The Three First Yamas Of Astanga-Yoga With Swami Padmanabha

Special guest Swami Padmanabha, traveling monk, and yoga philosophy teacher for 20 years speaks on the first three restraints of Astanga-yoga: non-violence, truthfulness, and non-stealing. Astanga-yoga means the eight-limbed path of yoga. Swami Padmanabha gives also a brief description of the eight limbs:

yama - restraints
niyama - observances
asana - posture
pranayama - regulation of breath
pratyahara - sense withdrawal
dharana - concentration

Transcript

What are the Yamas and what is their role in yoga practice?

On this episode I will be speaking with Swami Padmanabha from Argentina who teaches yoga philosophy since 20 years about non-violence,

Truthfulness and non-stealing.

Hello yogi!

Welcome to my podcast!

I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice.

Welcome to the podcast Swami Padmanabha!

I'm very honored to have you here.

Thank you for coming.

Would you like to introduce yourself for those who don't know you and maybe tell us how it happened that you became a monk?

Yes,

For sure.

My pleasure to be here.

Well,

I began my spiritual journey kind of,

I mean,

Difficult to say when it all began to start to mark a particular beginning point but approximately a little bit 25 years back and 40 years now.

So in my teenage years I started my inner search more officially in this particular lifetime.

And eventually some years after that I discovered the path of yoga,

Yoga philosophy and I decided to make that a lifestyle for me and in the context of that eventually I pursued a monastic lifetime which was really something quite natural for me.

So I became a monk approximately when I was 18,

19 years old and I remained as such.

I began as which one?

Monastic order called brahmachari and then I accepted a vow called sannyas which has to do with let's say a life long commitment to monasticism in the context of my practice of yoga.

So again,

It's something that has to do mainly with one's own nature and I personally always felt this particular type of inclination so I feel very happy to have that opportunity.

And well,

Nowadays I'm in the US at the present moment but still as a Swami,

As a Sannyasi,

Generally a good part of my daily dynamics had to do with traveling a little bit,

Also staying for certain moments in certain places,

Visiting sacred spots,

Going on pilgrimage but also trying to share the teachings of yoga,

Trying to share my lifestyle and experience I may have if that may help others.

So that's basically what I'm doing nowadays as a monastic.

Thank you.

And I was wondering if you can briefly explain your view of what the eight limbs of yoga are then get into a little bit more about the Yamas in general and then elaborate on the three first Yamas,

Ahimsa,

Satya and asteya in the context of bringing the teachings of yoga into everyday life,

Also of the math so to speak.

Okay,

Yes,

Yes,

As we will see there is plenty of let's say yogic stuff off the mat,

Especially before entering the mat as we will see regarding the Yamas and of course Niyamas as well,

They are like preliminary considerations to really have in place before entering officially the arena if you will of the mat and really engage into the successive practices of yoga in connection especially to Yamas that we will be speaking today,

The three main ones as well,

The first ones.

So to begin with yoga,

The very word yoga before speaking about the eight limbs as they are presented in the context of what's called asaṅga yoga,

The very word yoga as defined by Patanjali is yoga sutras where we generally also find this idea of asaṅga,

Eight-limbed yoga,

He describes yoga in the very beginning sutras of his,

Yoga sutras saying yoga citra bhriti nirodha which has to do mainly,

The main meaning will be yoga means to stop,

To putting that in contemporary terms,

To stop the waves of the mind,

To calm the ocean of the mind if you will,

To attain certain balance and equilibrium and many other things as we will see.

So a general idea of what's yoga and of course he then eventually presents this description of this system called asta-anga,

Asta means eight and anga means like limb,

So it's an eight limb process of yoga which is divided into these stages,

Yama,

Yama,

Asana,

Pranayama,

Pratyahara,

Dharana,

Dhyana and samadhi.

So I will briefly describe them and then of course we will speak more in detail about the three first yamas.

So the first limb is yama,

Yama will maybe translate it as abstentions.

So they are subdivided into five,

Yama and yama will have each one of them five subdivisions,

So yamas are divided in five which are ahimsa,

Satya,

Sthaya,

Brahmacharya and aparigraha which means,

Ahimsa means non-violence,

Truthfulness is satya,

The second one satya,

Truthfulness,

Third one is asteya which has to do with refraining from stealing,

So these three we will speak in detail in some minutes and the other two are brahmacharya which has to do with celibacy and aparigraha which has to do with refraining from basically,

Hmm,

Coveting,

Like not over accumulating stuff if you will and all of these five yamas we could say that deal with how the aspiring yogi relates to others.

