conditions outside, and an absence of a proper spiritual guide. We have all these
problems, so how are we going to take up the practice of yoga?
Our exertion should be very intense. Though we cannot find a Guru, we may be
benefited by staying in the midst of people who are elder to us, who have lived at
least a few more years than we have—people with a little more experience and
understanding. Though a person may not be helpful, at least the person may not be
obstructive. Such persons may be regarded as friends, at least in the beginning, and
this may be accompanied by a non-obstructive atmosphere, even if it is not positively
conducive. Such wisdom should be exercised in the beginning. And one has to be, as I
mentioned earlier, very intensely aware of one’s susceptibilities. One should not
deliberately place oneself in conditions which would evoke these susceptibilities. If
we have a drinking habit we should not live near a brewery because it is very easy to
go to the brewery and have a drink. So we should go away from it, to a place where it
would be very difficult to have it. Similarly, all these susceptibilities should be
overcome in the beginning by physical apparatus of the dissociation from objects
which are likely to stimulate these susceptibilities.
Then, one has to engage oneself in deep study. Most of us lack study, lack learning,
lack understanding, because we lack proper information about things. If we have not
the fortune of having a good teacher who will give us all the necessary information
directly by personal instruction, at least we should have recourse to what we call
negative satsanga with sages—namely, the study of scriptures such as the
Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, etc., which will keep us
engaged throughout the day and enable the mind to absorb these thoughts into
itself—which itself is a process of strengthening the mind to a large extent. And one
has to take to a disciplinary sadhana, like japa of a mantra, which will also keep one
engaged so that the mind should not be given a chance to think idle thoughts,
because any single idle thought is enough to draw the attention of all the unwanted
forces of the world. Thus, with these fortifications, one has to take to strengthening
one’s personality by the practice of these yamas: ahimsa, satya, asteya,
brahmacarya and aparigraha.
As I mentioned, I am not going to explain every one of these, as I have already
touched upon them earlier and we know what they are: non-injury in thought, word,
and deed; truthfulness in its proper spirit, which is very difficult to understand; an
absolute refraining from accepting what is not earned by the sweat of one’s brow;
continence of the senses; and not appropriating things which do not really belong to
oneself, by the law of the spirit itself. All these are well known to everyone, but are
most difficult things to assimilate and practise for reasons which are obvious.
Śauca santoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāye Īśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ (II.32). The purification of
the body, the speech, and the mind, and an attitude of contentment and satisfaction
with what is bestowed upon oneself by the grace of God and by the circumstances of
life; an austere type of living, which accepts not anything of a luxurious character and
is satisfied only with the minimum of needs; and a life devoted to sacred study of
scriptures and love of God—all these are the basic foundations of the yamas and the
niyamas.
In scriptures like the Manu Smriti, it is said that the yamas are more important than
the niyamas. These canons called the niyamas—śauca santoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāye