Yama and Niyama, misunderstood yoga
I believe that nothing about yoga could be more sadly misunderstood than the principles of Yama and Niyama. As you may know, according to an ancient and widely accepted system established by yogi Pantanjali, there are 8 “limbs” (astanga) of yoga, which are arranged in an order that suggests they could be steps towards the ultimate goal of union with God. Considering that the translation of the Sanskrit word “yoga” is “union”, that assumption seems reasonable. However, problems arise in the assumption that the initial limbs/steps of yoga are more easily understood. They are certainly the concepts most familiar to us: the first member is the moral constraints and the last member is the complete merger with God.
The full list is:
Yama (moral restraints; “not to do”)
Niyama (encouraged daily behaviors; “two”)
Asanas (special yogic physical exercises)
Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises)
Pratyahara (withdrawal of the mind of the 5 senses)
Dhahran (concentration exercises)
Dhyana (contemplation of God)
Samadhi (union with God)
Surprisingly, to me the order suggests levels of decreasing Likely to misunderstand what the limb is about, but for now let me focus on Yama and Niyama for a couple of reasons:
A. Practicing them is absolutely crucial to progress in yoga.
B. A proper understanding of how they work can alleviate many unnecessary fears about them.
Yama yoga consists of 5 things that a yogi should not do if he wants to get anywhere with his yoga.
1. Do not hurt anyone (includes thoughts and words, as well as physical actions)
2. Do not lie for personal gain (also includes thoughts)
3. Do not take property belonging to others (also includes thoughts and words)
4. Do not accumulate unnecessary things (also includes thoughts and words)
5. Do not seek personal pleasure from the world (also includes thoughts and words)
Niyama yoga consists of 5 things a yogi MUST do if he wants to become enlightened
1. Keep your body, mind and environment clean (includes thoughts and words)
2 Maintain a peaceful/joyful state of mind (obviously includes thoughts and words)
3. Study spiritual books (ideally involving thoughts, words and action)
4. Make personal sacrifices for the welfare of others (includes thoughts and words)
5. Make God the purpose of your life (obviously involves thoughts, words and action)
There are already many books that delve into these points. My purpose is just to point out something about these “rules” that I feel has been woefully overlooked, and that is the tremendously liberating effect they can have. My guru used to say “a yogi is a practical man”, and all branches of yoga are part of a scientific system designed to bring great joy to the practitioner, not frustration and guilt. Yama and Niyama are not a set of rules put in place to make life more convenient for parents, teachers, and heads of state. They are a direct tool for the liberation of the true intellect. And the most surprising of all is that the effects are immediate; assuming you really “understand” the principles and practice them in your life. One of the areas where religion has failed us the most is giving us the notion that if we behave correctly now, we will reap the benefits somewhere down the road. To paraphrase: good behavior now will only give us frustration in this life and we are left to hope that a reward will come in the afterlife. Some people find comfort in that; most people, however, are looking for more out of life than that way of thinking can offer us, resulting in a completely unnecessary unpopularity of religion these days.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when Eastern religion became very popular in the West, young people got excited about the more practical possibility of enlightenment, but unfortunately they threw the baby out with the bathwater and quickly passed over the moral principles, so that they could quickly continue with the vegetarian diet, fasting, yoga asanas and meditation. In my opinion this was a huge mistake and possibly the reason the whole rise of Eastern religion fizzled out leaving us with nothing but commercial yoga schools on every street corner. It just doesn’t work like that, and I find it woefully unnecessary.
In those days, I told a friend that my opinion on the various branches of yoga was that “meditation is what really gets us to the goal and the other things just make the journey more comfortable.” His response surprised me. He said that he always felt that “asanas are the practice that leads one to enlightenment and meditation only gives us a glimpse of the goal.” Well… nowadays I think it can be argued that yama and niyama are the practices that really lead to enlightenment and that the other branches only serve to develop the basic structure established in yama and niyama. What else could there be in spiritual life than Yama and Niyama? Of course, the other branches of yoga are very important. They are the nuts and bolts, the “how to” of the various Yama and Niyama points. Similarly, within each of these other limbs (asanas, pranayama, etc.) is an ocean of knowledge that must be acquired from a competent teacher.
So, Yama and Niyama are an indispensable base; more an integral part and starting point of yoga, but in those roles they need not be seen as an unfortunate impediment to squeezing the joy out of yoga. If you check the list of exercise classes at any local gym, you will surely find an asana class, but I doubt you will find a class on Yama and Niyama. You won’t even find one at your neighborhood yoga school, and that’s kind of sad to me, because there’s a lot of hidden joy in Yama and Niyama.
I know many men and women who have been regular meditators, asana practitioners, vegetarians for 30 years or more and seem no happier or healthier than the meat-eaters, couch potatoes who live next door. How the hell can that be? Did the peace, love and yoga revolution of the 1970s lead us on a wild goose chase? Few of us would say I do, so what’s the problem then? I used to think it was a lack of determination, but now I think it’s a misunderstanding between Yama and Niyama. Nothing can trip up a yogi more than a less than crystalline understanding of the liberating effects of Yama and Niyama. Determination is certainly required, but to make progress we must see results. What kind of results? The same kind of results we’ve come to expect from a great meditation: peace, clarity, wisdom, a great wave of relief, and dare I say “bliss.” These are our birthrights and the reference point of a great meditation, but this same joy and peace is there for us the moment we deeply grasp the meaning of ahimsa (do no harm; the first point of Yama). We could meditate in vain for hours without accomplishing anything more than marking a sore spot in our psyche by repeating for the hundredth time how we could have avoided being insulted at the office last week; or we can spend time cleaning a messy room, discover a plant that needs water, and thus discover our true nature in a moment of peaceful clarity.
Now, if any of this has struck a chord with you, I heartily recommend that you go back to the beginning of this essay, find the part where I listed the 5 Yama Principles and the 5 Niyama Principles, and review them thoroughly, taking particular note of my comments in parentheses. See if anything clicks for you. Also, it might be better to think of yama and niyama as practices rather than principles. They constitute 2 of the 8 branches of yoga. If my calculations are correct, that’s 25% of the entire body of knowledge we call yoga, and it’s called yoga for a reason. That being the reason that it is a science, a very practical and demanding science. Heck, let’s call it technology. It’s a lot of techniques; very specific techniques with predictable results and that is as true for yama and niyama as it is for deeper meditations. When I actually witnessed ahimsa in action for the first time, I felt like I was having a personal consultation with God.
As children, our first experiences of morality were tragic. Parents, teachers, religious and political leaders all exploit moral principles and our biological tendency toward guilt to manipulate us for their own benefit. It is not surprising that we enter adolescence with no higher aspirations than freedom from moral constraints. Well, I think yoga can offer us much more than that, but we can’t just ignore yama and niyama and expect to become enlightened. We need to grasp its true meaning and practical utility in the search for real liberation, the realization of God in all things. Baba Nam Kevalam.