मृदुमध्याधिमात्रत्वात् ततोऽपि विशेषः॥२२॥
mr̥du-madhya-adhimātratvāt-tato’pi viśeṣaḥ
In the last Sūtra, Patanjali said that when desire for liberation is intense, that’s when it is imminent. He emphasizes that in this Sūtra, saying that what makes the difference is level of intensity of your desire for liberation, whether it is weak, moderate or beyond measure.
We usually talk in yoga about a very high level of liberation, to be liberated from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth, liberated from having to carry all of the residues of all of the experiences we’ve had over all of those lives from one life to the next. But there are lesser forms of liberation we can work towards.
My favorite metaphor for this is in the movie, the Darjeeling Limited. Three brothers are traveling by train through India after the death of their father, in search of their evasive and emotionally distant mother. They’re literally carrying their father’s baggage. And it’s clear that they’ve got emotional baggage from their relationship with their parents that’s making it hard for them to have positive relationships with their wives and girlfriends, with each other, with themselves, maybe even to have any relationships at all. I love this movie because I’m one of three sisters and we took a trip to Europe that was amazing, but where all of the emotional baggage we were carrying was on full display, just like in the Darjeeling Limited. There are fantastic scenes in the movie where the three brothers are late for the train, carrying all of this beautiful embossed leather Louis Vuitton luggage, and they manage to help each other grab the railing of the caboose and hurl themselves and all their dad’s baggage on it. But in the final train-boarding scene, their desire to get on the train is so intense that they’re willing to leave all their dad’s luggage behind. They liberate themselves. When there’s a train we want to jump on bad enough, we drop our baggage, we free ourselves, we liberate ourselves so we can catch that train. Probably, for most of us, it isn’t going to be avoiding the cycle of rebirth that motivates us on that level. What is your intention for yoga practice? What train do you want to get on so bad that you’re willing to drop the emotional baggage you’re carrying to catch it?
mr̥du = weak
madhya = moderate
Adhimātra = beyond measure
tvāt = Other, different
Tato = from there; from that; thence; therefore; thereupon
Api = what makes the difference, what distinguishes you
Patanjali's yoga sutras 
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