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CONDUCT
C09 - Jain Yoga
and circumstances. They are the guidelines for how we interact with the outer world, the social disciplines to guide us in our relationships with others.
1. Ahimsa (Non-violence): Ahimsa or non-violence is the awareness and practice of non-violence in thought, speech and action. It advocates the practices of compassion, love, understanding, and patience. 2. Satya (Truthfulness): Truthfulness or Satya is to be in harmony with mind, speech, and action according to truth. A truthful person is someone who expresses in his or her speech exactly what he or she thinks and acts accordingly as well. 3. Asteya (Non-stealing): Non-stealing or Asteya signifies that one should not take another's property, thought, speech, and action without his or her approval. Asteya stands against greed and envy. It advocates the qualities of contentment and self-sufficiency in order to progress beyond base cravings. 4. Brahmacharya (Celibacy): Celibacy or Brahmacharya brings humans closer to the soul. This Yama denotes avoiding all sensual pleasures, whether mental, vocal, or physical. 5. Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness): Aparigraha indicates that one does not accumulate worldly objects, when driven by greed and attachment. This state is attained when one remains detached from sensory pleasures of all
kinds, and thereby effectively refrains from committing Himsä or violence of any sort. 2. Niyama (Observances - Individual Discipline): In the second stage, a person should develop virtues like cleanliness (external and internal), contentment, austerity, religious study, and self-surrender to the true Self. The Niyama are about self-control. Their practice harnesses the energy generated from the practice of the earlier Yama.
1. Shaucha (Purity): Shaucha implies both external and internal purity. Water purifies the body; truthfulness, the mind; true knowledge, the intellect; and the soul is purified by knowledge and austerity. It advocates the practices of intellectual purity, purity of speech, and of the body. 2. Santosh (Contentment): The second Niyama is that of contentment, which is described as not wanting more than what one has earned by his or her honest labor. This state of mind is about maintaining equanimity through all that life offers. It involves the practice of gratitude and joyfulness. This state of mind does not depend on any external causes. 3. Tapa (Austerity): Austerity, the third Niyama, is described in Yoga philosophy as power to stand thirst and hunger, cold and heat, discomforts of place and postures, silent meditation and ritual fasts. It also maintains that the perfect human is one who practices both mental and physical austerity. 4. Swadhyay (Study of the Self): Swadhyay consists of scriptural studies and introspection. 5. Ishvar Pranidhana (Meditation on the Divine): Ishvar Pranidhäna, the last of the Niyamas, is the dedication of all our actions, performed either by intellect, speech, or body, to God without any expectation of reward. The mortal mind can aspire to realize the Divine through dedication, purification, and concentration of the mind.
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Compendium of Jainism - 2015