All these activities have to do how we play out our interaction with other people basically.

Sometimes we can call them the don'ts,

We have the dos and the don'ts,

So yamas are the abstentions,

Non-violence,

Refraining from stealing,

Refraining from this and that and so on and interestingly you can find quickly very lots of parallel with of course the content found in other traditions for example just to begin immediately into my mind comes the ten commandments in the bible which says do not lie,

Do not kill,

Those shall not steal and so on,

So my point is these are like universal considerations,

Very intuitive,

It's not just a weird yogic Indian idea that has no application anywhere else,

It's really a universal application.

So and of course if one's goals are to remove consciousness from identification with the body and the mind which yoga has a lot to do with that,

We as conscious beings trying to identify more and more ourselves as conscious beings and not so much with the body-mind complex for sure there are certain activities that will affect that.

Once and that will promote for example negatively the most gross urges of the body like violence,

Stealing again,

Deceit,

Sexual exploitation or coveting,

All the things are generally at least performed like with a view to improve one's bodily situation,

One's material status and of course in the context of yoga ideally those should be resisted by one who is striving for higher goals,

Transcendent goals,

That's what yoga has to do eventually.

So that's some idea on the Yamas,

We will go back there for the tree,

The first tree in some minutes.

Then we have the second language are the Niyamas,

We have to do with ethical observances,

The do's,

What to do and there are five also,

Satchas,

Santosh,

Swadhaya,

Tapas,

Sorry,

Swadhaya and isvar pranidam.

So satcha means cleanliness,

Santosh means contentment,

Tapas means austerity,

Swadhaya means study,

Study of scripture more specifically and the last one is isvar pranidam which means devotion to God,

Interestingly.

So these Niyamas,

The second Anga of the Ashtanga system deal with how the yogi cultivates his or her own lifestyle.

It's not that much in relationship with others but in relation to oneself.

The first one we may connect more with more destructive potentials of the body that are somehow controlled by following the Yamas,

The first limb and then when that's in place we go to the second limb when consciousness can be turned more inward toward personal refinement if you will,

More introspection.

So we will see how all of these eight Angas are progressively more and more refined than the previous one.

So each limb furthers and deepens this internal progression.

So some words about Niyamas.

Then the third aspect of the Ashtanga system is asana which has to do with posture and focuses mainly on stretches and postures with certain,

With a view of preparing the body of the yogi to sit for prolonged periods in meditation.

The asanas in themselves are not the goal if you will of yoga but the means for enhancing one's meditative condition.

So in this aspect of yoga,

This aspect of yoga asana is the one that is most visibly known in the West that has been mostly exported if you will to our part of the world but sometimes it's taken out of the context of this whole system of what comes before and what comes after.

So it's important to have everything in proper context basically,

Not only asanas in and of themselves but they as a means to something else and also with some prerequisite in order to ideally engage in them.

So that's the third one,

Asana.

The fourth one is pranayama.

So pranayama has to do with breath control,

Breathing control.

So when we engage successfully in asana,

We are sitting properly after again leading a proper lifestyle with the first two yama and yama,

Then we can sit and when we sit properly if you will,

When we engage in proper posture,

Then we can focus our attention on stealing the mind,

Controlling the mind and pranayama has to do with it because breath control will enhance this process of fixing the mind of breath control and your mind will become more and more controlled in connection to controlling one's breathing.

So by regulating,

By slowing the movement of breath,

The mind too also becomes regulated and calm.

So that's the fourth one.

The fifth one is pratyahara.

Pratyahara has to do with withdrawal of the senses,

Like retiring the senses from their respective sense objects.

Now you are,

When we already sit,

Trying to control our mind by breathing on some level,

Having led a particular lifestyle and now we start to retire,

To withdraw each respective sense removing,

Removes the attention,

Removes our focus from the engagement with sense objects.

You know,

There are five of them,

You have sight,

Sound,

Taste and so on.

So the disc gradually entering to that.

And finally,

We have six,

Seven and eight which are somehow grouped together and connected.

The sixth one is dharana,

Which has to do with concentration.

The seventh is dhyana,

Which means meditation and the eighth is samadhi,

Which means sometimes translated as trance or full meditative absorption.

