Yama: The five abstentions in yoga

Dr Satish K Kapoor

Yama, the first step in the Ashtanga Yoga of sage Patanjali, stands for abstinence as well as forbearance. It requires such restrain over mind, body and speech as would prevent one from violence, falsehood, theft, incontinence and greediness. The five yama-s, namely, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha respectively, are the great vows to be undertaken to elevate one’s moral conduct. They are applicable universally, irrespective of class, place, time or utility. ( Yoga Sutra II. 31). 

Ahimsa

Ahimsa is abstention from killing, from inflicting injury on others or oneself, due to ignorance, malice, gluttony, prejudice, or lack of self control.  It implies the non-consumption of animal food and sticking to vegetarian diet, recognizing the presence of life in all living beings.  

Ahimsa is the practice of love, respect, responsibility, tolerance, humility, and peace in life. Cultivating a loving attitude brings about harmony in relationships, diffusing the feelings of anger, hatred, selfishness and jealousy. Respect is the recognition of divinity in every one and abstention from treading upon the rights of others. Responsibility is performing one’s duties conscientiously, either singly or in concord with others, as the case may be. Tolerance is the conquest of anger and the ability to endure in unpleasant situations. Humility is humaneness in thought, behavior and action. Peace is not the absence of discord or of violence, but serenity, fragrant with the power of truth. The practitioner of ahimsa develops an aura of non-combative atoms around him which is not easy to penetrate.  Even the mutually hostile creatures like snake and mongoose ‘cease to feel enmity in his presence.’( Yoga Sutra, II. 35).

Satya

The Vedas speak of truth in the neuter as tat sat – ‘that being’, who manifests in the cosmic order. Truth is the supreme virtue that upholds existence. Observance of truth in daily life requires one to shun dishonesty,  hypocrisy and meanness Speaking the truth means to articulate ‘that which accords with what has been comprehended by legitimate means of knowledge.’ Ignorance about truth is tantamount to falsehood. Yet one should avoid speaking unpleasant truth or the truth that can deprive someone of his life.

When one is stabilized in truth, one does not commit sin, even in a dream. Whatever one feels, thinks or says, gets materialized (Yoga sutra, II.36) as one is connected with the higher powers. 

Asteya

Asteya is abstention from stealing, from dishonest appropriation of wealth, from achieving one’s ends by deceit or duplicity. It also implies depriving someone of his natural or legal rights for personal benefit. Steya is born of a ravenous desire to obtain more and more by unscrupulous means.

Life being short, worldly pleasures are transient in nature. The  realization that the goal of human life is not to accumulate money or goods, but to elevate consciousness  to the divine state, acts as a deterrent to the acquisitive  tendency in man. The Ishavasya Upanishad  ( first verse) admonishes : ma gridhah  kasya svid dhanam– ‘Do not covet the wealth of others.’  

Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya stands both for celibacy and for abstention from hedonistic tendencies of the mind. It is not suppression of the biological drive but its regulation, so that the seminal fluid is not dissipated, but sublimates into ojas.  Ojas, the quintessential sap of the seven fundamental tissues of the body, carries prana or life-force. Physicians say that ‘the most precious atoms of the blood enter into the composition of the creative essence.’ Brahmacharya  is not just abstinence from sex,  but the elimination of  lustful intentions. Even a householder  can practice brahmacharya by restricting his passion to procreative purpose. 

Aparigraha

Aparigraha  means not to accumulate more than what is required to keep the body and the soul together, and to use the surplus resources for the service of humanity. It is freedom from greed and from luxuries which keep the mind engaged in worldly pursuits. 

The five yama-s have a transforming effect on the human psyche. As one grows on the spiritual path, the eternal human craving to be infinite in all the dimensions of being, consummates. 

( Dr Satish K Kapoor  is a noted  author, historian and spiritualist )