Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 12
अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोधः ॥१२॥
abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṃ tat-nirodhaḥ ||12||
By both practice and dispassion that contained.
abhyāsa - practice; the effort of the mind to remain in its unmodified condition of purity ; repeated or permanent exercise, discipline, use, habit, custom;vairāgya - dispassion, disinclination, detachment, non-attachment; indifference to worldly objects and to lifetat - that, thisnirodha - to contain, enclose; cover; confine, restrain; quell, surpress; quiesceCommentaries and Reflections
Commentary by T Krishnamacharya:
“In this Sūtra Patañjali states that there are two ways
to discipline the five types of mental activity.
They are Abhyāsa and Vairāgya.
Abhyāsa is practice.”
“In order to discipline the mind,
we need to develop a mental practice
that clearly reveals the distinction
between the nature of Jīva and Prakṛti.”
“Vairāgya is to disconnect or sever the link
between the Citta and external objects.
These two, Abhyāsa and Vairāgya,
always go together as a pair.”
Commentary by TKV Desikachar:
“The phenomenon called Yoga
allows the mind and its functions
to orientate in one direction and
receive something from that direction.”
“The idea is to bridge the gap that is between what exists and what is desired.
This is what Abhyāsa refers to. This is not exactly practice.
1. We first require an appreciation of what we want to do or learn.
2. We then find out how to travel or go in that direction.
3. We then learn the techniques by which we travel.”
Commentary by Paul Harvey:
“Jñāna Dhyānam is the dynamic yoking of
the two qualities of Abhyāsa and Vairāgya.”
“Within the effort of trying to remain there not clinging to what arises
within the effort of trying to remain there not clinging to what arises
within the effort of trying to remain there not clinging to what arises
within the effort of trying to remain there not……..”
“Abhyāsa or Practice is,
the effort to remain within
the stillness of the present.
Vairāgya or Dispassion is,
the absence of thirst towards
the dance of the past.”
“According to Patañjali, the process of Abhyāsa needs
to be in place before Vairāgya is a viable reality,
as one is an increasingly subtle developmental process
arising from the initial engagement with the other.
Hence Abhyāsa is the attentive and consistent effort
to remain there and Vairāgya is our relationship with
what arises from and within our effort to remain there.
Here is a psychological drama where the internal play
of our neuroses acts itself out on the stage of the mind.
Though at least, with our efforts with Abhyāsa, the inner
audience can look at the play, rather than from the play.
Until we embrace the skills to remain there consistently,
we cannot consistently engage within the very erratic
relationship we have with the neurotic characters
that populate the drama/mystery/romance plays we
stage on a daily basis in our mind, as if a plat du jour.
Essentially until we choose to desist from not stopping,
we cannot begin to observe how much movement there is.
Thus, firstly there needs to be a consistent effort at
Abhyāsa Dhyānam, then we have the developmental
correlative of Vairāgya to help contend with what arises.”
“In Sūtra 1.12 Patañjali defines Abhyāsa
and Vairāgya in relation to Nirodha.
A question we can explore as
an avenue towards grasping this
Sūtra is, what is the relationship
of these two seeming polarities?
Namely, what are the qualities of
Abhyāsa, in relation to the qualities
of its seeming counterpart, Vairāgya?”
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