So these three,

Dharana and dhyana,

Samadhi,

Concentration,

Meditation,

Full meditative absorption are the last three limbs of the ashtanga system.

And these three are essentially,

I will say different degrees of concentrative intensity.

And these three are becoming finer and finer and they converge,

Culminate in what's called samadhi and specifically Patanjali calls it like a realization by awareness of one's own nature.

Sometimes it's called asampaknyatthi samadhi,

Where there is nothing left but pure awareness,

Patanjali's vision basically.

So having shared a brief summary of these eight limbs,

We will now concentrate on the first three,

Jamas,

That are the main topic for today,

Which is ahimsa,

Satya and asteya.

These appear of course also in the Bhagavad Gita,

Another famous yogic text,

But more classically they are connected to the yoga sutras of Patanjali,

So they appear in the sutra number 30 in the second part of the book.

So ahimsa,

Let's begin with ahimsa,

Which is translated as nonviolence,

Ahimsa means violence,

So ahimsa means nonviolence.

In Sanskrit,

On many occasions,

The A at the beginning creates the opposite meaning of a word without that letter.

So it has to do with avoiding,

Of course,

Violence,

Avoiding krodha,

Krodha means anger,

Which is sometimes typically depicted as one of the vices that we may engage in,

Kamma,

Krodha,

Luva,

Mat,

Mohama,

Ksaria,

Lust,

Greed,

Anger,

Illusion,

Pride,

Envy.

So ahimsa is quite connected,

We could say to all of them,

But more directly with this,

Avoiding the krodha,

Avoiding the anger.

So nonviolence is a really,

Even the term ahimsa is quite popular nowadays in Western world and it's really famous,

Gandhi was someone who made it very famous with his non-comparation movement,

That was the principal motto of his movement,

Ahimsa.

We find in Buddhism a lot of emphasis also on nonviolence or compassion,

Which is another way of saying ahimsa.

Again we have these commandments,

Christian commandments say,

Thou shall not kill.

Again we are speaking about some form of ahimsa.

So here this is the very first yam,

Interestingly.

So it begins with this,

The fact that it begins with this is trying to,

And the commentators to the yoga sutras also and Patanjali himself,

They draw a special attention in the direction of ahimsa.

For example,

In Indian tradition,

There is something called upakram and upasamharam,

Which means according to what's said at the beginning of a text,

That at the end,

That will speak very strongly about the most important thing of the text.

So how the text begins,

How does it end?

So how this begins,

Ahimsa.

How the yamas begins,

Ahimsa.

That means that particular statement,

In this case ahimsa,

Carry more weight than the other ones.

So in this sense,

Ahimsa is considered the most important yama.

All the commentators,

Mostly all at least,

Of the yoga sutras agree with this.

And therefore it leads the rest of the list.

And interestingly,

Of course,

We could say also,

As ahimsa is the first yama and it leads the list,

Yamas are the first anga of the ashtanga system and they also lead the remaining one,

Suggesting that one's own yogic accomplishment,

If you will,

Will remain limited until the yamas are internalized and put into practice.

I mean,

As much as we embrace yama,

Eventually in yama,

We will be able to engage in the remaining,

The other.

Sometimes people nowadays say,

I want to meditate.

According to this system of potential,

Meditation will be the seventh stage.

So there are some things to do before or similar with asana.

I want to do asana.

First Patanjali will say,

First you have yama and yama.

There are some considerations that will for sure enhance our asana and our practice.

So ahimsa,

Let's speak a little bit about what's ahimsa,

Which are the implications of ahimsa.

Vyasa,

Who is one of the commentators on the sutras,

He mentions,

Describes ahimsa as not injuring,

And he mentions three levels or three dimensions to that,

Not injuring any living creature anywhere at any time.

There is a Kalapatra,

If you will,

Not injuring any living creature anywhere at any time.

He speaks about an entity,

A place and a moment.

Of course,

This sounds,

It may sound too much,

But at least he's putting like the ideal standard there,

Of course,

One has to perform one's dharma in life,

One has to engage in doing so many things,

And one may,

It may be impossible for one to avoid harming certain living entities like bacteria or insects when one is using the broom or bathing oneself or cleaning.

But at least the idea is as far as possible,

One has to avoid harming even an insect.

