10. Indriyārtheṣu Vairāgyam

The tenth value of jñānam is indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam, which translates to a state of dispassion towards the objects of the sense organs, or the absence of a compelling drive for worldly pleasures and possessions.

The term is formed from indriya (sense organ), artha (object), and vairāgya (dispassion). Vairāgya is derived from the word rāga, which means passion or a craving for something, paired with the negative prefix vi.

Here is a comprehensive breakdown of this value based on the teachings:

Dispassion is Not Suppression It is crucial to understand that vairāgyam is not the forceful inner suppression of desires, nor is it born out of fear or teeth-clenched self-denial. Suppression implies that a passionate desire is still present and actively needs to be overpowered or crushed. True dispassion means there is nothing there that requires suppression; it is a serene state of mind characterized by total objectivity toward the things of the world.

The Root Cause of Craving (Rāga) The struggle for worldly objects stems from a fundamental human sense of want. Experiencing oneself as incomplete, insecure, or inadequate, a person attempts to fill this inner emptiness through two primary pursuits: artha (securities such as wealth, power, name, and fame) and kāma (sensory pleasures). As long as an individual believes that artha and kāma have the capacity to make them complete, they will never be able to gain dispassion.

The Futility of Artha and Kāma Dispassion is gained by analytical discernment and observation, which reveals that no number of things or accumulation of wealth can ever silence inner anxiety or provide absolute security. Every gain of artha involves a concomitant loss—a loss of time, effort, assumed responsibility, or an abandoned alternative.

Similarly, the pursuit of kāma (pleasure) fails to produce lasting contentment. Moments of pleasure are fleeting because they depend on three constantly changing factors: the availability of the object, the capability of the instrument (the sense organ) to enjoy it, and the proper frame of mind.

Objectivity Towards the World When a person clearly understands that wealth merely exchanges one kind of anxiety for another, and that pleasure is just a collection of unpredictable moments, the grip of rāga loosens. The individual stops placing their security and fullness in external things. Consequently, objects are stripped of the subjective values and false expectations projected onto them. A house is simply seen as a house, not a source of absolute happiness; money is simply seen as money, not a guarantee against insecurity.

Ultimately, objects do not bind a person; a person binds themselves to objects through their own subjective values. When understanding removes this subjective “handle,” one sees things exactly as they are. This objective, clear-seeing disposition is the state of indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam.