanam, etc. is considered the path of suddha-bhakti in both sadhana as well as in the stages of bhava and prema. So to be on the pure path but not be pure oneself is possible. However, those on this path should experience the gradual development described above in the context of their practice of bhakti sadhana. In other words they should find themselves gradually becoming desireless and acquiring self knowledge in pursuit of prema. Such desirelessness and self knowledge are marginal characteristics of ruci.
In discussing the sadhana of the path of suddha-bhakti Rupa Goswami brings up the topic of vairagya, detachment. Is it a limb of bhakti? As we have discussed earlier, the answer is “No.” Nonetheless its culture may be useful in the early stages of bhakti. Then Sri Rupa goes on to put forward his notion of yukta-vairagya. What is yukta-vairagya? Rupapada explains that it consists of not being attached to a particular object while at the same time engaging it in the service of Bhagavan. Sri Rupa then contrasts his yukta-vairagya with what he terms phalgu-vairagya, false/useless renunciation. Sri Jiva gives the example of a jnani’s rejection of Krsna prasada, in which he or she thinks such items as the Deity’s flower garland to be saguna (material) and thus something that ultimately must be transcended.
Phalgu-vairagya also speaks of renunciation for its own sake. This is useless, although it may impress spiritually uniformed people. Yukta-vairagya on the other hand has real value, and it involves even accepting so called material things in Krsna’s service.
The culture of yukta-vairagya is thus integral to bhakti-sadhana. One who genuinely cultivates it, rejecting that which is not favorable for one’s practice and accepting all that is favorable (regardless of how either of these feel to the practitioner’s mind and senses) will progress rapidly in sadhana-bhakti.
Thus yukta-vairagya pertains to bhakti. It is the detachment that comes from realizing what is and what is not favorable for Krsna’s seva and putting that into practice. Ultimately it speaks of detachment from objects used in Krsna’s service that has already been achieved by dint of one’s bhakti and not to karma yoga, in which one cultivates detachment from material objects by forgoing the fruit of one’s endeavors and offering it to Krsna.
Jason - November 19, 2006 4:01 pm
I would say that karma-yoga becomes yukta vairagya when it's connected with bhakti. Without bhakti the purpose of karm-yoga is to purify your mind by acting without a selfish motive, and thus to stop exploiting your surroundings. But yukta vairagya goes a step further and doesn't only stop exploiting but recognizes the perfect center and acts with him in mind.
The other evening Chris, my wife, started asking a few questions about something I mentioned to her about how Maharaja defined "maya"; as always caluclating, scheming, "...if I do this, that this will be better and things will fall into place....If only I could just make this be like that, then everything will be perfect." She apparently held on to that idea and had been thinking a lot about it. See, I just found out that my department has been outsourced and I'm jobless at the end of the year. I guess that I've been doing some "scheming" to decide what to do next, and Chris, remembered that comment that Swami said and sort of threw it back at me to chew on. We then talked a little about karma-yoga, bhakti-yoga and touched on this thread. It led to some nice questions on her part about Audarya, the "work" done up there and how it differs from the "work" that we're engaged in here. I just wanted to say that I appreciate the discussion. Guru-nistha's comment pretty much sums up what Chris and I understand thus far. Thank you Niscala, Babhru, Citta Hari and Swami for elaborating.... more food for thought. 
Niscala Dasi - November 24, 2006 8:57 am
The other evening Chris, my wife, started asking a few questions about something I mentioned to her about how Maharaja defined "maya"; as always caluclating, scheming, "...if I do this, that this will be better and things will fall into place....If only I could just make this be like that, then everything will be perfect." She apparently held on to that idea and had been thinking a lot about it. See, I just found out that my department has been outsourced and I'm jobless at the end of the year. I guess that I've been doing some "scheming" to decide what to do next, and Chris, remembered that comment that Swami said and sort of threw it back at me to chew on. We then talked a little about karma-yoga, bhakti-yoga and touched on this thread. It led to some nice questions on her part about Audarya, the "work" done up there and how it differs from the "work" that we're engaged in here. I just wanted to say that I appreciate the discussion. Guru-nistha's comment pretty much sums up what Chris and I understand thus far. Thank you Niscala, Babhru, Citta Hari and Swami for elaborating.... more food for thought.
Sorry to hear you're outsourced. Good luck finding new work. I don't think that "scheming" to find ways to earn a living is maya, at least not if one's life's goal is Krishna. You need to make ends meet to keep the body and brain alive to engage it in his service. Of course, if one can combine the two, earn one's living by directly serving him, then lucky you! But then, maybe it isn't all that great- the desire for profit could contaminate one's motives!
I guess that is why varnasrama is so ideal. The brahmana serves by giving advice, and is just provided for with all his necessities- but no profit if he glorifies, no loss if he criticizes. The other classes are simply interested in what light from sastra- as well as thoughtful conventional wisdom- he can shed on their perplexities, good sounding or not! . And if you have a farm centered on cow protection and living a self-suffiecient lifestyle, then profit need not come into the equation at all, even for vaisyas. Less headaches, more time to think about the philosophy. And plenty of burfi! 
Swami - November 24, 2006 12:50 pm
I don't think that "scheming" to find ways to earn a living is maya, at least not if one's life's goal is Krishna. You need to make ends meet to keep the body and brain alive to engage it in his service.
Sri Jiva Goswami has termed effort spent to facilite one's practice "sanga-siddha bhakti." That which is not inherently bhakti but nevertheless becomes a form of bhakti by association with bhakti. He also cites SB 11.3.24 in refrence to the term.
Niscala Dasi - November 27, 2006 10:48 pm
Sri Jiva Goswami has termed effort spent to facilite one's practice "sanga-siddha bhakti." That which is not inherently bhakti but nevertheless becomes a form of bhakti by association with bhakti. He also cites SB 11.3.24 in refrence to the term.
So, taking this into account, the scheming ways of maya only appear to be the same as the devotees scheming to earn a living. Even to a devotee, the two types of scheming may appear the same, maybe out of humility, but actually, if one is utilizing his life in devotional practices, then one can scheme on...it is not the same!
Jason you mentioned the difference between what they are doing at Audarya and what you are doing. I don't think it is different because of the scheming thing, but they do have the advantage of devotee association there and more facility to do direct service. But bhakti isn't limited by external circumstances.
Swami - December 3, 2006 12:15 pm
After I mentioned sanga-siddha bhakti above, a discussion about aropa-siddha bhakti, sanga-siddha bhakti, and svarupa-siddha bhakti arose here at Audarya. Perhaps we could discuss them further here. These terms originate in Bhakti-sandarbha, but they have been explained and defined quite differently at times in the writings or previous acaryas.
Is anyone here familiar with these terms? Sanga-siddha bhakti is connected with yukta-vairagya. So the proposed discussion fits here.