Abhyasa & Vairagya
abhyāsa · vairāgyaPractice and non-attachment: the pair of tools the tradition hands you for working with your own mind.
Right after defining yoga as the settling of the mind, the Sutras answer the obvious question: settled how?
Two forces do the quieting: steady practice, and non-attachment (loosening your grip on outcomes). Both translators pair them as a team, not a sequence.
“Their control is by practice and non-attachment.”
The original Sanskrit
abhyāsavairāgyābhyāṃ tannirodhaḥ
Practice is then defined with unusual honesty about how it feels:
Continuous struggle to keep them (the Vrittis) perfectly restrained is practice.
The original Sanskrit
tatra sthitau yatno 'bhyāsaḥ
Practice counts when it meets three conditions: kept up a long time, without interruption, and with real care. Vivekananda renders the last "with great love." Intensity is not on the list.
“But this [practice] becomes confirmed when it has been cultivated for a long time and uninterruptedly and with earnest attention.”
The original Sanskrit
sa tu dīrghakālanairantaryasatkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ
Long, uninterrupted, cared for. The Bhagavad Gita, asked whether the mind can really be tamed, gives the same two-word answer:
The teacher agrees, and prescribes anyway: constant practice plus dispassion. The method works not because the mind is easy, but despite its being hard.
“The Blessed Lord said: Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is hard to curb and restless; but it may be curbed by constant practice and by dispassion.”
The original Sanskrit
śrī-bhagavān uvāca asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durṇigrahaṃ calam | abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate