Vairagya is of two kinds. One kind of Vairagya is born out of disappointment from the world or an inability to face its challenges. It is impelled by fear and weakness. Such a Vairagya, as Sri Krishna also states, has no power to take one to God, let alone the supramental yoga. As the Mother says that if one cannot face the challenges of worldly life one will find it even more difficult to face the much greater challenges of spiritual life.
There is however one kind of vairagya that may sometimes be helpful. It is to know the limitations of worldly life and live in the world without being inwardly attached to the world. After all seeking for the Divine does not depend upon being in the world or not. It is an inner state and often people living in the world feel a greater aspiration for the Divine than people living in an Ashram which becomes then a new comfort zone. Both Sri Krishna and Sri Aurobindo stress on inner renunciation, tyaga, and not sannyas. In fact the need to renounce something means that one still values it. What is important therefore is not vairagya from worldly life but a positive attraction, an aspiration and a seeking for the Divine for the sake of the Divine.
Even in the Ashram one does not renounce worldly life but strives to reorient and deal with the world from a deeper and higher basis. Of course one is free to renounce the world and enter the integral yoga if such be the destiny and the calling. But then at some point one will come in contact with the world and the difficulties it represents. After all it is the world and all it contains that has to be transformed. It is the very material one has to work upon. After all the world is everywhere and the Divine is everywhere. It is not a change of place but a shift of focus and a change of consciousness that is required. And if for this change one feels the need to withdraw from the world as it is today then so be it. But it is not mandatory nor a necessary requirement for the supramental yoga.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
