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Yama & Niyama - The Ten Moral Principles of Yoga

Yama & Niyama - The Ten Principles of Yoga Morality

These are moral principles - not rigid rules of do's and dont's. The individual must discern what is good and proper in each and every action and circumstance.

It should be mentionned that the practical foundation of all morality is:

  • optimism - i.e. to trust that life and the universe is ultimately meaningful and worthwhile.
  • sublimation of the ego unto the conscience.

Yama

  1. Ahiḿsá: Non-violence (i.e. to do the least necessary violence).
  2. Satya: Benevolent truthfulness.
  3. Asteya: Non-stealing.
  4. Brahmacarya: Treat all objects and circumstances as expressions of the trancendant universal causative principle (Parama Puruśa).
  5. Aparigraha: Non-over-indulgence, material simplicity, material humility.

Niyama

  1. Shaoca: Clenliness, purity (mental and physical).
  2. Santośa: Contentment, acceptance.
  3. Tapah: Self-less service, sacrifice.
  4. Svádhyáya: Clear understanding of spiritual concepts.
  5. Iishvara Prańidhána: Ideation on non-separateness with; being witnessed by; the Parama Puruśa [the conscious cognitive principle, i.e. Causal Matrix, "God"].
    6. Iishvara Prańidhána: Ideation on oneness/identity with Parama Puruśa (the conscious cognitive principle / Causal Matrix / "God").

It is said that Yama Sádhaná concerns the regulation of "psycho-physical emanations", i.e. the control of one's actions as directed towards the external reality. That is to say, the regulation of agency in the direction going outwards from the inner-self to the external world.

Conversely, it is said that Niyama Sádhaná concerns the regulation of "physico-psychic movements", i.e. the control of one's thoughts and actions as directed towards one's internal subjectivity. That is to say, the regulation of agency in the direction going inward from the external world to the inner-self

However, this distinction seems rather subtle or theoretical, since each principle also seems to apply in the alternate direction.

These definitions are based on the book "A Guide To Human Conduct" by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti (Ananda Purnima 1957, Jamalpur).

“Without yama and niyama, sádhaná (spiritual practice) is an impossibility."

Yama and Niyama comprise the first two limbs of the eight-fold system of Yogic spiritual practice:

  1. Yama: objevtive external morality
  2. Niyama: subjecive internal morality
  3. Asana: physical vitality and subtlety
  4. Pranayama: breath cultivation
  5. Pratyahara: withdrawl of the mind from the senses
  6. Dharana: meditation concentration (cultivation of introversial psychic force)
  7. Dhyana: meditation flow
  8. Samadhi: meditation absorbtion

"Morality is the foundation of sádhaná (spiritual practice). It must, however, be remembered that morality or good conduct is not the culminating point of the spiritual march. As a moralist one may set an ideal for other moralists, but to do this is not something worth mentioning for a Sádhaka (spiritual aspirant). ... Sádhaná, in its very start, requires mental equilibrium. This sort of mental harmony may also be termed as morality."