Abhyasa and vairagya

Great question. You’re zeroing in on what is arguably the spine of almost every serious spiritual path, even when the vocabulary changes.

First, the core idea (in plain terms)

Abhyāsa = steady, repeated practice

Vairāgya = letting go of grasping, craving, fixation

Patañjali’s genius is not inventing these, but naming the two forces that must balance each other:

• Practice without non-attachment → obsession, ego, burnout, spiritual materialism

• Non-attachment without practice → passivity, vague insight, drift

Krishna says essentially the same thing to Arjuna when he admits the mind is wild:

“The mind is restless… but it is controlled by practice (abhyāsa) and dispassion (vairāgya).”

— Bhagavad Gītā 6.35

So now let’s look at proof across traditions—same structure, different metaphors.

1. Classical Yoga (Patañjali)

Yoga Sūtra 1.12

abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ

“The cessation of mental fluctuations comes through practice and non-attachment.”

Why both?

• Abhyāsa trains the nervous system, attention, ethics, breath, body

• Vairāgya prevents the practice itself from becoming another object of clinging

Vyāsa is explicit: even attachment to samādhi must be released.

2. Bhagavad Gītā (Bhakti, Jñāna, Karma all agree)

Krishna repeats this pair in multiple yogas:

Jñāna Yoga (knowledge)

“Renunciation (vairāgya) and knowledge together lead to the supreme.” (5.2)

Karma Yoga (action)

“Perform action, abandoning attachment to results.” (2.47)

This is abhyāsa = disciplined action, vairāgya = no clinging to outcomes.

Bhakti Yoga (devotion)

Even devotion requires non-attachment:

“He who neither hates nor desires… is dear to Me.” (12.15)

3. Buddhism (Theravāda & Zen)

Different words, identical structure.

Abhyāsa =

Bhāvanā

(mental cultivation)

• Repeated meditation

• Ethical precepts

• Mindfulness training

Vairāgya =

Virāga / Nekkhamma

(dispassion, renunciation)

The Buddha is crystal clear:

“Just as a lute string must be neither too tight nor too loose…”

— Middle Way teaching

Zen puts it bluntly:

“Sit every day. Expect nothing.”

That’s practice without grasping.

4. Christian Mysticism (Desert Fathers, Hesychasm)

Abhyāsa

• Repetition of the Jesus Prayer

• Fasting

• Vigil

• Rule of life

Vairāgya (called

detachment

or

poverty of spirit

)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” (Matthew 5:3)

Evagrius Ponticus:

“Prayer is the laying aside of thoughts.”

St. John of the Cross:

“To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing.”

That is textbook vairāgya.

5. Sufism (Islamic mysticism)

You’ll appreciate this given your interest in shrines and baraka.

Abhyāsa

• Dhikr (constant remembrance)

• Adab (discipline)

• Service

• Repetition under a teacher

Vairāgya (zuhd)

“Renunciation is not owning nothing, but nothing owning you.”

— attributed to early Sufis

Rūmī:

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment; cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment is intuition.”

Practice plus surrender.

6. Daoism

Abhyāsa

• Neigong

• Breath

• Stillness practice

• Alignment with Dao

Vairāgya

• Wu-wei (non-grasping action)

Laozi:

“Those who cling lose. Those who let go are fulfilled.”

You cultivate—but you don’t force.

7. Jewish Mysticism (Kabbalah & Hasidism)

Abhyāsa

• Daily prayer

• Torah study

• Mitzvot done with intention (kavanah)

Vairāgya

• Bitul (self-nullification)

Baal Shem Tov:

“Where ‘I’ exists, God does not.”

Again: disciplined form + release of ego-claim.

Why this pairing is universal (not accidental)

Human consciousness has two chronic problems:

1. Inertia (nothing changes)

2. Clinging (everything sticks)

Abhyāsa solves #1

Vairāgya solves #2

Remove either, and the path collapses.

That’s why traditions that appear wildly different converge on the same operating system.

A subtle but crucial point (often missed)

Vairāgya is not disgust with the world.

It’s freedom within experience.

Patañjali’s vairāgya matures from:

• “I don’t want this”

  
  

  to

• “I don’t need to grasp this”

That’s why advanced practitioners often look fully alive, not withdrawn.

One last synthesis

You could summarize all authentic spirituality like this:

Train the mind.

Release ownership of the mind.

Continue, without interruption, with reverence.

That’s Yoga Sūtra 1.14—and also the Gītā, the Buddha, Rūmī, the Desert Fathers, and the Dao.

If you want, next we could:

• Compare vairāgya vs Buddhist non-attachment precisely

• Or look at how abhyāsa shows up in daily embodied practices (like your training and sauna rhythm, interestingly enough)