In this podcast Abbot George begins a practical and detailed analysis of the first of the components of Yama: Ahimsa (harmlessness) and Satya (truth), which it is essential for the aspiring yogi to understand.
Ahimsa is not willfully causing any harm or pain whatsoever to any being whatsoever, in any degree whatsoever. Ahimsa includes strict abstinence from any form of injury in act, speech, or thought. Violence, verbal or physical, causing mental injury or pain, and angry or malicious damage or misuse of physical objects are all violations of ahimsa, unthinkable for the yogi.
“Satya is said to be speech and thought in conformity with what has been seen or inferred or heard on authority. The speech spoken to convey one’s own experience to others should be not deceitful, nor inaccurate, nor uninformative. It is that uttered for helping all beings. But that uttered to the harm of beings, even if it is what is called truth, when the ultimate aim is merely to injure beings, would not be truth. It would be a wrong.” So says Vyasa.
But these are mere definitions. How is the yogi to apply them in his Yoga Life, in his quest for enlightenment? Listen to the podcast to find out.
This podcast is 24:56 minutes long.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:56 — 34.7MB)
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Click here to listen to The Yoga Life 2: a Practical Understanding of Harmlessness and Truthfulness if you do not see the player above.
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