The Yamas – Our Attitude to the People
Around Us
The Yamas and the Niyamas are
regarded as the foundation of Yoga. Our attitude to the people around us is the
principal theme, or the principal subject, of the Yamas.
Ahimsa-satya-asteya-brahmacharya-aparigraha
yamah: The Sutra which describes the process of self-restraint,
known as the Yamas, touches upon five items of self-control. One of the stages
of self-control or Yoga is the practice of the Yamas.
The Love-Hate Relationships
The principal urges in man are
mostly the deciding factors of the various types of attitude that he develops
towards people. The major urge in us is love or hatred. Principally The desire
to exploit is natural as an instinct in every person. We wish to exploit the
world in some way or the other. Exploitation means utilization of something for
our purpose.
The Deeper Philosophical Meaning
of Ahimsa
We should not injure. But, why
should we not injure? One does not hurt or injure impersonally. Hurting is the
outcome of a personal attitude. Ahimsa or non-injury, which we are thinking of,
is not a physical action. It is an attitude of the mind. What is the difference
between a surgeon and an assassin? The difference is only in the intention, and
not in the outer act. Unless a person has a desire to exploit, he will not have
a desire to injure anybody. So, the desire to exploit goes together with the
desire to injure. Exploitation itself is an injury. It is perhaps the major
injury that we inflict upon people, in the form of hurting, either verbally
psychologically or physically.
Overcoming the Desire to Exploit
Asteya and Aparigraha, touch
upon this problem of exploitation. One cannot appropriate anything which does
not really belong to him. Asteya is non-stealing. A thief is one who has the
intention of using somebody for his purpose at the cost of the latter person. Even
if one entertains this intention in the mind, it is a theft. If a person
possesses more than what he is expected to possess, under the circumstances in which
he is placed, that becomes theft. The attitude of exploitation is nothing but
the expression of this inherent selfishness in man.
Striking a Balance between
Outward Conduct and Inward Intention
The nature of the Purusha is
such that it cannot permit attitudes of exploitation, even attitudes of love
and hatred, because these are the outward manifestations of consciousness in
the direction of its own bondage.
In our practice of the Yamas,
we have to develop a double attitude of outward control as well as inward
understanding. When we try to discipline ourselves inwardly, psychologically or
philosophically, we should also adopt an external measure of self-control. That
is why usually a student of Yoga resorts to places and atmospheres, where he
would not be compelled to break these disciplines.
Even then, outward practice
will not be highly or wholly successful if the mind is not agreeable to the
practice. The inward understanding and the outward disciplines, both go together
and should be carried on simultaneously almost. Vigilance is Yoga. A balance
has to be struck between our outward conduct and our inward intention. The
doing outside should have some meaning in connection with the intention that is
in the mind. So, it becomes a little difficult for a beginner in the earlier
stages to understand how he can live in this world at all.
Every mind resents advice from
other people, for reasons which are personal, social, and also philosophical. But,
it is different in the case of a person who has awakened himself to the need of
listening to advice coming from higher realms, such as the advice coming from a
master or a Guru.
Respecting the Laws of Nature
Every person in the world is
as valuable as everyone else. No man is a servant of another man. One appears
to obey the dictates of another person under the pressure of circumstances, but
that obedience does not emanate from the bottom of his heart. Everyone loves
oneself and no one is prepared to bow down to the orders of another person,
unless this order comes from a higher source. Nature reacts to any interference
with its balance of laws and the man who exploits and injures will be paid back
in his own coin. "Harm not any creature" is another way of saying,
"Break not the laws of nature".
What is the deeper import of
Ahimsa? One has to be a friend of all. This is the meaning, the purport, of
Ahimsa – Sarva bhuta hite ratah, in the
language of the Bhagavad Gita. A friend of all can hurt nobody, when he is
intent on the welfare of all beings. Truthfulness is very simple and very easy
to understand, because untruth is nothing but exploitation. One would not utter
a lie, unless one wishes to exploit somebody
Curbing the Tendency to Grab
Asteya and Aparigraha, means,
non-stealing and non-acceptance of articles or possessions which are not
necessary for one's existence. Because, while we have the sanction to exist in
this world by the orders of nature, we do not have the sanction to accumulate
goods which are not necessary for our sensible existence in this world. We
cannot exploit individuals. And we cannot exploit the world also. We should not
exploit God Himself finally. Many a time our prayers to God assume the nature
of exploitations only whenever we try to grab something from God. We should not
grab anything from anybody, and we cannot expect from this world anything more
than what we have given to the world as our share of service. One has to learn
to co-operate with the world in every one of its stages of manifestation –
socially, physically, psychologically, rationally, politically and spiritually
– because, Yoga is a total union of oneself with the totality of things.
Self control, as mentioned
earlier, is Yoga. And some of its features are set out in the canons known as
the Yamas. It is almost impossible to practise Ahimsa, or Satya, or Asteya, or
Aparigraha, under normal circumstances, unless one strains oneself hard with
some effort, especially in the earlier stages.
Yoga Is Not Renunciation
Yoga is a gradual ascent.
Nature evolves and does not set up a revolution at any time. The growth of a
tree is gradual, evolutionary and not revolutionary. Yoga is a gradual growth
and maturing of one's personality by a systematic adjustment of oneself through
every stage of its progress. Yoga does not mean renunciation, if by this is
meant a relinquishment of the duties of the world and the ways of life as they
are normally lived.
Yoga Is Not Religion
Yoga is not religion. Yoga is
not abandonment of anything. It is a positive tuning up of oneself with the
realities of all things. Though Yoga practice is not an abandonment of
anything, but only a union with all things, it may appear that this union with
things calls for a kind of abandonment, a certain introduction of a new type or
aspect of practice which will harass the mind oftentimes.
The canons of the Yamas include
another very poignant instruction 'Brahmacharya'. Yoga is not a social
practice. We are not going to please people by our Yoga. It is an inward
discipline, which is required of us under the system of nature as a whole, and
we are to obey a law that is operating everywhere. Continence is a very
cautious project of the individual in the direction of Yoga.
Excerpts from:
The Yamas-Our Attitude to
the People Around Us – Yoga as a Universal Science by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
If you would
like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact
the General Secretary at:
No comments:
Post a Comment