So for example,

Also we find in the Manus Mejita,

In the Dharma Shastra,

Which is codes of behavior composed by Manu,

Classical India,

He will say that to protect living entities,

One should even inspect the ground constantly as one is walking,

By night,

By day,

Because of the risk of walking on an ant or whatever.

So he's like,

To that level,

He's trying,

And we will explain why this is not some form of obsession,

But it's very common sense idea.

For example,

Even we find in other communities,

It's not strictly the Indian yoga,

But it's connected to that.

For example,

The Jains,

They have taken this principle of nonviolence further,

Even if you will,

Than any other tradition.

And they are required to follow very strictly to minimize any possible violence to other creatures.

For example,

They do not eat root vegetables,

Since some creatures in the soil may be harmed when uprooting these vegetables.

They do not engage in farming activities for the same reason.

They reject any type of military career.

They do not cook after sunset because some insects will be attracted to the flame at night and perish there,

Or they wear some like gauze,

Like we were now in COVID to cover their mouths as to not inhale any tiny creatures,

Or when sweeping the road,

They sweep the road before they walk as to not step up any creature and so on,

It's long list.

So again,

Some of these practices may seem extreme,

But they have to be considered within the parameters of Hindu philosophy,

Which is what?

That all living beings contain an Atma,

Contain a soul,

Someone is there.

So all Atmans are spiritually equal.

I mean,

In one sense,

There's no difference between an ant and a human being.

In terms of dress,

Vehicle,

But in terms of substance,

It's the same.

So from that perspective,

These practices help to recognize the common Atman,

Atmanness,

If you will,

The common existence of a soul among all beings.

So there is a logic to that,

That's the point.

And at least to begin with,

Because we may not be able to follow all these standards in detail,

But something that is really emphasizing the context of yoga and Ahim says,

One should be very clear about the fact,

For example,

That eating meat or nourishing one's body at the expense of the flesh of other living beings,

Let's say is really not considered for aspiring joggies.

That's really emphasized.

It's like for joggies,

Aspiring joggies,

Vegetarian diet is non-negotiable,

If you will,

Because it's really about understanding this is not healthy for the body,

Healthy for the mind,

It's not a natural diet and diet is really influential.

Whatever you eat,

That will really affect your state of mind,

One direction or the other.

And of course,

We have the karmic principle also,

Like if you are involved in violent acts of any kind,

That requires that the person involved will receive the reaction for that,

Action,

Reaction.

So inflicting violence,

Unnecessary violence is the quality of tamas,

According to yoga,

Which means like darkness,

If you will.

So eating meat,

In one sense,

Increases the tamasic potential in one's mind and enhances further ignorance.

So that's not becoming favorable for yoga.

But of course,

Ahimsa,

Just a few words before going to satya,

Ahimsa is not only limited to physical violence,

But also ahimsa should be ideally followed,

Not only in acts,

In deeds,

But in thoughts,

In words,

All of these should be properly aligned.

For example,

Giving up a spirit of hatred,

Malice,

Mentally even,

All this has to do with ahimsa,

Not only externally avoiding that,

But internally,

Because those will produce tendencies to endure others,

Through thoughts,

Through words.

This includes again,

Avoiding violence in the form of harsh verbal expressions,

Causing anxiety or fear in others with what you say,

Gossip,

To put it in more contemporary terms.

And of course,

We are in the times,

Digital times,

Social media is all over there,

And that has a lot to do with gossip and to speak untruth,

That will be connected to satya of course as well.

But lots of violence can be expressed through that,

So that is to be very careful if we want to embrace yoga properly with all the things.

So all these again,

We'll see as ahimsa is the main expression of the yamas,

All of the other ones,

Satya,

Sthaya will be connected with ahimsa.

One of the things connected to ahimsa is that,

Of course,

What is mentioned by the great yoga teachers is that the degree of violence will also be determined by intent,

Your intention,

Because sometimes you may engage in some act of violence without bad intention,

Without hatred,

Maybe defending ourselves from some attack or we are cutting the grass,

You can say strictly that's a form of violence,

But that's not at the same level of murdering your own parents,

If you will,

In cold blood or something.

But of course,

It is said that even yogis sometimes avoid attacking others in self-defense.

And they are in this way,

They attempt to inflict as little aggression as possible to their environment.

