Yamas & Niyamas
The principles of empowered conscious living as an awake and evolving soul!
Yamas - outer observances (how we behave at all levels of thought, intent and action within society and toward nature)
Niyamas - inner observances (how we behave at all levels of thought, intent and action when alone and no one is watching)
The majority of Yogic traditions have a set of stages or aspects of development. Some view these as linear stages to be observed one at a time sequentially, while others view them as aspects of human evolution worthy of equal and simultaneous attention. Most have a set of ethics or observances as the first stage.
Our next few blogs will be discussion of the 5 Yamas followed by the 5 Niyamas. This is a fascinating exploration that unpacks human nature as we each express it. It is multi layered in its application and as a practice of self-observation. It defines a quality of attention that is ultimately liberating in the truest sense of the word. It invites crossing the bridge from the perplexing and paradoxical nature of our personal experience to the numinous expansive reaches of transpersonal existence. The beauty of life becomes apparent when the light of attention is given to it.
The Yamas and Niyamas represent the first two stages of Ashtanga Yoga also known as the eight limbs of Patanjali Yoga or Classical Yoga.
Patanjali is recognized as one of the greatest scholars, and codifiers of yogic essential principles who ever lived. We won’t delve here into the historical view of who he was and when he existed or even if he existed at all. That would be an article in and of itself. Suffice to say from extensive research it appears he did in fact exist at a fruitful time when debate between yogic traditions was alive and fervent; a time when truth was sought within the ground teachings of the major yogic streams of wisdom. Patanjali is believed to have lived in this time and wrote many works bringing light to essential yogic contemplation, understanding and truth. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are one such offering. They are essential reading and study for any genuine yogic practitioner.
The Yamas and Niyamas as the first two limbs of ashtanga yoga of Patanjali are the entry point or initiation into the way of self-observation that leads the mind beyond its own cage.
The Yamas and Niyamas give ways that harness the habits of the mind, reclaim its wasted fragmented energy. They redirect and focus attention and skill toward living with compassion, honesty, purity and potency. The mind then becomes a vehicle for right perception and knowledge.
Mostly we live oblivious to the power of the mind, its predisposition and conditioning. It exists as a thief of our capacity to live with skill and joy.
As we respond to the invitation of these sets of ethical principles our mind is turned on itself and in so doing it becomes healed. If our mind is lost in its own habits, then so too are we. If the mind has sacrificed its power to primitive urges and learned behaviors, we are ensnared by the power of the corrupted mind energy.
We are predisposed at birth to forget our true nature and essential quality. A veil is cast over the vast consciousness at the root of our being. This obscuration has us fighting for survival as an individual and separating or clinging to each other in our quest for self-preservation. Why are we predisposed to forgetfulness, a form of existential amnesia? - That will be the subject of another discussion. Suffice to say it is the greatest game we will ever play and grow mastery of. At birth we are not given the map, the manual or the set of guiding principles, instead we are given the confusing edicts produced by the veiling itself.
Yoga offers means to slow down and reflect. It gives means to caste light through the veil of obscuration. It affords means to release from entrapment and existential loneliness.
The Yamas and Niyamas are an invitation to look deep within the mirror of the mind. The mind is like a mirror in that it gathers reflections through the vehicles of senses and organs of action. The mirror mind then categorizes them into a vast repository of likes and dislikes, or attractions and aversions. All of our experience is divided in this way. The forces operative then within the mind cause our reactions in any given situation to be one of attraction or aversion, or in some cases neutral (no response at all).
Each subject listed within the yamas and niyamas reveal the powerful insight the yogis and traditions gained into the workings of the human psyche and its conditioned or predisposed tendencies.
Giving attention to each ethic or observance we reclaim awareness, compassion, impeccability, skill, insight, potency, and empowerment.
The Yamas (outer observances or restraints) include:
Ahiṃsā- non- harming, non-violence
Satya- truthfulness
Asteya- non- stealing
Aparigraha- non- grasping or non-possessiveness
Brahmacarya- conscious use of vital energy
Here we find encompassed all the domains of our interface in the human and natural world. It encompasses every kind of relationship and exchange. As we contemplate the Yamas, we discover how complete and profoundly insightful they are. As we practice awareness and observance, we discover much about ourselves and the societies in which we live. We learn that the power of self-observation is the giver of freedom as we unclutter and polish the mirror of the mind. The counsel of this simple set of principles or observance reveals how uncontrolled, evasive, manipulating, sabotaging and enslaved the vast energy of the mind has become. It also reveals a way to harness the higher, benign, and beneficial power of the mind.
