Essential traditional revelations on the profound and lasting beneficial spiritual transformation that comes about through the proper perseverant and enthusiastic practice of the multi-millennial yoga techniques (2)

By Nicolae Catrina

After these aspects [presented in the first part of the article] which are fundamental to the understanding and especially to the practical integration of our spiritual transformation, let’s see what are those essential esoteric ingredients of a plenary effective yoga practice.

The multi-millennial yoga tradition states that there are three such fundamental ingredients which, once put into practice, will bring about a profound, lasting, eminently beneficial spiritual transformation of our entire being.

In Sanskrit, these three essential esoteric ingredients are called abhyasa, vairagya and bhavana.

From the perspective of initiation into the mystery of Godly Attributes, these three essential ingredients of effectiveness in the yoga practice are also correlated with certain attributes of Godhead, as we will highlight in the following.

The first of these esoteric ingredients is usually understood as proper spiritual effort. This first fundamental element of effective spiritual practice, which is designated in yoga by the Sanskrit word abhyasa, does not refer to a specific practice, but to the transformative occult power of any genuine spiritual practice. Therefore, it is particularly important to really understand what this means and especially how to apply or integrate abhyasa, proper spiritual effort, both in yoga practice and in our everyday life.

In Sanskrit, the term abhyasa literally means to go constantly and steadily in a higher direction.

Abhyasa therefore means, on our part, the complete dedication to a higher and clearly defined goal. For this, abhyasa will constantly give us the energy to always and forever move forward in that higher direction, even when we may encounter, when we may face some obstacles, some difficulties. Abhyasa can therefore be compared to an inexhaustible reserve of beneficial occult energy, of self-confidence, and confidence in our spiritual success, of unfailing optimism, which will always keep us moving forward towards our goal.

It is the firm and constant spiritual practice (abhyasa in Sanskrit) which, by gradually transforming our perspective and our predominant level of consciousness for the much better, opens up, we could say, a new space, a new spiritual horizon. Abhyasa gives us freedom, it gives us occult creative power, and when we may face difficulties or obstacles, abhyasa gives us options, it gives us certain and effective possibilities to overcome those obstacles or difficulties. In this way we never fall into a limiting and fatalistic view in which we tell ourselves that we have nothing more to do or that we have no choice, etc.

The multi-millennial yoga tradition reveals that from the point of view of the actual concrete practice abhyasa, the adequate spiritual effort involves four fundamental characteristics or qualities.

The first quality of adequate spiritual effort (abhyasa in Sanskrit) is adequate duration.

For our spiritual practice to touch our whole being, it needs a sufficient time, an appropriate duration. We cannot truly transform ourselves spiritually if we limit ourselves to a practice of a few minutes or less.

The profound transformation, and especially the lasting, stable transformation, takes time to take hold, including in the depths of our being. Thus, this first quality – duration – refers both to the duration of a specific practice, for example, we can perform a 5min, 10 min or 5 seconds asana body posture, but also to the complete duration of a daily spiritual practice. For example, we plan to perform a particular yoga practice for 49 days or six months or a year.

Clearly, in the case of consistent and appropriate practice, the most profound transformative effects occur with a longer duration of our entire practice – both the duration of each day’s practice and the total duration or total number of days, weeks or months that we practice that technique.

The 2nd quality of the adequate spiritual effort, abhyasa, is continuity.

We will discover by integrating this quality of our practice, that it is much more effective to practice yoga even for shorter periods of time or moderate intervals of time, but systematically, consistently, than to practice for a few days very intensively, several hours a day, and then weeks or months go by in which we do not practice at all.

The yoga tradition states that an occasional practice, even if it is intensive at the time, cannot generally lead to success.

The 3rd fundamental quality of the adequate spiritual effort abhyasa is defined in the yoga tradition as authenticity.

This authenticity implies, in addition to an exemplary dedication in the techniques we perform, to also have the most transfiguring attitude towards the yoga practice itself. In this way, our spiritual practice will never become a banal, common, routine action. On the contrary, authenticity in our spiritual practice, authenticity that is in fact a Godly Attribute, will always keep in our consciousness the understanding that, from the perspective of our spiritual transformation, the yoga practice we do every day is for us the most important part of the day.

In this way we understand that the adequate spiritual effort is very different from the efforts we can make at certain times of our lives. Authenticity in spiritual practice implies the fullest dedication in our systematic effort to transform ourselves spiritually, it also implies stability.

From this point of view, we could say that one of the most important values that abhyasa awakens and amplifies in our being is the stability that abhyasa brings to our whole life and not only to our spiritual practice. This stability, which is itself a Godly Attribute, will be acquired by us when we do our spiritual effort, when we do our spiritual practice in perfect authenticity, that is, not with half-measures, not with thinking elsewhere, not as a routine.

In this way, the constancy and continuity of our practice will never slip into dogmatism, into rigidity. Only in this way, by integrating the dimension of authenticity into yoga practice, can we achieve real stability in our spiritual experiences. Otherwise, we may for example occasionally achieve some special states or so-called peak experiences, but all of these will be transient and therefore they will not be able to transform us in a deep and lasting way.

