As Karl Marx once said, “all that is solid will melt”, he foresaw the alterations that the society might have to go through midst the technological upgrades and the deepest impact of Globalization on the societies. In a communist manifesto, he forecasted that the unremitting quest to search for the markets that could bring big changes shall surely alter the archaic social structures. The gung-ho money-makers are making the world beholden to their growing stature and their capacity to meet the demands. In the quest to change the world in their own way has led these traders and global leaders to undermine the ethics and morality that lays the foundation of the human race.
When you make money, you compromise the ethics. It is for these reasons that many ancient art and traditional scriptures talk about inculcating the ethics for a contented life. Living on moral stance never agrees upon compromising the morals while one walk their paths of life to earn and be big. The art of Yoga is one such precious gift of cultural nativity that teaches you to instill the basics boulder as a foundational step to ethical living. The scriptures call them Yamas and Niyamas and these concepts can be grasped at any point in life. These concepts can turn over a new leaf for you and help you be more giving and nurturing in life.
Yamas & Niyamas: What is it and what makes it?
A person can ruin his relationships at work and in his personal life owing to his ignorance, anger, and poor abilities to relate to people. There is a reason why empathetic and spiritually awakened people easily step into other people’s shoes and help with their miseries through an egoless approach. This lays the first stepping stone to reach to one’s higher self through Yoga & meditation. The concept of Yamas teaches the disciple of being more humble, self-disciplined, and nurture benevolence in your soul.
There are 5 Yamas and Niyamas that coaxes an individual to master five untamed emotions and behavioral patterns for a better life:
Yamas
1. Ahimsa or non-violence
Bringing in Yoga to resurrect the dead morals in your life or teaching your kids to be more humble can also pave way to a life devoid of chaos. Less chaos in life is equivalent to releasing uncalled stress and thereby achieving a healthy balance in your life. When your mind and heart is balanced, it becomes easier for you to focus on your goals.
2. Satya or Truthfulness
Half of life’s problems is because people today lack integrity and ability to hold onto better things owing to a deceitful approach. Learning Yamas taught by Yoga will help you adopt the right way of doing things without challenging your morals. Speaking the truth has the power to cut off negativity and unwanted problems in life.
3. Asteya or Non-Stealing
This is not about shop-lifting or stealing one’s possession. This is more about staying original in life, giving credit to others when needed and not let other steal your happiness. It also applies to you in a way that your soul has to be strong enough to accept facts and as a result refrain from doing things that steals other people’s joys.
4. Brahmacharya or Non-Excess or Celibacy
Brahmacharya means “behavior which translates to Brahman”, which means re-directing your energy to things that serves your best interest and maintains harmony in your surroundings. People tend to expend their energies on things that bogs them down and materialistic stuff that evokes a wrong sense of arousal or short-lived happiness. Yoga teaches you to identify your soul purpose and help you not fall prey to temporary temptations.
5. Aparigraha or Non-Possessiveness
If you love something, just let it loose. Buddha once said that if you pluck the flower it shall never go back to what it was so better is to water it and capture the beauty as is. The concept of Aparigraha teaches you to not hold greed or a desire to hold someone or something tightly. Every sentient being has the urge to enjoy their freedom and no creature on this planet has the right to infiltrate it.
Niyamas
Niyamas preached by the art of Yoga shall help you cultivate an environment that facilitates personal growth and happiness. These duties reflect your inner world as well.
1. Saucha or Purity
Just like a clean home that attracts abundance, a pure soul attracts people and things matching the same vibrations. This particular concept aims to help you purify your thoughts so that you radiate inner peace, happiness and contentment out in this world. This is an important part of your evolution and spiritual awakening process.
2. Santosha or Contentment
Dissatisfaction and yearning for things that would not matter in the long run is a true definition of greed and lack of contentment. This concept takes a trail from Saucha and asks you to stay happy with what you have and understand the thin line between desires and greed. One should aspire to achieve greatness in life that comes from the pure sense of service.
3. Tapas or Self-Discipline
Self-Discipline is important to achieve success in your career, studies, or fitness journey. This concept is also about training your senses to feel, touch, and ingest things that heightens euphoria in your soul. According to the law of spirituality, the Pineal Gland or the Third Eye must be awakened to welcome the right vibrations in your life.
4. Svadhyaya or Inner Exploration
What is inner exploration? It is diving deep into the thought patterns, your past trauma and its effect on your mind, and contemplating conjured up fears and assumptions. When you self-reflect, you understand the behavioral patterns you have been putting out in the world, the general responses to situations involving ego, anger, and greed.
5. Ishvara Pranidhana or Surrender
“Let Go & Let God”, have you heard this saying before? The fifth Niyama states that this body is merely a tangible existence but the actual truth is that humans are soul having a human body experience. Therefore, Yoga teaches you to not have high hopes, arrogance, or greed for anything. This concept is all about acting upon one’s service and surrendering to the Divine without any doubts.
Yamas & Niyamas: When Will You Experience the Significance?
The most chafed criticism that the art of Yoga receives is the lack of results pertinent to soul enlightenment in the 3D world. As you start your Yoga practice and participate more in the intellectual discussions that follow, a sense of enlightenment shall embrace your being. Yamas and Niyamas have an impact that goes way beyond your Yoga mat life. According to a research on mindfulness and body appreciation, it was stated that Yoga & meditation offers a great deal of love and light into one’s life and open doors to a positive self. At the end of a 16 week course, the respondents were much more happier, had less body image issues, and were feeling unstuck from negative circles of life. They revealed that ego, anger, and stress play a rather small role in their lives and this encourages them to continue with the practice.
It is time to go off the mat and learn Yoga in the deepest ways.