The natural state of the mind is peacefulness (sattvic). For most of us it has become inert or dull (tamasic) or agitated and deranged(rajasic) or a mix of both. In its natural state, cleansed of its impressions, the mind opens to a vastness that is both fully conscious and extatically peaceful always. An analogy to our unconscious states of mind is like having all devices - radios, TV,s all forms of technological interface with infomania on full volume and alert 24/7. There is no peace. The practice of yoga, the invitation of the Yamas and Niyamas is to turn all devices off and listen to the peace and presence of an abiding intelligence that is nonverbal and eternal. To encounter each moment of experience like a sage, to pause before giving into habitual response and reaction. To live from a place of dignity and wisdom. To allow all to live from a place of dignity and wisdom.
We may find that opinions and beliefs rob us of meeting each moment fully with openness of heart and mind. We may become courageous to live with freedom, unburdened by historical reference or future phantasmagorical thinking. It was Krishnamacharya who said something like -if we do not die psychologically each day we cannot awaken to a new loveliness. Our psychology is our predisposed nature governed by powerful impressions and memories. If we can empty that burden powerfully and completely what remains is a freedom to be in the truest sense of the word – “to be or not to be, that is the question” as Shakespeare would have it- the forces of fear and doubt will have released us.
The Niaymas (inner observances) include;
Śauca- purity, cleanliness
Santoṣa- contentment
Tapas- discipline or austerity
Svādhyāya- study of the Self
Īśhvarapraṇidhāna- devotion, surrender to a higher force
When alone, when in our own company and time, we observe how we direct our energy. In so doing we find the pathway to the cultivation of prana (potent lifeforce, energy) and ways to direct our focus and effort toward evolution. Many of us spend our alone time in ways that do not cultivate energy. The Niyamas cultivate a sattvic expression of mind as opposed to wasting energy given to tamasic or rajasic tendencies. Sattva is not angelic but rather an expression of joyful, peace flow of mind, it is clear seeing- it is not righteous or religious but rather wise, it is not superior it is uncompromisingly compassionate, it is not self-serving but of deep service. It is not higher it is egalitarian, an expression of unity awareness.
In our alone times we give to our own evolution and through our own purification we become of greater value as a contributor to others and to society. Think of an instrument well cared for and tuned.
In some cases, people confuse sattva with spiritual persona. This is a tenacious form of ego wrapped in delusion.
Over 65 years of living, nearly 45 of them given to sadhana (intentionally living the path of yoga), I have had the opportunity to practice sadhana both in the world so to speak, as well as living in spiritually focused communities. And there is no difference. The only difference, if any, is that spiritual can sit at odds with our humanity and humility if it is not intelligent. I found in both worldly society and spiritual communities the same expressions of egoic nature and tendency in myself and others. It is if anything amplified in spiritual communities. The tendency to over spiritualize every nuance of character, endeavor or experience robs the human factor of its levelling, growth and humbling benefit. In pursuit of the spiritual we forget to tend to our human nature. The tendency of spiritual communities to become organizations like any other that enforce the same culture of hierarchy - expressing levels of importance and belonging with the spiritual quotient added magnifies the human tendency to compete and express ambitions jealousy. The art of building, sustaining and evolving community, be they secular or spiritual in aspiration, need the ground rock of self-observances to enable community members to find equal footing, equal sense of belonging and equal value. Observances that are ongoing and meet the ever changing and evolving nature of communities and societies are essential.
Whether one lives in the world as the environment in which to pursue a meaningful life or sadhana (yogic path of transformation) or within a spiritual community where each moment of the day is given to practice and service, the observations of the Yamas and Niyamas are equally important. The human tendency to be self-serving is so strong it needs our full and undivided attention. The attention we give however is accompanied by several very important guidelines:
Observation must be free of guilt, shame, self-deprecation, or analytical processing.
All of these tendencies are more fodder for self-observation. They rob us of our intelligence. They cause us to implode instead of expand.
The vista of observation is phenomenological, a view to the thing itself and by itself without association, memory, or commentary.
The view, the practice of observation has its greatest power when it is a focus of open-ended awareness unimpeded by the mind’s own tendencies. This is itself is a great skill the observances awaken. Just as casting a light into darkness reveals all.
Attention without commentary is an act of pure love
Our next blog chapter will expound Ahimsa- non harming. The first of the Yamas. It is a revelation in and of itself. If one can live a single day without doing harm it is the equivalent of a miracle. The effort however frees the sweetest of all qualities - a lovingness that is unfailing and unflinching.
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