Twin Pillars of Yoga - abhyasa and vairagya

The Twin pillars of yoga are described as abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (detachment).

Patajali's Yoga Sutra's state:

Y.S. I.12 abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodhah
Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.

Y.S. I.13 tatra sthitau yatnah abhyasah
Practice is the steadfast effort of still these fluctuations.

Y.S. I.14 sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih
Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations.

Y.S. II.16  Heyam duhkham anagatam
The pains/sorrows which are yet to come can be and are to be avoided.

Pains, sorrows and afflictions are a part of life due to our desires.  The external world has many desires that pull us, which creates more desires.  When our desires can not be fulfilled we experience pain and suffering.

Geeta Iyengar says in her book, Yoga: A Gem for Women that,

"Without rigorous practice nothing is gained.  Without practice, purity of the body and the mind cannot be achieved, fluctuations of the mind cannot be controlled.  The fruits of the material world cannot be obtained without sustained effort; this sustained effort has to be multiplied a thousand times to gain Self-knowledge.  This rigorous practice is fourfold: moral, physical, mental and spiritual."

 She also says,

"The key to success is effort.  Vairagya or absence of worldly desires can be achieved by controlling the senses, by carrying out one's duties without thought of reward and by acting with goodness and purity."

The same idea is described in B.K.S. Iyengar's book Light on Astanga Yoga.  He says abhyasa means practice and vairagya means desire less practice.  Our practice needs to be done with detachment so that there is no expectation from the fruits of our actions.  This does not mean we do not have an aim to our actions for universal good, but to let go of our ambition to remove the selfish motives and desires.

Another way this is written that I find helps explain the twin pillars is in B.K.S. Iyengar's translation of Patajali's Yoga Sutras.  He says that,

"The twin paths to this goal are practice (abhyasa), the path of evolution, of going forward; and detachment or renunciation (vairagya), the path of involution, abstaining from the fruits of action and from worldly concerns and engagements."

They are described as twin pillars because to do yoga you cannot do one and not the other.  If either one is missing your foundation will crumble and the cycle of suffering will continue.


Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
www.plnyoga.blogspot.com
email: plnyogastudio@gmail.com

Any mistakes in trying to explain the twin pillars are my own.