Patañjali's yogasūtra 1:15 Vairāgya

{1:15}

Swami Brahmananda of the Ramakrishna Mission

दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम् 

dṛṣṭānuśravika viṣaya vitṛṣṇasya vaśikāra saṃjñā  vairāgyam

दृष्ट अनुश्रविक विषय वितृष्णस्य वशीकार संज्ञा वैराग्यम्

dṛṣṭa anuśravika viṣaya vitṛṣṇasya vaśikāra saṃjñā vairāgyam

[The state of] mastery [of] consciousness, of one who is not desirous of [those] objects which [are] seen and heard, is vairāgya

दृष्ट - seen; from √dṛś 

अनुश्रविक - heard; from anu+√śru

विषय - topic, matter, object, subject; masc. noun

वितृष्णस्य - of one who is not desirous; genitive singular of वितृष्ण

वशीकार - one who subjugates [in this case the object of the senses] to his will  

संज्ञा - (here) consciousness; fem noun

वैराग्यम् - freedom from worldly objects and desires; from राग, which in turn is from √रञ्ज् to gladden, charm, delight, enamour

At this stage we will leave the translation here. We will return to vairāgya after we tackle the concepts of  राग (rāga) द्वेष (dveṣa) and क्लेश (kleśa) in chapter 2. As mentioned before, all concepts will become crystal clear once we complete the text. But I think it's ok to leave this one for the moment, because the sutra is fairly clear.

I'd like to dedicate today's sutra to Swami Brahmananda, whose birthday it is, and who embodies the spirit of vairāgya:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Brahmananda