“In the previous five sutras, Patanjali explained the five modifications…”

In the previous five sutras, Patanjali explained the five modifications of the mind. They are:

pramanana (right knowledge)

viparyayo (wrong knowledge)

vikalpa (imagination)

nidra (sleep)

smrtih (memory)

Then Patanjali beautifully gives the ultimate sutra that will help one move beyond all five modifications. He says:

abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah

I think Patanjali felt that in the future there would be a possibility for some of his sutras being lost, distorted or not available to planet earth. So he decided, if only one sutra is available, that one sutra should be able to lead a man to enlightenment!

abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah is the ultimate sutra! The five modifications are responsible for all of the problems we face in our lives. Wherever we are stuck, there is one master key, one master solution and that is abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah. It means ‘Relaxing from these thought patterns through constant and intensive practice of unclutching.’

I am responsible for what I am talking and I can strongly say that if you ‘click’ with this one sutra, you don’t even need to bother too much about what technique you are practicing. If you understand just this one sutra, the ‘constant and intense practicing’, you don’t even have to bother too much about what you are practicing!

This one sutra was the all time favourite of my teacher, Raghupati Yogi. He would continuously use and repeat this one sutra. Whoever came to him, with whatever problem they had, whether it was knee pain or difficulty in practicing yoga postures, he would just quote: abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah. After a while, his students became very used to him and his advice. They would say, ‘Yes we already know what your answer is Swamiji, but we just wanted to tell you our problem!’

Raghupati Yogi used to make me do all kinds of things. He would ask me to climb the pillars in the temple one-handed! I was very young, but I would climb up and down, up and down. When I started studying different yoga literature, I could never find anywhere reference that supports the concept that climbing pillars is yoga!

I asked him once, ‘Why do you make me climb these pillars everyday? In no yoga book have I read that climbing pillars is a yogic technique!’ He gave me a very strong and important ‘click’. He said, ‘With a strong intensity, any movement you do brings health.’ This is the base teaching in our system of Nithya Yoga. The sutra related most intimately to our system of Nithya Yoga is abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah.

Nithya Yoga is not adding more movements to your life. It is adding more life to your movements. With intensity, any movement you practice is yoga. Without intensity, even if you do the so-called asanas (postures), it will more or less create the effect of exercise.

All that is needed is intensity and constant practice. How you do a practice is the first concern. What you actually practice is only a secondary concern. With intensity you will be guided toward the right teacher, the right practice, the right technique and the right enlightenment experience.

Intensity is the ultimate sutra; the ultimate truth! It is the ultimate sutra for the entire path of yoga. Whether you have problems with yama (social etiquette), or niyama (personal discipline), or asana (physical postures), or pranayama (breathing practices), or pratyahara (the mental set up), or dharana (the emotional balancing), or dhyana (restful awareness in your inner space) or difficulty in samadhi (enlightenment itself), the one and only solution, the ultimate key is this one sutra; ‘Intensity and constant practice’.

Intensity by itself is intelligent enough to lead you to the ultimate enlightenment without any technique, without any support and without anything from the outer world. It is a self sufficient tool for us to experience the ultimate experience – Living Enlightenment.