Restraints and Observances (Yama & Niyama)
Yoga starts not on the mat but in character: five things to refrain from, five to cultivate.
Before posture, breath, or meditation, Patañjali's yoga begins with character. The five yamas are restraints — what to refrain from: harming, lying, stealing, sexual excess, and grasping possessiveness. The five niyamas are observances — what to cultivate: purity, contentment, disciplined effort, study of oneself and the texts, and devotion to the Lord. Together they are the ethical ground without which the higher practices cannot stand. Far from optional, they are the first two of the eight limbs.
How it traveled
- Yoga-sūtraKāśī (Varanasi) · 375explains
Key passages(12)
Therefore, O Bull of the Bharata race, controlling the senses at the outset, kill it,—the sinful, the destroyer of knowledge and realisation.
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
To him who is temperate in eating and recreation, in his effort for work, and in sleep and wakefulness, Yoga becomes the destroyer of misery.
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
The threefold descendants of Pragapati, gods, men, and Asuras (evil spirits), dwelt as; Brahmakarins (students) with their father Pragapati. Having finished their studentship the gods said: 'Tell us (
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