In the YogaSutras, the great Indian sage Patanjali writes about the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga. In these limbs he creates guidelines for walking the yogic path, which are contained within these eight essential elements called limbs.
The first two limbs of Ashtanga yoga are known as the yamas and niyamas. The yamas and niyamas are behavioral observances, or disciplines, that we want to follow in order to lead a spiritual life.
Yamas: The External Ethics
Ashtanga Yoga identifies five yamas or restraints:
1. Nonviolence (Ahimsa)
2. Truthfulness (Satya)
3. Refraining from stealing (Asteya)
4. Celibacy (Brahmacharya)
5. Refraining taking things or possessions (Aparigraha)
Niyamas: The Internal Ethics
The Five Niyamas of Yoga are:
1. Shaucha (Purification and cleanliness)
2. Samtosha (Contentment)
3. Tapas (Asceticism and Self-discipline)
4. Svadhyaya (Self-study and Self-reflection)
5. Ishvara Pranidhana (Devotion and Self-surrender)
Yoga is something that has attracted me from a young age. I always feel that it is the best tool for course correction & being in harmony with the universe. As I was doing my research, I went on a journey of self-reflection & asked myself which of the 10 ethics (internal & external) appealed to me… if I was given a boon & asked to choose one the yamas/niyamas by the Adiyogi himself, which one would I wish for!
The answer was crystal clear... Samtosha! Contentment in our aachara & vichaara is the holy grail. The physical world has it - it’s called entropy. Nature will equalize itself; energy will flow from a higher gradient to lower gradient till samastithi is achieved. All living beings-plants & animals are like that. They live in harmony with nature & are content with things. They are one with the universe.
It's only us humans that always want more…nothing is good enough for us! Bigger, better, best…our quest for something ‘out-of-this-world’ is literally destroying our world!
Contentment:
So, what is contentment? The dictionary defines it as “a state of happiness and satisfaction”. The yogis tell us that when we are perfectly content with all that life gives us, then we attain true joy and happiness.
It is easy for the mind to become fooled into thinking that we can attain lasting happiness through the possession of objects and goods, but both our personal experience and the teachings of the sages prove that the happiness gained through materialism is only temporary. Practicing contentment frees us from the unnecessary suffering of always wanting things to be different, and instead fills us with gratitude and joy for all of life’s blessings.
How do we practice Contentment?
“Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty.” Socrates said this centuries ago! In this day & age of instant gratification & yeh dil maange more, this is the hardest task of all! All the gyaan & theory in the world fails to produce results in the real world. Just when we think we are content, someone comes along to burst our bubble. Then, we the Gen Z, start thinking that we only live once(YOLO) & the vicious circle just goes on & on. Whether it’s something as simple as our food choices to our lifestyle management.
Some Tips: How to Find This Unmistakable Freedom
1. Practice gratitude: It is impossible to develop contentment without gratitude—they are inseparable. And a grateful person is one who has learned to focus on the good things in their life, not the things they lack.
2. Take control of our attitude: Our happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession. Our happiness is based solely on our decision to be happy—this may be one of the most important life lessons we can ever learn.
3. Break the buying habit: We have gotten into the habit of satisfying our discontent by simply spending more money. We must break that habit. Material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of your heart (that’s why discontent always returns).
4. Stop comparing ourself to others: Comparing your life with someone else’s will always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who “appear” to be better off than you and seemingly living the perfect life. But I’ve realized- we always compare the worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions we make about others.
5. Help others: The practice will give us a finer appreciation for what we own, who we are, and what we have to offer.
6. Be content: We need to be ok with what we have, never with what we are. Never stop learning, growing, or discovering. Contentment is not the same as complacency. As soon as you stop growing, you start dying.
The concept of Mind truly enthralls me! The human mind is fascinating & mind boggling! It interests me immensely & I hope I get an opportunity to do research on it further in my career. A total population 8 billion people on the planet, collectively have not yet been able to fathom even 1% of this Divine creation!
I feel that Svadhaya(Self Reflection) is the only, one true way to unlocking the human potential! Only when we look internally, we will be able to unravel the outside world!
What is Self Relection? Svadhyaya (self-study and self-reflection) is defined as a mental process used to grow our understanding of who we are, what our values are, and why we think, feel, and act the way we do…
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Importance of Self Reflection: It gives us the ability to see our true divine nature through the contemplation of our life’s lessons and through the meditation on the truths revealed by seers and sages. Examining our actions becomes a mirror to see our conscious and unconscious motives, thoughts, and desires more clearly. Self-study requires both seeing who we are in the moment and seeing beyond our current state to realize our connection with the divine.
Getting caught up in the busyness of daily life can make it challenging to turn inward and reflect on our thoughts and feelings. Introspection can spark insight & insight is the only way we can alter the way we see ourselves and those around us.
So, how can I try Self-Reflection: We spend more time with ourselves than anyone else, but how well do we know ourselves? Being confronted with who we are is often uncomfortable. It means holding ourselves accountable, admitting to weaknesses, and trying to further our personal development. Sometimes, it seems easier to ignore anything potentially negative about ourselves.
At its heart, self-reflection is setting aside time to think deeply and evaluate our thoughts, attitudes, motivations, and desires. It’s examining our emotions and behaviors and then asking, “Why do I feel and act this way?” Mai aisi kyu hoon? Mai jaisi hoon, mein vaise kyu hoon?
Taking the time to reflect on life might sound like an overwhelming task. We might think of this act of introspection as something that naturally occurs as we grow older, but the truth is self-reflection can and should be practiced at any age. It can be as simple as looking back at our behavior in any scenario to asking why we behaved the way we did.
1. Think: Identify where we could improve our understanding of ourselves. Questions can be as simple as “What makes me happy”’ or more specific, like “What happened this week that made me feel good about myself?” Starting by identifying whatever we’d like to discover, then using it to guide our self-reflection process.
2. Practice gratitude: Sit back and review what we are thankful for. Itemizing things that make us feel grateful is an excellent way to boost our mood and improve our outlook. Staringt by listing three things that made us happy during the day, and then scaling backwards helps in my process of self reflection a lot...
3. Meditate: Meditation takes a lot of discipline, but it's a great way to connect with the brain's inner workings.
4. Setting goals: Getting specific and identifying our goals is key. Writing them down and using them as guidelines for our introspection activities is immensely useful.
5. Putting it down on paper: Regularly writing our innermost thoughts in a journal is a great way to make our ideas and impressions more concrete. Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) allows us to process feelings and reflect on past experiences from a safe emotional distance.
6. Getting out into nature-Vitamin N: Spending time in the outdoors has a grounding effect, putting us in the moment by removing distractions and clearing our head so we can think. We also understand our insignificance in the sheer scheme of the universe.
Conclusion: Self realisation is the 1st step to self actualisation! Only self actualised beings are capable of human evolution & lifting the whole planet to higher plane of existence.