There's one nice story of one scorpion and one yogi,

They were riding on a boat and the scorpion was drowning in a little section of the boat which was filled with water,

So the scorpion was drowning in that water and the yogi was trying to save the scorpion.

And every time the yogi tried to save the scorpion,

Tried to bite the yogi.

So the yogi insisted and the other person,

Other people who was there say,

What are you doing?

Don't you see the scorpion,

Every time you try to save him,

He's trying to kill you,

Basically,

To bite you.

And the yogi say,

What can I do?

The nature of the scorpion is to bite,

The nature of the yogi is to be compassionate.

I cannot go against my nature.

So that's the point,

Ideally when you really reach an accomplished level of jogginess,

Ahimsa will be like a natural expression in our behavior.

So sorry for the extension,

Some words in ahimsa because it's the main one considered in this Jams.

So then we have satya.

Satya has to do with truthfulness,

Being truthful.

And of course,

Vyasa who also comments on this,

He defines truth or truthfulness as one's words and thoughts being in exact correspondence.

What I'm thinking,

What I'm saying are in exact correspondence to fact,

To whatever is known in practice.

So that's important once this idea came to me that this has to do with whatever I'm thinking,

I speak about that.

However,

I speak about,

I do in practice.

So words,

Thoughts,

Words,

And acts all in the same line.

That has a lot to do with satya,

Being truthful,

Not only not lying,

Because that may,

You may,

We may use that idea in a very basic level.

And of course we have to begin somewhere,

But satya has to do to be as truthful as we can.

And again,

We are in the era of post-truth.

Sometimes they call it in social media,

Sometimes even this has,

This may apply in social media.

Sometimes we want to show ourself,

A side of ourself that is not true.

We want to take a picture and show that I have the perfect life,

Ideal life.

I'm very,

Everything is in place.

And maybe that's not true.

Maybe you need to work on so many things.

So the idea of showing something you are not,

That's a way that goes against this satya.

And this happens a lot in this world because we are so fearful that we won't be loved,

We won't be accepted unless we show ourselves to be perfect,

Because that's the message in the material realm.

Unless you are perfect,

Nobody will care about you.

But the important thing is to understand I can be imperfect and I can be accepted in love,

Unconditional love.

So yoga ultimately will take us there.

That has to be with satya as well.

So in connection with satya,

Of course,

Satya is a lot connected again with thoughts,

With acts and with speech.

For example,

If you are sharing knowledge to others,

That knowledge should not be deceitful.

That should not be misleading.

That should not be devoid of value.

It should be for the benefit of everyone.

All this had to do with satya,

Not for the harm of anyone.

Shankara also commenting on the sutras he quotes Manu again in this context,

Famous line that says,

Setam bhuryad,

Parambhuryad,

Preambhuryad,

Sorry,

Which basically means let him not speak what is true,

But unkind.

I mean,

You may be speaking about something that is true,

But if that's unkind,

That's not so truthful at all.

But ideally he says,

Let him speak what is kind and not untrue.

Because you may be saying the truth,

But you may be saying that in a very harsh,

Violent way.

That will go against ahimsa.

And in this connection,

There is a famous story also that the commentators share,

Which come from an episode of the Mahabharata,

Which involves Jyotishthira.

As an example of deception,

The opposite of satya,

During the Mahabharata war,

This great war with the Bhagavad Gita was spoken.

We have Dronacharya,

Who is the enemy of Jyotishthira,

And he was attacking the army of the Pandavas.

So trying to break his fighting spirit,

It is said that Dronacharya was misinformed.

And he was told that your son Ashvatthama had been killed in the battle.

So Dronacharya,

He went to Jyotishthira to ask about that.

Jyotishthira was known as dharma himself,

Truthfulness himself.

He was renowned for never having told a lie,

You can imagine.

So he asked Dronacharya,

Was it true that Ashvatthama had been killed or not?

So Jyotishthira said yes.

But it is said that he was incapable of lying.

So he forced himself,

As he responded,

To think of an elephant also named Ashvatthama,

Who was also killed in that field that day.

Because again,

Actually Ashvatthama,

Dronach's son,

Was not killed.

But Jyotishthira said yes,

He was technically lying,

Although he said,

Yeah,

The elephant Ashvatthama,

Without Dronach hearing that.

So this resulted in a technically truthful reply,

Because the elephant Ashvatthama was killed.

But since the thought of Jyotishthira's mind was of the elephant,

The knowledge transferred to Dronach was in relation to Dronach's son.

