Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
(716)
This is a summary of the Yogadristi Samuchaya, in terms of substance and emotion, regarding the five yamas of ahimsa (non-violence) and the rest. Its explanation is wonderful. It is like this: A worldly human being, for the sake of worldly self-interest, commits violence against others, considers them as his own, and then engages in taking and stealing. After stealing, he develops a close connection and association with the stolen object. Due to this close association and familiarity, he develops a sense of attachment, possessiveness, and greed towards it, which makes him become attached to it and bound by it. But a soul seeking liberation, for the sake of its own liberation, does not commit violence against others, does not consider them as his own, and therefore does not engage in taking or stealing. Hence, he does not develop any connection or association with them, and due to the lack of such familiarity, he does not develop any attachment, possessiveness, or greed towards them. Therefore, he does not become attached to them and is not bound by them. Thus, this seeker of liberation, in his state of being, practices ahimsa, which is the essence of his being. And then, he does not allow his state of being to be harmed by falsehood, which is a form of self-deception, or by stealing, which is a form of taking away from others, or by sexual misconduct, which is a form of violation of others, or by possessiveness, which is a form of attachment to others. Thus, the seeker of liberation, for the sake of the highest good, practices the five yamas of ahimsa, satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (continence), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). The word yama or uparama is also very significant. Because, restraint in one's own being, keeping the soul under control, is yama; and refraining from harming others is uparama. Therefore, that which makes the soul restrained in its own being is yama, and that which makes it refrain from harming others is uparama. The meaning of both words is the same. Each of these five yamas has four types, due to the intensity of purity, which are: ichchayma (desire-based yama), pravrittiyma (action-based yama), sthiriyma (stable yama), and sidiyma (achieved yama). Therefore, there are twenty types of yamas (5 x 4 = 20). For example, ichchahimsa (desire-based non-violence), pravrittihimsa (action-based non-violence), sthirihimsa (stable non-violence), siddhihimsa (achieved non-violence), ichchasatya (desire-based truthfulness), pravrittisatya (action-based truthfulness), sthirisatya (stable truthfulness), siddhisatya (achieved truthfulness), and so on. Now, the nature of each of these types is explained.
Their special characteristics are described:
तद्वत्कथाप्रीतियुता तथाविपरिणामिनी ।
यमेष्विच्छावसेयेह प्रथमो यम एव तु ॥ २१५ ॥
kritti-tattvatha kiriyuta- tadvant arthat yamavantni katha pratyeni pritiyukta, taviparinamini- tatha aviparinamini, tadbhavana sthiravathaki, chamey-ukt lakshanavala yamama
cha-i, ava-samajva yogya che, ru-aheen, yamachakrama, ane a prathama tham ga ta-prathama yama j che, anantar-hamunu j kaheva lakshanavali ichchi j ichchayma che, etla mate.
(Translation of the Sanskrit verse):
One who is delighted by the stories of those who have attained the yamas, and whose mind is steady in the thought of the yamas, and who possesses the qualities mentioned above, is considered to have attained the first yama, which is ichchayma (desire-based yama).