I have been thinking of a way to explain the place of yamas and niyamas in our spiritual development. Just in case you are not familiar with these terms, the yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances) are ten common-sense guidelines for leading your life with greater spiritual awareness. They are not so much rules as puzzles to ponder over with rational mind and accepting heart. The yamas are guidelines for how we interact with the outer world, the social disciplines to guide us in our relationships with others. The niyamas are how we interact with ourselves, our internal world. The niyamas are about self-regulation, helping us to maintain the positivity in which to grow. Their practice harnesses the energy generated from the cultivation of the yamas.
Meditation builds the foundation upon which the structure of our contact with the Absolute is built. Meditation digs below the ground, into that which is hidden from ordinary perception. Our meditation practice can establish a stable foothold for us in this never-changing reality beyond this ever-changing life. Once this stable hidden foundation is ready, we may begin to build upward, outward–a structure, a building, a real life. The cornerstone of this building is mindfulness–the expanding of our awareness from the silence within during meditation to our breath, body, thoughts, emotions and behavior. The remainder of our spiritual house is built of our observance of the yamas and niyamas, and the performance of dharma. These 2 things–doing dharma, and observing yamas and niyamas–uphold one another, empower and enable one another.
In these 2 endeavors–the doing of dharma and the observance of yamas and niyamas–it is best to live naturally. This makes life effortless and spontaneous, in harmony with natural law. To live naturally means living fully in the present moment, untouched by either the past or the future, completely open to your dharma, sincerely trying to always apply the yamas and niyamas in every aspect of your life. It means thinking less about things, analyzing less, worrying less. It means going about your life–work, commerce, entertainment, obligations–without any expectations. That life is the life of the yogi, and it is lived by applying our Yogic practices to all of life.
A key element of this life is balance. Living life is like being a tightrope walker. We carry much, juggling demands and duties, needs and wants, family and career, emotions and behavior. But perhaps the hardest balancing act that a householder can achieve is that of material and spiritual. All else is mere distraction. The difficulty in achieving this balance is in our immediate perception of the difficulty of spiritual practice versus the rewards and pleasures of material gain. Materialism offers fulfillments which entice us with comforts, recognition, status. We see others enjoying, and receive a constant barrage of messages to acquire. We are seduced, tempted and lured. We desire, and become attached. We become entrapped, and ultimately find nothing but suffering, for it is ego which is the master of desire, and ego is the false self. In order to balance, to successfully walk this tightrope, we must get some tools. Like the balancing aerialist uses a long pole to maintain steadiness, we need some tool to help us maintain steadiness and keep our balance.
We battle against ego all the time. Ego is a veil, a shadow, it has neither substance nor content. Yet we do not need to control, renounce, do battle with or triumph over ego. We need only to transcend it, just go beyond it, leave it behind like an old suit of clothes that no longer fits. Then, POOF!, it is gone–as if it never was… And, it never was. The techniques for these tasks–steadiness, balance, mindfulness, observation of yamas and niyamas and doing dharma are all the same–they begin in the grounding of meditation. From this source flows thought, feeling, sensation, perception and action–all in harmony, in balance, with regard to nature and evolution. From that silence flows all abilities–the ability to transcend ego, the ability to practice dharma, to exert the necessary discipline for tapas, ahimsa, all the yamas and niyamas. Meditation is our balancing pole, our tool for maintaining steadiness.
It’s not that all the thinking, interpreting, analyzing, considering, deciding, etc. doesn’t still go on for the Yogi–indeed it does, as much as ever, if perhaps more efficiently and effectively. My life DOES require my intervention and consideration in order for me to go through it. It’s just that the “me” that owns “my life” lives somewhere else. No, not exactly–I live there also, but the seat of MY Soul resides in the calm Center of Self, which I have come to recognize as “sat-chit-ananda”, undifferentiated Oneness, pure Being. Of course, I was always there, but before, I was either aware of the “Oneness of my Being” there, or of being separate and apart, “out here”. That’s the state of Duality most people live. Now THAT’S a slippery one to grasp, so let that one wiggle and squirm for a while…! ANYWAY–okay, the calm whole undifferentiated Oneness at my center, the seat of MY Soul, perhaps could be said to be on a sort of autopilot. Insofar as nothing happens there, it just IS, or I just AM there. My ordinary everyday “operational” consciousness (which, in fact, I now recognize as no different from the quiet center) DOES think and react and juke and jive, as it were, but it’s unified with the Oneness. I see that everything “in the relative” is just as it always was; ever-changing, random, unpredictable, inexplicable. BUT beneath this surface level is always the absolute level; never-changing, silent, infinite. And they are the same…
Life should be a joyous series of revelations. All our yoga and meditation techniques we learn and practice, all the Vedic wisdom we study–it is all a part of our path. We must realize that our moods–anger, sadness, depression–are a lack of self-knowledge. Our true inner nature, when it is allowed to shine without veils, without shadow, is all joy, all bliss, all love and there is nothing else within us at all other than love, light and joy. Anger, hate, depression all the other stuff is from not knowing what is within your own Self, not understanding your own true nature.
And that is the real goal, the only true challenge. To uncover and live this true inner nature. How? I've done a lot of meditation. I studied a lot of Zen. I died and came back–twice–and while that was probably my key, it’s admittedly a drastic one! I have found, however, a central focus to all of this seeking, this path. Silence. The true inner nature of our Self–peace, Light and Love–is contained in Silence. Within our noisy active self is a silence, and experiencing that silence begins to uncover the source of the Light, Love and Peace. Shhhhh…. be still. Turn off the radio. Turn off the TV. Sit in Silence and just Be. What is in that silence if you are just being is Your Being! That’s all meditation is about. And then, one can be with that silence not only when one is still, but when walking, when speaking, when doing. And that adds the stillness of one’s inner core to the action of outer life. Speaking from silence makes one’s words peaceful and loving. Acting from silence makes one’s actions joyous and life-supporting. And then all actions support wholeness, and all feelings are blissful, and all thoughts are positive. And all things are right, because that becomes your entry into doing this–seeking the true goal of life. Why are we here? To know this and live this.
