Passion is an emotion that to some extent is considered to be essential for success. The problem with passion occurs when it becomes strong and uncontrollable. It takes the form of a strong drive to attain worldly pleasures and possessions. There is no end to one’s quest to attain success. A person spends a substantial part of one’s life to achieve an Olympic gold medal but is still not contented with it and wants to return after four years to achieve another gold medal and keeps on trying until such time that the body fails to deliver. Then what is the point in establishing one’s temporary superiority over others?
The concept of dispassion is not well developed in the English language where it merely refers to the absence of passion which does not do complete justice to this term. In the East, it refers to the Sanskrit word, vairagya which connotes detachment from sensory objects and is considered a higher function of human existence. It is considered desirable to have such a disposition that is free from craving for something or in Sanskrit, raga. It does not require a suppression of desires but developing objectivity toward life without the distortion from feelings. Feelings or emotions are important in our growth but we need to move to a higher level where mindfulness or constant awareness of our emotions and thoughts is present and guides our actions. Mindfulness is a precursor to dispassion. Mindfulness provides an awareness of every moment. Only with such awareness can we alter our passions toward dispassion.
What is the advantage of developing dispassion? The primary benefit is peace and contentment. A dispassionate mind is at peace with itself and its surroundings. However, being dispassionate does not mean being inactive. It means to do one’s duties with fervor but not get attached to the outcomes. Often we see ourselves as inadequate and that is the reason we become passionate about acquiring pleasures and possessions. Pleasures can take the form of yielding to sensory desires. For example, we may feel inadequate and then we do not just want to eat food but we want to try out gourmet food to fill the void of inadequacy that we feel. We think that by eating gourmet food we will be able to derive greater satisfaction. But, unfortunately, that satisfaction never comes. We are never satisfied and we yearn for more and more. The same thing happens with our pursuit of possessions. We feel insecure in ourselves and we think by having money, by having wealth, by having power, by having influence, by having name, by having fame and so on we will be able to have security. But in reality, exactly the opposite effect starts happening.
The more possessions we have the fear of losing them starts to grow adding to greater insecurity. We sought to secure ourselves but instead, insecurity grows. As a consequence, we work harder and harder to protect our assets, our position, our name, and so on. With every gain comes loss. Loss can take the form of putting in greater effort, spending long hours at work, assuming greater responsibility, not exploring other alternatives, and so on. Very soon we find that our entire life has slipped through our hands and we have not been able to fulfil the true purpose of our life.
Sri Sri Ravishankar (1956-present), an Indian humanitarian, spiritual leader, and founder of the Art of Living Foundation, has said, “When everything is in abundance, dispassion happens. And when dispassion is there, everything comes in abundance.” This is true that when we run after something that thing eludes us and when we just give up our chase the thing automatically comes to us.
Dr. Manoj Sharma is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. He is an avid practitioner of Kundalini Yoga.