75 – Detachment Means Identifying With a Higher Ideal | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda

Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. This lecture begins with a discussion of the Vedanta and Yoga explanation of the variety of human beings. At the physical and spiritual level, all are the same, but at the subtle personality level, there is a great variety. The goal of Yoga is to become free from the trap of this subtle body, Antahkarana. For that, the practice of Vairagya, dispassion is essential. Swami discusses that in Yoga hermeneutics words have a specific well-defined meaning. The first stage of dispassion, Vashikara-Vairagya, is described as a turning away from the negative towards the positive. The four relations – Maitri, Karuna, Mudhita, Upeksha – are emphasized at this stage. The lecture ends with a Puranic story emphasizing how good deeds performed early in life can save one late in life. Verses: I. 15, I.16