Abhyasa-Vairagya:Embrace the value of Practice and Dispassion

How to control the modifications of mind, this have been a question from last 5000 years, very very long time. In Bhagavad Gita , Arjuna mind is turbulent and lord Krishna is guiding him, Arjuna is describing the nature of mind, as if he is talking on behalf of all of us because we also experience the same state of mind sometime or the other so the words he has used , "chanchal" (restless) which means the mind is restless like a monkey jumping all the time, it never stays at one place that is the nature of the mind, and second word he uses is "pramadhi" (turbulent) , mind is turbulent like wind which can uproot the trees. When the mind is turbulent it destroys us completely ,you can't think what is right what is wrong, that is the quality of the mind . Arjuna is telling Lord Krishna, O Krishna you are asking me to control this mind, it is very very difficult it is like controlling the wind in your hand which is next to impossible .

Lord Krishna agrees that mind is difficult to control but it is not impossible. What you have to do is ABHYASA and VAIRAGYA, practice Yoga. As per Maharishi Patanjali ,Abhyasa and Vairagya (Sutra 1.12) these two are like twin practices , two pillars that go hand in hand , core principles of Yoga. The very first technique for best students Patanjali has given, and these are considered as foundational stones. if you want to progress on spiritual path then these two becomes the foundational stones They are like two wings of the bird, Abhyasa and Vairagya together.

The word Abhyasa has to be understood as an effort to control the mind .Goal is to control fluctuations of the mind we have to bring them under our control, make it one-pointed , it will not come easily and what kind of effort is needed to quieten this mind, persistent effort, constant inner practice will be required , working on mind, it is internal working so that old habitual tendencies of the mind, old pattern of the mind can be controlled or trained to come to silence mode. So when Patanjali talks about Abhyasa, he says three things are very important to control the mind in respect of perseverance ,

First is "dirghakala", (for a long time) only one life time is not enough go on practicing,till your mind comes to chitta vritti nirodha , till you reach that level you have to go on practicing,

Second he says, "nairantarya", (without interruption) we have to practice continuously, when you have decided to practiceYoga it should be day in and day out, no breaks here, for months or years and even for the entire lifetime.

Third thing, "Satkara" (with Devotion) , you have to practice with devotion, with feelings ,with sincerity, with shraddha (faith) then only one can succeed . For instance when you are doing Japa practice , you have to put your entire soul in it to have overall effect. You have to constantly practice as nature of mind is to waiver to klishta vrittis always tendency to run to external objects thus creating more vrittis.

So awareness has to be created internally and to reduce the vrittis (fluctuations of mind) we have to quiet the mind, re -educating the mind , watching the mind through conditioning. Make the mind inward and to keep a check on all the mundane thoughts, all the imbalancing thoughts and become alert. We should not allow them to enter inside.Here all Gossips have to be avoided as it leads to undesirable, unproductive thoughts which are like weeds in the garden.

It will not come in a day or weeks , it requires constant practice daily, keep working to change the old unhealthy habitual tendencies of the mind.Instead of going out moving towards inner centre. So vrittis which were going out re-educating them to move inward that is called Abhyasa. Here, important thing is that we are voluntarily trying to bring about the desired change in ourselves so will have to put in a lot of efforts.

Further, Maharishi Patanjali says you have to keep practicing till it has deep roots , because vrittis are deep rooted so now the "drdhabhumih"(firm ground) has to be created. You have to go practicing, practicing till you reach your "drdhabhumi" level and what does Abhyasa do,it removes tamas from the person so it is reducing tamas from our personality and creating rajas internally , that is activity and then immediately second practice he says is Vairagya , what Vairagya will do, it will remove your rajas and lead to sattva , that is a journey from tamas to rajas and finally sattva. So Abhyasa will take you to Rajas and Vairgaya will take you to Sattva.

So what is Vairagya now. Vairagya is a practice of dispassion , which means freedom from both attachment and aversion. Bringing your mind to that state ,where you are not affected with attachments or aversions. So Vairgaya means going above of Raga and Dvesha, no attachment only witness like attitude should be there but unfortunately we can't let go, we get affected very quickly, here discrimination has to be developed.

How Vairagya helps , it will reduce your vritties , as attachment is creating maximum vrittis , when one is above vritties desires are reducing ,cravings will reduce, ego will reduce, avidya will reduce, in short all the kleshas (impurities of the mind) will reduce as kleshas are creating the imbalance state of mind. Also need and greed that distinguishing factor you come to realise when you are at balanced state of mind.

Here Patanjali mentions two kinds of Vairagya, lower(called upper in Sanskrit ) and higher ( paravairagya ). In first kind i.e lower state Patanjali is distinguishing four kinds of vairagya:

First thing he says, try to dis-engage your senses from objects , senses are constantly taking you out so they have to be brought under control,

Second , staying away from desires, desires if not fulfilled lead to anger , ego etc, controlling your desires is the second step of Vairagya . desires which are involving you in material world have to be reduced object connected but if you have higher desires pursuing or achieving your goals they are totally different,

Third, is stilling of the mind and,

Fourth is free from cravings , cravings come from deep roots , they are coming from internal vritties which are part of our subconscious. So consciously when we start working on them, what happens the subconscious mind is also getting trained.

Slowly day in and day out when we are practicing Abhyasa and Vairagya, our subconscious mind also gets trained so combined application of both practice and non-attachment have to be cultivated together which is very important. Understand till the practice becomes and it reaches drdhabhumi (firm ground) and finally "Chitta Vritti Nirodha" that state, till then you have to keep on practicing Abhyasa and Vairagya as it helps to settle down in sattva and finally the fluctuations of mind are stilled and stopped.

Much Gratitude!!!!!