The first limb of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga is yama, translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda as abstinence. Patanjali elaborates upon this limb in Sutra 2.30 and Sri Swami Satchidananda translates it as such: “Yama consists of non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-greed.” [1] These precepts are external in nature and direct the practitioner embarking upon the yogic path to begin with cleaning up his or her karma by observing ascetic guidelines that determine actions and relationships.
Interpretations of these guidelines can vary dramatically and can steer practitioners down a myriad of paths, each one led by the same purpose of living yoga. As with any observation of rules, it is less how the rules are simply observed than with what intention those observations are made. In a recent article by Evan Osnos on the Dalai Lama[2], I read that the Dalai Lama is not a vegetarian. Having not known of this before, I was slightly shocked and also comforted. You see, while I am attempting to practice living yoga in my day-to-day existence, I eat meat regularly. I have given up eating meat on occasion. Only one of those times being for more moral reasons, the others for concern over my cholesterol. However, I came to realize that my giving up eating meat was not a genuine act of non-violence. I was not observing the second yama of truthfulness. I enjoy eating meat and I crave meat when I have not eaten it at length. While the practice of not eating meat is one followed by many who observe the practice of non-violence, the Dalai Lama has said that having been a vegetarian, he realized that his health had suffered and thus he was harming himself in order to not do harm to animals. So, he lives more in the spirit of the observation of non-violence by eating a diet inclusive of meat so as to maintain his health. It is with this attitude and intention that each yama should be observed.
Not equating myself in any way with the Dalai Lama, I respect his decision about observing the precept of non-violence and am able to better understand more so why I was not comfortable with giving up certain practices. I did not feel honest in my attempt to give up certain habits and things. If you begin any practice with a dishonest intention, then you are acting from a place of selfishness, dishonesty and greed. The self-righteous ascetic who wastes away in a desert does little for his or herself. By taking the extreme measures of abstinence offered in Sutra 2.30, one may live a sincere and purposeful life. But, if one is not at a place where the intention is pure and the expectation is none, then the result will likely bear a resentful creature whose attempt at super-evolution devolves its being karmically.
Each of our souls is at a different stage of progression with regard to our karma and thus the means by which we experience this life is particular to our present incarnation. In this way, our individual practice of living each yama will be specific and distinct. The gross understandings of “non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-greed” can perhaps be universally accepted; however, the nuance and implications of how each interacts with another should always be kept in mind and no judgment should be meted out to those whose intentions are pure in living each yama to the best of his or her own ability.
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