vyatireka stage two in, the process of non-attachment (lower vairagya) unfolds in four distinct stages. It is a process of freeing the mind from negative habits

Yatamama, is first stage in the process or force of cultivating non-attachment. Being able to make an effort. Here, we acknowledge we have problems and make an effort to overcome them. We understand that we have established bad habits and try to figure out where or how we get stuck. These habits may cause false expectations, take you off the path you want to be on or maybe even just cause a bad mood in the future. It is important to know what these things are. Listing these things is part of this process in order to know and understand the problems. It also will give you strength and ideas on how to let go of these problems.

In the second stage, vyatireka, we understand that we cannot deal with all problems at once so it is important to separate them. This makes them easier to manage. It also gives us more confidence to keep going on our quest of betterment.

Letting Go: The 4 Stages of Non-Attachment

These two words anvaya and vyatireka occur often in Vedanta. Anvaya

is concordance or agreement and Vyatireka is discordance or

difference. In vedanta, the example of the beads strung to form a

necklace is used to explain these two words. The fact that without

the string which holds together the beads, there is no necklace of

beads is anvaya. The fact that, however, the string is separate

from the beads is vyatireka. The all-pervasiveness of the Absolute is

anvaya. The distinctness of the Absolute is the vyatireka.

The last of the four verses called the Four-Verse-Bhagavatam where

the Impersonal Absolute `teaches’ the very first born, namely Creator

BrahmA: ( Bhagavatam: II– 9 – 35) says

Back to the Truth’, referring to the

metaphor of the pot made of clay:

When the pot exists, so too does the clay. But when the pot is broken, the

clay still exists. Therefore, we conclude that the clay is real while the

pot is only mithyA. Similarly, when the world and thoughts are present, we

exist and when these are absent, as in deep sleep, we still exist.

Consequently, we must conclude that who we really are – the Atman – is real,

while the world, including body and mind etc. is mithyA. This logical

process is called anvaya vyatireka (anvaya means ” connection, association ” ;

vyatireka means ” distinction, separateness, exclusion ” ).