100 Verses on Renunciation (Vairagya)

Here is Swami Vivekananda’s translation of Bhartrihari’s poem, Vairagya Shatakam, referred to in English as 100 Verses on Renunciation. I haven’t been able to find a complete version of his translation online, so this is only some of the verses and a bit out of order. It is still a fantastic and inspiring read!

Vairagya is a concept from yoga and other Indian schools of thought that means a type of dispassion for worldly concerns, name and fame, and sensory pleasures. In short, it is conscious and protracted renunciation, and the reason for cultivating it is simple – it’s hard to make progress on the spiritual path when you’re too preoccupied with chasing tail, gorging yourself on chicken vindaloo, imbibing wine and beer, and being too addicted to comfort and pleasure in general.

And to think, yogis of old thought ancient India had too many comfortable and pleasurable snares – what of us in the modern world??

Of course, not all of us are looking into the spiritual side of life, and that is all well and good, so let’s bring our focus back to semen retention. The concept of vairagya, of renunciation, still applies – in fact, renunciation is the name of the game, the whole kit and kaboodle! The whole essential point of semen retention is to renounce porn, masturbation, and orgasm. Many would say retention entails the renunciation of all forms of lust, even looking at that cute tart on Instagram or having lustful thoughts.

This is the true meaning of brahmacharya. Brahmacharya is typically translated as celibacy, but it goes beyond abstaining from mere sex and masturbation – it is the giving up of lusting after any and all objects or sources of pleasure. It is cultivating the conduct (charya) of God or the Higher Self (Brahman).

Don’t mistake what I’m saying here. It is perfectly fine to enjoy the good things that come to you in life! It is well and good to try to further yourself, to accomplish goals, and to live in basic, simple comfort. I’m not advocating constant penance and asceticism (though these are interesting avenues to explore), but simply learning to give up the lusting after things and experiences that you think will bring you ultimate happiness and contentment.

Brahmacharya means working to realize that everything you have to be happy and content for the rest of your life is already within you.

A Thought Experiment

Let me give you a little thought experiment to work with.

It can be said with much certainty that almost everyone that has ever lived has run from the painful and uncomfortable and chased after what was thought to be pleasurable and satisfying. All day, every day, we chase after what we think will bring us happiness and run from the uncomfortable, trying to stave off our subtle, or not so subtle, sense of incompleteness.

When do we ever “arrive” at our destination – lasting happiness and contentment? Why do so many celebrities commit suicide? Don’t they “have it all”? What Christmas present that we craved so badly ever brought us lasting happiness and contentment? When did we ever find a girlfriend or spouse who brought us nothing but joy and happiness without a fair amount of pain?

Here’s a good one – when did you ever masturbate and feel happy, proud and fulfilled?

Why do so many people “succeed” in life – getting the good job, the nice and attractive spouse, the nice car and house, and the 2.5 perfect children – only to have a midlife crisis? They did everything they were told would make them happy and content, and as it turns out… They still aren’t happy or satisfied!

And therein lies the crux of the matter – until you realize that a part of your mind is always craving more, you’ll never be truly happy and fulfilled. It’s time to stop looking solely for external sources of happiness, and time to cultivate inner happiness and contentment.

Going back to vairagya and renunciation – if you’re practicing semen retention, you’ve already begun to practice renunciation, at least from porn and masturbation. Try kicking it up a notch and renouncing a bit more – do you really need to be scrolling Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc constantly? Do you really need to be constantly distracting yourself with Netflix, video games, and Discord? How happy can you be living simply?

Ponder how those “uncivilized” tribes of people could manage to have any modicum of happiness without any of our “modern luxuries”. In fact, many people are starting to believe they are likely happier in many ways.

Ponder how we live in a capitalist society that pushes you to buy more, do more, be more – party more, fuck more, make more money, buy more things, masturbate more to porn and OnlyFans, post more on social media to show just how much “more” and “better” you’re living as compared to your peers… Ponder how the message is “more consumption will make you happier”, because that’s how a capitalist society runs!

Fuck off, consumerism.

Ask yourself – are you wisely and consciously using the things in your environment, or do they have you hooked, are they using you? Do you seek all of your happiness and pleasure from external quick fixes, or do you have some practices that help you to cultivate inner joy, happiness, contentment?

“So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, completely unencumbered.” – From the book Island, by Aldous Huxley

On to the Poem

You can find copies of his poem in book format, although I haven’t found one that is this translation.

BHARTRIHARI’S VERSES ON RENUNCIATION

I have travelled in many countries, hard to travel in,
And got no result;
Giving up pride of birth and position,
I have served all.
Like a crow stealing into a kitchen,
With fear I have eaten the bread of others in their homes,
Yet thou, Desire, who leadest to evil deeds,
Leavest me not!

(Verse 2)

I have crossed oceans to find wealth.
I have blasted mountains to get jewels.
I have spent whole nights in graveyards
repeating Mantras
And have obtained — not the broken cowrie
of blessedness
Ah, Desire, give me up now.

(Verse 3)

I have borne the wicked words of the wicked;
To please fools, when my heart is weeping,
my lips ever laughed.
Stopping my judgment, I have with folded hands
Stood before unworthy persons.
Even now, my Desire, why do you make me dance 
like a fool?

(Verse 4)

For this life, which is like a drop of water 
on a lotus leaf,
We have not enjoyed, but enjoyments have enjoyed us.
We did not penance, but penances burnt us up.
Time did not fly, yet we are gone.
We become decrepit with age, but not so Desire.
Infirmity assails us, the skin wrinkles,
The hair whitens, the body becomes crooked,
Old age comes on.
Desire alone grows younger every day.

(Verses 5-8)

Hope is the name of this river, whose water is Desire,
And Thirst the waves thereof.
Passion is the crocodile living in that water,
Vain resolves are the birds that reside
In the tree of virtue on the shores and kill it.
But there are the whirlpools of Delusion
And Despondence, the high banks.
The great Yogis are blissful because they,
With their pure minds, never crossed this river.

(Verse 10)

Blessed are they that, living even in the
caves of mountains,
Meditate on the supreme Light.
Even the birds will fearlessly drink of the
tears of pleasure
That flow from their eyes.
Alas, our minds grow familiar, even in imagination,
With palaces and pleasure — gardens,
And thus our lives fleet by.

(Verse 14)

Even when the only food is gained by begging,
and that is tasteless;
One’s bed, the dry earth;
One’s whole family, his own body;
His only clothing, a ragged bit of cloth —
Alas, alas, the desire for enjoyment does not leave a man.

(Verse 15)

Not knowing the power of flame, the insect falls into it.
The fish swallows the bait, not knowing the hook inside.
That, well aware of the vanity and dangers of the world,
We cannot give it up —
Such is the power of Delusion.

(Verse 18)

Have such places in the Himalayas become extinct
That a man should go begging at others’ doors?
Have the roots in the mountain forests all disappeared?
Are the springs all dry?
Are the trees all withered that bear sweet fruits 
And bark for garments
That a man should look with fear on the face of a fool,
Whose head is turned by a little wealth?
(Lit., “Whose eyebrows are dancing with the wind of the
pride of a little wealth”.)

Verses 24-25)

Arise! Let us go into the forest
Where pure roots and fruits will be our food,
Pure water our only drink,
Pure leaves our bed,
And where the little-minded, the thoughtless,
And those whose hearts are cramped with wealth
Do not exist.

(Verse 26)

In enjoyment is the fear of disease;
In high birth, the fear of losing caste;
In wealth, the fear of tyrants;
In honour, the fear of losing her;
In strength, the fear of enemies;
In beauty, the fear of the other sex;
In knowledge, the fear of defeat;
In virtue, the fear of scandal;
In the body, the fear of death.

In this life, all is fraught with fear.
Renunciation alone is fearless.

(Verse 31)

The root of health has always round about it
A thousand worms in the form of dangers and disease.
Where fortune falls, open a hundred gates of danger.
Whosoever is born, him death will surely swallow.
Say, where is that Providence who ever created 
Anything that died not?

(Verse 33)

Life is like a wave upon the waters,
Youth only remains a few days.
Wealth is like a fancy of the mind,
It immediately vanishes.
Enjoyment is like a flash of lightning
amongst dark clouds.
Our most beloved one is only for a moment.
Knowing this, O man, give your heart unto Brahman
To cross this ocean of life.

(Verse 36)

. . . Living in whom gods like Indra, Brahmâ 
      and others appear like a blade of grass,
Whose anger can destroy the worlds in a moment.
O sage, know Him, that One Supreme
Who dies not,
And give not your mind to false enjoyment.

(Verse 40)

Ah, where is happiness in this life?

(At best it lasts but a hundred years, of which half is spent in sleep; of the other half, half in decrepitude; of what remains — one half goes in childhood and, of the rest, still half in serving others!)

O man, in this futile, wave-like life
Where is happiness?

(Verse 49)

Now you appear as child
And now as a youth, whose whole occupation is love.
This moment poor, another wealthy,
Now a babe, and again a decrepit old man.
O actor man, at last you vanish from the stage
When death beckons you behind the scenes!

(Verse 50)

You are a king, but we have served Gurus,
Who are great in knowledge.
You are known by your wealth as a king,
We for our knowledge.
There is infinite difference between us and you,
Therefore we are not the persons to wait upon you,
O Kings!

(Verse 51)

Oh, when will that day come,
When in a forest, saying “Shiva”, “Shiva”,
My days shall pass?
A serpent and a garland the same,
The strong foe and the friend the same,
The flower-bed and the stone-bed the same,
A beautiful woman and a blade of grass the same!

(Verses 85, 90)

O Shiva, when shall I be able to cut
To the very roots of my Karma,
By becoming solitary, desireless, quiet —
My hands my only plate, and the cardinal points 
my clothing?

(Verse 99)

The fruits are sufficient food,
The waters of the mountain sufficient dinner,
The earth a sufficient bed,
And bark a sufficient garment —
These are all welcome.
Only I cannot bear the proud words of fools,
Whose organs are all disordered by the drink
Of the wine of new wealth!

(Verse 54)

What if you have got the wealth that fulfils every desire?
If your foot is on the heads of your foes,
What of that?
If you have made all your love wealthy,
If your body remains a Kalpa (A periodic cycle of creation and dissolution.) — what of that?
The only thing to be desired is Renunciation
Which gives all love to Shiva.

(Verse 67)

Fear only life, that brings Birth and Death,
Have no love of friends, no lust, no attachment.
Alone, living alone in a forest,
What is more to be longed for than this Renunciation.

(Verse 68)

Going searching in the lower regions,
Going into the skies,
Travelling through all the worlds,
This is but the fickleness of the mind.
Ah, friend, you never remember the Lord
Who resides within you!
How can you get happiness?

(Verse 70)

What is there in the reading of Vedas,
The Shrutis, the Purânas and doing sacrifices?
Freedom alone takes off the weight
of this dreadful world,
And manifests Self-blessedness.
Here is the truth: the rest is all shop-keeping.

(Verse 71)

When the body is still healthy and diseaseless,
When old age has not yet attacked it,
When the organs have not yet lost their power,
And life is still full and undiminished,
Now, now, struggle on, rendering great help to yourself!
My friend, it is useless to try to dig a well
In a house that is already on fire!

(Verse 75)

In Shiva, who is the Lord of this Universe,
Or Vishnu, its soul, I see no difference,
But still, my love is for Him
Who has the young moon on His forehead.

(Verse 84)

Oh when will that time come,
When in a beautiful full-moon night,
Sitting on the banks of some river,
And in a calm, yet high notes repeating
“Shiva! Shiva! Shiva!”
All my feelings will come out through the eyes
In the form of tears?

(Verse 85)

When, wearing only the Kaupina, (Loincloth.)
Lying on the sands of the holy Ganges in Benares,
When shall I weep aloud, “O Lord of ghouls”,
Saying this, and whole days shall pass like moments?

(Verse 87)

When, bathing in the pure Ganges water,
Worshipping Thee, Omnipresent, with holy fruits
and flowers,
Stretching myself on stones in a stony cave,
My whole soul shall go into meditation,
And according to the voice of my Guru,
I shall avoid all misery, and purify
The mind defiled with serving the rich.

(Verse 88)

This whole wide earth my bed,
My beautiful pillows my own two arms,
My wonderful canopy the blue sky,
And the cool evening air to fan me,
The moon and the stars my lamps,
And my beautiful wife, Renunciation, by my side,
What king is there who can sleep like me in pleasure?

(Verse 94)

This Universe is only a little circle.
What is there to desire in it?
Will the ocean go into waves
By the jumping of a little [fish?]?

(Verse 92)

There was a time when I could see nothing but Women
in this world:
And now that my eyes are opened,
I can see nothing but Brahman.

Beautiful are the rays of the moon,
Beautiful are the lawns in the forest,
Beautiful is the meeting of the good,
Beautiful is poetry, and
Beautiful is the face of the beloved.
But to me none of these are beautiful,
Knowing that they are evanescent.

(Verse 79)

Oh mother earth, father wind,
Friend light, sweetheart water,
Brother sky,
Here take my last salutation
With folded hands!
For today I am melting away into Brahman,
Because my heart became pure,
And all delusion vanished
Thro’ the power of your good company.

(Verse 100)

Old age watches us, roaring like a tigress.
Disease, like enemies, is striking us often.
Life is flowing out like water from a broken jar.
Curious still how men do evil deeds in this world!

(Verse 38)

Those beautiful cities.
Those mighty monarchs.
Those powerful nobles.
Those learned assemblies.
Those moon-faced women.
Those proud princes.
And those that sang their praises —
They have all been swept away from the memory
of man.
My salutation, therefore, is to Time who works
all these!

(Verse 41)

The sun by his coming and going every hour
is lessening the life of man.
Time flies without our knowledge,
Crushed as we are by the load of many works.
Seeing the evils of Birth, Old Age, Danger, and Death
We are not afraid.
Ah me, drinking the wine of delusion,
The world has become mad.

(Verse 43)

I have not learnt that knowledge which defeats all
opponents!
Nor have been able, at the point of the sword,
Which can cut thro’ an elephant’s back,
To send our glory even unto the skies;
Nor, under the light of the full moon,
Drunk the nectar of the budding lips of the Beloved.
My youth is gone fruitless
Like a lamp in an empty house.

(Verse 46)