Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom

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may or may not be is not our business. All we have to do is revere the
pristine, original, and eternal unity. God exists. It is this existence that
illuminates our actions. That is surrender and devotion to the Supreme
Being (lsvara pranidhana).
The niyama help us to establish a correct procedure and destroy
the seeds of the afflictions (dosabija). Let us now look at the five
niyama and integrate them more closely with the five sheaths of being
and the rest of the eight petals of yoga. It is the practice of the yamas,
niyamas, and six other petals of yoga that make possible the penetra­
tion from the skin to the soul.
Cleanliness as we have seen is more than having a bath. It is earned
through the practice of asana that cleans both our inner and outer
bodies. Cleanliness (sauca) is earned through the practice of asana and
conquers the outer dominant inertia of the body and then infuses it
with the vibrancy of rajas, providing a springboard to the higher qual­
ities of life.
Contentment (santosa), in the yogic sense of lasting and stable har­
mony, is encountered through the practice of pranayama, which con­
quers in its turn the active (rajasic) nature of the mind, and makes
possible a practice that is both zealous and sustained. In santosa, the
torso is a vessel that becomes filled with cosmic energy entering in the
form of inhalation. Something, somewhere within us, makes room for
cosmic energy, the bearer of cosmic intelligence, to take its place and
install itself. This feels like something good or auspicious moving in.
But in fact this is where evolution and involution marry. For the benev­
olence of contentment is equally the soul moving out from the center
of being to occupy the torso. We are filling ourselves from outside, yes,
but at this point, what is inside, being no longer blocked, moves out to
fill us equally. This is the contentment of fullness, of the replete, but,
at the out-breath, the soul expands to fill the space left by the breath
and imbues us with a contentment that is not charged with pranic en­
ergy, but with soul's insight. Although the alternating state is dual, it


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