Yoga sutras II, 32 – Niyama – personal observances

[lavina]

II, 32 sauca santosha tapah svadhayaya isvarah-pranidani niyamah

The precepts also
consist of five principles:
purity,
contentment,
self-discipline and purification,
self-study,
and devotion
to the Lord of Yoga.

M. Stiles

Iyengar suggests that these five principles correspond with the “5 sheaths of man and the elements of nature: the anatomical (earth), physiological (water), psychological (fire), intellectural (air) and spiritual (ether) layers.” (p. 136)

Sauca is purity or cleanliness – “Both (external and internal purification) are necessary. Observance of niyama develops friendliness, compassion and indifference and is a further aid in cleansing the body, mind and intelligence.” (p.137)

Svadhyaya is self-study – it is “checking oneself to see if the principles of yoga are being followed. In order to follow these principles, one has first to decide whether one’s own pattern of behaviour is aligned with them or not. If not, one has to prepare one’s thoughts and actions in accordance with them and remove those faults which hinder one’s sadhana.” (p. 137) As discussed in sutra II, 1, it is the practice of developing self-awareness and of delving and understanding spiritual texts.

Santosha is contentment.

Tapas is self-discipline or purification. As discussed in sutra II,1, it is the self-discipline of body, senses and mind. It is also the acceptance that all suffering, struggles and hardships is how one becomes purified.

Isvara pranidhana is devotion and surrender to the Lord (Spirit, the Divine, a Higher Power, Love).

Swami Satchidananda likens the five principles of yama and niyama to the 10 commandments – “The five points of yama, together with the five points of niyama, remind us of the ten commandments of the Christian and Jewish faiths, as well of the ten virtues of Buddhism. In fact there is no religion without these moral or ethical codes. All spiritual life should be based on these things. They are the foundation stones without which we can never build anything lasting.” (p127)


Iyengar, B.K.S., Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. New Delhi, India: Harper Collins Publications India. 1993

Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Buckingham, VA: Integral Yoga Publications. 2004

Swami Shyam, Patanjali Yog Darshan, India: International Meditation Institute, 2001, 3rd. edition

Stiles, M., Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Boston, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser LLC. 2002

[Hubert]

Santosha comes from right actions, doing our duties the best we can, including duties of the spiritual journey. Santosha comes form knowing our place and purpose in the world, and acting accordingly. Santosha comes form unconditional acceptance of karma, knowing that it is in our best interest. Santosha is connected to all other yamas and niyamas. These all are intervowen, strenghtening each other having a synergic effect on our being. Breaking one, means breaking them all, observing them all leads to perfection.

Yama and niyama is educating our will, emotions and intellect. Through them higher bodies, manas, buddhi and atman are developed. These are more durable, go beyond the portal of death, and represent a steadier vehicle of the Self. Atman with a little a stays for a spiritualized physical body or will, buddhi is a spiritualized emotionality, manas is spiritualized mind. These bodies are not eternal but these are the ones who travel the higher planes (lokas, rupas) between death and birth, as sheets of the Self. This latter Self is Cosmic Self, universal, unchanging and eternal, the only way to the Absolute. This brief and perhaps not necessarily correct terminology can be explained through the various koshas, but I am not attemtping that now.

[Mirjana]

I had an opportunity recently to ask a wise man how would he describ a devotion and surrender to the Lord. He said: "Elevate pleasure into Bliss".
Beautiful, isn't it?

[Hubert]

And how do you do that ? By not giving in to pleasure. A fulfilled pleasure is a dead one. It just puts you back where you were. But if you keep close, very close, to become one with it, but not letting it rule you, not fulfilling it totally, than it gets stronger and stronger until it becomes a ladder to something more. Elevating a pleasure means deepening it. Deepening is done by pushing the fulfillment of pleasure into the immediate next moment, but never in the present. This cannot be done without learning self control.

Ascetism is a sidetrack, hedonism is a sidetrack, and the middle ground is not enjoying pleasure with moderation, but uniting the very two extremes into one. That's where the lightning strikes from. In order to accomplish this, one needs to know both ends of the spectrum, and have the strenght maintaining them.

[InnerAthlete]

Hubert,

I fancy this last paragraph of yours. Thank you. It mirrors some things I've been exploring and I like how it fits. Gratitudes.

[Hubert]

I am sure this is a phase, but one I could not pass yet. If it helped, I am very happy.

[Prascina]

Intellectually you know of the phase and its effects and also could write...so is it this intellectuality your hindrance on passing through?