So there was something that was not something.

So it is said that Jyotishthira's words were purposefully deceitful,

Misleading,

And their intention was to mislead.

Of course,

In a certain wider context,

We don't have time to explain that.

But all this led to Dronach's downfall,

But also to say that the deceit also caused Jyotishthira's chariot wheels,

Which had up to that point had been floating above the ground due to the power of his karma.

At that point,

The wheels of the chariot touched the ground.

He went a little lower because of that act.

So some story sharing disconnection.

And again,

We have to remember,

Bear in mind that all the Jamas are subservient to Ahimsa.

So because of that,

We speak Satya,

We speak the truth.

It should not cause harm to others.

It should not cause Ahimsa.

It should be Ahimsa.

So a classical example in this connection that I may speak the truth,

But in a harmful way,

It's,

I don't know,

If I'm walking and a series of thieves come and ask me,

Have you seen such merchant that was escaping from us?

And if I will be truthful and I saw him,

I said,

Yes,

He went on that way.

You follow?

So I'm speaking the truth,

But I'm helping the thieves to catch the merchant and steal and kill him maybe.

So that will result in some form of harm,

Ahimsa.

That's not qualified as real truth,

Satya,

Because Ahimsa has been overridden,

If you will.

This underscores how important is Ahimsa.

Truth must never result in violence,

Basically.

In other words,

The important point here is if there is ever a conflict between the Jamas,

If observing one Yama results in not observing other Yama,

Then Ahimsa must always be respected first.

So that's an important point that we'll put in context everything else.

And one more thing in connection to Satyam that is commented by Hariharananda,

Another commentary from the Sutras,

He will say that avoiding untruth,

Which has to do with Satyam,

Extends to the point even of abstaining from reading fiction.

Because again,

We may be connected to something that is not actually true.

And the point is the yogi is always trying to contemplate spiritual truths,

Is not occupying his or her mind with fictional,

Worldly,

Trivial issues,

Fantasy,

Daydreaming,

Imagination.

That's also sometimes called mayashakti or illusion.

So Satya has to do with Sat.

Sat means real,

With Satva.

Satva has to do with the beingness of everything,

The state where everything is as it is,

With authenticity,

With being transparent,

Honest.

Satya has to do with all this.

So next and third yama from today,

This I will describe it briefly.

This is a steya.

So steya has to do with reframing from stealing or we could say avoiding another vice called lobha.

Lobha means grief.

So trying not to be devoured,

If you will,

But that influence.

So as you may imagine,

The steya has to do with not taking things that belong to others,

Basically,

Or even not harboring the desire to do so.

Because you may not be doing that externally,

But in your mind,

You may be contemplating that opportunity.

So all this has to do with steya.

And this later aspect of not even contemplating in your mind that it's important because again,

If you are contemplating that in your mind,

For sure at one point,

It will become an act in itself.

Every action is initiated in the mind.

So whatever you are thinking about,

Most probably that will take you to act in a particular way.

So the more one desires something,

The more inclined you will become to acquire it at some point.

So all this has to do in mind,

Words,

This again.

It is said by the commentator that even if you find a treasure trove or jewels by chance in the street,

Ideally,

You should not be taking them because they belong to someone else.

Some money in the street,

If you will.

We can take that and steal that.

You can just be indifferent to that.

Or of course,

The highest option is you can take that.

And if you know who is the owner,

You may give it back to that person.

So some ideas,

Some words regarding these three principles of ahimsa.

Satya and Astia.

Thank you very much.

It was very clear and well explained.

I was wondering if you could share some examples in your own life where situations have come up where you had to consider the principle and consciously act in that way.

Yes.

Yes,

Of course.

There has to be examples because as we mentioned,

These things are to be expressed in practice.

As we mentioned in the beginning,

Yoga has to do with linking also.

It's a linking process.

And these Yamas,

As we also mentioned,

Have a lot to do with our relationship with others.

So personally,

As a practitioner,

As a monk,

I live in community.

So that has a lot to do with relationships.

Every single day,

Relationships with other people that I live with in the ashram or that I may meet,

I'm sharing the message in my particular yoga path,

Which is bhakti,

Which is the yoga of devotion.

These three Yamas also,

They play themselves out in a very unique and extremely positive way.