Without authenticity in our practice, without this fundamental quality of abhyasa and implicitly without the subtle, sublime energy of the Godly Attribute of Godly Authenticity that corresponds to that quality, we may achieve some noticeable effects in our yoga practice from time to time, but these effects will not last.

Because of this quality of authenticity, abhyasa, proper spiritual effort will give us access not just to occasional experiences but to stable transformations. It will gradually give us access to a much higher and stable level of consciousness. In fact, stability and authenticity are as important in yoga practice as they are in our love relationships, our friendships, our higher creative activities, etc.

The 4th fundamental quality of proper spiritual effort abhyasa is enthusiasm, the effervescence of our practice.

The yoga tradition states that when we enthusiastically practice a particular spiritual technique, we manifest a huge, occult, transformative energy, energy that will allow that yoga technique to gradually touch all the subtle layers of our being (kosha in Sanskrit), will allow that yoga technique to truly and steadily transform our entire being.

Regarding these four fundamental qualities of proper spiritual effort abhyasa, it is necessary to make some clarifications and distinctions. For example, while perseverance, constancy, and continuity in our yoga practice are basic qualities of abhyasa, this does not mean that our practice will always remain the same. We emphasize once again that abhyasa does not refer to a specific yoga technique, but to the effective performance of any method of spiritual transformation.

Likewise, authenticity in our spiritual practice also means a certain subtle sensitivity. Specifically, if we are authentic in our yoga practice, we are also able to listen, metaphorically speaking, to the messages that may come from our various koshas or subtle sheaths. For example, we are able to feel what our body is telling us what it needs in terms of rest, nutrition and so on.

On the other hand, this subtle sensitivity is completed and complemented by the enthusiastic momentum which is full of aspiration – the 4th fundamental quality of abhyasa, the momentum that motivates us to always but gently overcome our various current limitations. Without this constant self-improvement, our spiritual practice could not develop or deepen.

Given all this, we can understand that abhyasa as an essential ingredient of effective yoga practice is by its nature a gradual approach.

Abhyasa involves stages, it involves discovering new elements, new aspects in our spiritual practice again and again, in order to constantly deepen it.

For example, when we choose to practice the same yoga technique for say a year, the novelty of abhyasa is not in replacing that technique with another technique every week. The novelty is given by the deepening of our awareness. It is the discovery of new and significant elements, important elements related to that practice. Such an integration of abhyasa will lead us to genuine spiritual discoveries, genuine revelations, just as when we were at the beginning of our yoga practice.

This is why it is said both in yoga and in other spiritual traditions that it is particularly advisable to keep ourselves in that so-called beginner’s state, because in this state we are very attentive, we are very present in our yoga practice and as a result of this presence and our sustained and persistent attention, we will always and again become aware, we will constantly discover new aspects which are also very significant for that technique.

Such a so-called beginner’s approach or perspective, if combined with the 3rd quality of abhyasa – namely authenticity – and implicit dedication and respect or transfiguring attitude towards the practice, will gradually reveal the exceptional transformative values of that practice. In this way, our yoga practice will be able to touch and transform our consciousness and our whole being in a superior, eminently beneficial and increasingly profound way.

In fact, generally speaking, at the beginning of our yoga practice we have neither the subtle sensitivity nor the spiritual intuition to recognize its totally exceptional potential. But as we continue to practice, keeping all four qualities of abhyasa, namely, proper duration, continuity, authenticity and inner enthusiasm or effervescence, always alive, always active in this practice, this practice will reveal to us all its magic, all its mystery, all its ecstasy.

It can be said that the most difficult aspect of abhyasa is to maintain the four fundamental qualities of abhyasa even after the energy of the beginning has diminished, and as an example of a very simple attitude, which can help us greatly in keeping intact and even in developing, deepening and amplifying the four fundamental qualities of abhyasa, it is highly recommended that every time we practice yoga, we aim to discover, emphasise each time at least three new and significant aspects for that practice.

If we really pay attention, these new elements will definitely appear every time. In this way, our attention, which will be directed towards discovering these new elements, will also be an excellent antidote against routine, monotony or even deterioration in terms of subtlety and especially in terms of the effectiveness of the practice.

But it is much better to extend this simple exercise of awareness, of discovering the new, to other activities that we do constantly, including our daily activities that remain much the same from one day to the next, but also in the same erotic, amorous postures with the loved one. Here too we will try to discover at least three new and significant elements each time, and so on.

This traditional indication also reveals to us that abhyasa, while an essential ingredient of the effectiveness of our spiritual practice, is not enough. It reveals to us that there is a possibility that our spiritual effort abhyasa may become a sterile effort or that banality, boredom or other egoic misunderstandings of firm and constant practice may hang over it.

In order to prevent all this, the presence of the 2nd esoteric ingredient is necessary, and together with abhyasa and the complement provided by the 3rd ingredient, it gives us a truly amazing, infallible efficiency to our yoga practice.

Read the third part of the article

 

yogaesoteric
October 30, 2025

 

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