Articles

For a lay person; we who live ordinary lives and are more concerned about worldly matters, Patanjali has drawn up the Eight Fold Path of Yoga - known as

‘Ash - tanga Yoga’
Eight - Limbs of Yoga

The Eight Fold Path has been drawn up very systematically and methodically.  The First two steps - Yamas and Niyamas - together form the moral/ethical aspect of Yoga; and are designed to clean the mind of all impurities so as to bring about clarity in thought and thereby in action. They regulate our social and personal behaviour, to ensure a disciplined and constructive organised life.

While Yamas talks about an Individual in relation to Society and the outside world; Niyamas are mainly concerned with our private practices.

. . . AND THAT BRINGS US TO THE MEANING OF ‘AHIMSA YOGA’

‘Ahimsa . . . is the very first commandment of Yama - the first limb of Ashtanga Yoga. That is how important Ahimsa is to Yoga and the reason why Ahimsa is known as the entry-point of Yoga.

A H I M S A
(NON) (V I O L E N C E)

AHIMSA is a sanskrit word the language of ancient India; and used in all ancient literature.  Patanjali writes the whole of Yoga Sutras in Sanskrit - one of the languages (besides Pali and Ardhamangadhi) that was known and used in the B.C.s and a little after, in the A.D.s.

Ahimsa is Non Violence/Non Injury in all its aspects - thought, word, deed or actions. 

Ahimsa is complete abstinence from injuring any living being. This means that either through your thinking, or through your words or through your actions, you will not injure or hurt anyone.

The tendency to assert ourselves, to satisfy our ego, our false identity, our greed for all things material, the anger we face at not getting what we want; and the severe attachment to our belongings are factors that lead to Ahimsa.

Somehow, today the world over people have a very warped concept of human life and its ultimate goal, all in the name of religion. Spending a great deal of money on training people in the handling of arms and ammunitions - the kind of training that hardens them and prepares them to kill and to destroy.  A classic example of this is the destroying of the Twin Towers in America causing mass destruction both to life and property.

Human Mentality is very strange. It tries to rationalise and justify the things they do, although knowing that they are totally wrong, unrighteous and goes against the moral fabric of society; besides being aware that their actions are very brutal and dehumanising.

I particularly remember the serial bomb blasts in the city of Bombay. I live very close to the Bombay Stock Exchange - the site where the first of the bombs went off in a series of bomb blasts that shook the city in the year 1993. People with detached arms and legs, decapitated people being carried on stretchers - a gory sight, a sight that still remains etched in my memory, even to this day.

Simultaneously, a bomb was also planted in one of the crowded double-decker buses, used for public transport.  The bomb went off, right in front of a private maternity home in Central Bombay. Yes, there was absolutely no trace nor any sign of the bus or its passengers; but the impact of the blast was so severe, that the new born babies in the private maternity hospital opposite were thrown off from their cribs, their tender bodies sliced by the rotating ceiling fan above them and shred to bits - Himsa, at its worst.

Even today, as I drive past the hospital, my heart still bleeds for those innocent new born babies who lost their lives before they could even begin one - and I observe a minute of silence in their memory until we’ve crossed past the hospital.

So what then is it that deliberates us to cause HIMSA.  Definitely, our Mind- the source of all our actions.  As is our mind, so are our thoughts; as is the thought, so are our actions.  Thoughts are the root, the seed, and the source of all our activity.  Actions are only the outer expression of our thoughts dominating our minds. Actions are our thoughts translated outwardly. As practitioners of Yoga, it becomes imperative to practise Ahimsa through changing our thought processes and channeling them towards positive growth. This is very integral to the study of Yoga for then alone will your outward appearance and speech also be of the same quality and of the same nature.

Beginning today . . . let’s make a conscious effort to be pure in thought . . . in deed . . . and in action. Spread the message of Ahimsa Yoga and let it begin with each of us. 

Joyce d’Souza is a regular contributor of Yogic Arcles to Six Senses Yoga Society.  She is a trained instructor of Yoga, and a Yoga Therapist having studied Yoga at the Gurukul and at University level.  Joyce lives in India.

© 2007 Six Senses Yoga Society