So,

For example,

I don't know,

In the context of ahimsa or nonviolence,

Yes,

Of course,

In our tradition,

You might practice in our tradition,

I followed vegetarian diet or vegan diet,

Depending the case,

I take only ahimsa,

Dairy products in my particular case.

But also,

My point is that for us in our particular tradition,

To be nonviolent,

Ultimately means to give full,

To give myself fully,

To share full love.

Because you may say nonviolent,

It's still a negative description of something.

Do not be violent.

So what's the exact opposite of that?

Be loving,

Be compassionate.

So that's very important for us.

In our tradition of bhakti,

Divine love is the long term goal.

But before reaching such a goal,

Because as I mentioned,

We have to begin somewhere and we cannot go neurotic or get discouraged because this is too much,

It's not for me.

Yeah,

We can always begin somewhere,

Wherever we are.

And compassion is a very important thing,

To rebel of some universal compassion for all.

It's important.

And I've seen that on a daily basis a lot in my living together with peers,

Living with other monks or with other practitioners,

And how much when you get accustomed to live with somebody,

You may lose this sense of compassion.

You may lose this sense of empathy,

And you may start to see other people as in ordinary terms and treat them superficially and forget how extraordinary every person is,

How extraordinary the potential of every person is,

And continue respecting that and venerating that on a daily basis.

So maybe I'm not referring to a specific situation,

But to something that is specific on a daily basis,

Which is to relate with other people.

Whether I live in an ashram as a monk or you live in your house with your husband,

Wife,

Children,

Whatever the case,

It's important,

And I consider a very practical thing of this a hymns is to try to appreciate the sacredness of everything,

Every person,

Every situation,

And not just become accustomed to see everything in ordinary terms.

That will be a form of violence.

So I feel that every time that I invoke this hymns of principle in my relationships,

It's kind of updates and upgrades my vision of other people,

And I really get to see them in a new light,

Not only limiting them to my own projection of them,

My prejudice,

But to really see there's much more to that,

Of course,

And that will expand my own sense of being.

And in connection with Satya,

For example,

Threatfulness,

I speak a lot about philosophy and I share this spiritual truth.

So as a speaker of truth,

If you will,

I have a lot to consider the capacity of each person in the audience and as well,

Of course,

My own capacity to speak about that.

As we spoke before,

I can speak the truth,

But I may discourage someone while speaking the truth because I may say something too high or too deep or too overwhelming in a very crude way and not adapt myself to every person.

So I feel that's a very important challenge for me to be compassionate because that's again,

That's connected again to hymns,

But also to be truthful,

Not only in the name of I've told the truth.

So if you like,

Great.

If you don't like,

It's your fault.

No,

It doesn't work like this.

Someone should try to present the truth in a tasteful way,

Attracting way.

And sometimes that may lead to certain what we call teaching techniques as the famous example of the mother telling the kid,

Asking where I come from and say,

There's some bird put you in the chimney and the boy will be happy with that.

It's enough for him at that time.

So sometimes we should have to know when to speak and we have to know when to stop speaking because sometimes the temptation is to speak more than when the other person can't digest.

So that requires lots of hymns again of empathy in the context of this satya.

So I think I really learned a lot on a daily basis and trying when presenting this message with the audience.

I mean,

I'm supposedly the one teaching them,

But they teach me a lot as well.

When connected to a staya or not stealing,

Basically,

They take so many forms this,

Because it's not only about the sessions or money.

I mean,

That can refer to not stealing others.

For example,

Punctuality.

We spoke recently about that.

If you are not punctual,

You are stealing others time.

So you are failing regarding a stay in that connection.

So,

And I have always lots of talks and commitments,

So I like to be punctual.

So I remain in the staya,

Real field,

Basically.

But also so many other things.

When you want something from others,

When you compare yourself to others and you live in that platform of comparing,

He has this,

I don't have that,

She's like that,

I'm not like this.

So you start to desire what they have.

You start to desire what they are instead of taking responsibility for your own self and seeing your own potential.

So I will take that as a form of a staya.

You are stealing if you are trying to take others things instead of paying attention to what's in you.

And also some important thing,

And I try to practice that on a daily basis because it's so easy to be misled and be distracted about what others have and are and not pay attention to how you should become whatever you have to become.

And also in our philosophy regarding not taking something from others,

Of course,

Important point for us is nothing belong to us,

Which is a very strong point.

But ultimately the question is not what does belong to me,

What can I take,

But who I belong to.

Ultimately that's the real question.

To gradually understand all the things that I think are mine,

I'm here today and gone tomorrow.

So if I am developing a sense of I according to what I think is mine,

Eventually that will evaporate in time.

And that's why in the Indian tradition samsara or the repeated circle cycle of birth and death,

Sometimes it's described as ahammamati,

Which means to maintain a sense of I depending of what I think belongs to me.

So if I am something according to what belongs to me,

What if I realized nothing belongs to me?

What remains of I,

Of me?

So it's important yoga has to do with that,

Understanding I am something without the necessity of having,

Of taking,

Of making mine,

My house,

My country,

My wife,

My money,

My car.

We can understand none of those things are mine because I cannot keep them forever.

So what's that thing that is there forever?

That has a lot to do with staya,

Not stealing,

Not claiming false sense of proprietorship,

If you will.

So again,

On a daily basis,

On my practice,

I have to invoke these ideals in my practice,

In my relationship with others.

It's not easy.

I never use the word easy.

So it's a healthy challenge.

And again,

I think it's important to engage in that in a sustainable way,

According to each one's capacity,

But understanding in a common sense way how important they are in our yoga practice.

Yeah.

And do you have any kind of tricks or tips on how to do it,

To keep it in mind also during the day life?

Because you know,

Some people when they have work and family and this and that,

And it's easy just to forget like the meaning of things.

Yeah.

Well for us,

There is a very important word,

Which we call sadhana,

And sadhana means practice.

And practice means not necessarily,

Of course,

Doing some things specifically in our,

For example,

Certain meditation or prayer or study or keeping with company,

But it has a lot to do with keeping in mind these important things.

There's not a shortcut.

There's no like magical trick that I will press this secret button and I will be able to do all the things without the trouble of going through some sacrifices,

Some challenges.

So I will say,

First of all,

It's important to understand there is no secret trick,

But there is some,

Of course,

Deep knowledge that will guide us in our actions.

So it's important to be nourished by that knowledge on a daily basis.

Try to make this part of our daily life,

Not once a week,

But trying to,

Or once a month,

We're trying to incorporate as much as we can these ideals by hearing about them,

By keeping proper company and failing for sure.

That's part of the learning.

Not expecting that I will be successful in this from today,

From one day to the other,

This will take time.

So that will require humility,

Patience.

So many other virtues appear in this scene becoming necessary tolerance,

But all those things are the ones that actually are making us grow,

Even though we may feel them as painful at one moment,

But it's not really painful.

I mean,

Ultimately,

Because it's bestowing such a high benefit.

So it's important to have good,

I will say good company,

Good guidance that gives us lots of hope,

Lots of support.

And if you are at home or working in the world society,

I mean,

All of them are,

All those situations are possibilities to express all the things,

Basically.

I mean,

You can express nonviolence when driving in the street and someone is playing the horn too loud or going too fast.

You have to learn how to deal with that.

Or when you go back home,

You have your wife,

Your children,

They're crying,

Playing,

Screaming,

Jumping.

And you may think,

Okay,

I have to tolerate this,

But you should also think they are tolerating me in so many ways as well.

So it's something reciprocal always.

It's not that only me,

I have to do all this.

No,

This is for everyone.

And for sure,

There are so many people who are doing this more than us.

But yeah,

Trying to be introspective and think,

Okay,

My particular life and daily dynamics,

How these virtues,

These practices take shape in my particular life,

How I can become better in being Ahimsa.

How can I become more truthful to some beginning point that we may find how this will be a good beginning?

How can I become a better person regarding Hasteia?

So that requires also some nice introspection in all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And for whoever want to listen more from Swami Padmanabha,

I will leave some links in the description with his channels.

He has his own podcast.

And I'm very,

Very grateful for everything you share with us.

And I hope I can invite you again in some other episodes to maybe talk more about the other Yama and maybe me,

Yama.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the invitation.

I hope this episode fulfills its purpose of inspiring you.

If you like it,

Feel free to share it,

Give a review or a rating,

Subscribe.

And if you have any questions,

Please get in touch at aikoyoga-eiki.

Com.

Namaste.

Reviews

Even when I’m already familiar with an idea or ideas, it can be so good to hear a truly wise person explain them again, in different words. It strengthens my intention and reinvigorates my effort. Much gratitude!