ॐॐॐ
32nd Sutra is about the niyama.
शौ॒चस॒न्तोषतपःस्वा॒ध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि॑ निय॒माः ॥ २.३२॥
Śauca santoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ
Like five upāṅgas of the yama, these are the five upāṅgas of the niyama. Śauca is cleanliness of the body, bodily cleanliness. Santoṣa is generally understood as contentment. Tapaḥ is austerities. Svādhyāya - sva adhyāya or it can also be svābhyāsa svādhyāya. Studying oneself or one's own regular study. Īśvara-praṇidhāna. Niyama is worship of Īśvara with a surrendering attitude which we have seen in the first chapter āni is plural and niyama is the rule of behavior.
So śauca is the cleanliness, bodily cleanliness.Santoṣa is the contentment. Tapaḥ is austerities. Svādhyāya is a regular study or reading. Īśvara-praṇidhāna is the worship of the Īśvara. And niyama, these are the niyamāni, plural number.
Like yama, niyamas are also very important. Many of the masters say that yama-niyamas are the foundation because they are mentioned first, and without which further practice is not possible. Still some more people say without yama-niyama yoga is not there at all. Practice of yoga means practice of yama-niyama. Like this various dimensions are there. Various discussions are presented.
But niyama are the rules of behavior which are very essential and concerned with oneself. The five upāṅgas. Śauca is cleanliness. Of course there is antaḥ-śauca and bāhya-śauca. Internal cleaning and external cleaning. External cleaning is keeping our body clean. Internal cleanliness is of the mind.
Generally internal cleanliness is the mānasika, is a removal of mental impurities. Traditionally it is known and explained that the impurities of the mind are inner impurities. Antaḥ-aśuddha are the ṣaḍ-ripu, ariṣaḍvarga - kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and mātsarya. Eradicating them is the antaḥ-śauca. And of course bodily cleanliness is the bāhya-śauca. And this internal and external śauca is very important for a sādhaka, for a yoga practitioner. We can't say that I am practicing yoga and I don't bother about my external cleanliness, about my body cleanliness, mentally I am clean. Or perfectly clean, strict and spanned externally but whole mind is full of kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya. Both will not work. Śauca traditionally means purifying cleanliness at the physical level.
After śauca which is santoṣa. Santoṣa is contentment, is a mental attitude. One can be always asantoṣa, not satisfied at all, even after possessing or having or even rolling in luxuries. Or somebody will be very happy and contented, satisfied in life, irrespective of his possessions and poverties. So contentment is a state of the mind, santoṣa. It is absence of a desire to secure more than the required necessities of the life for its preservation. To preserve our life, what are the least minimum requirements and needs are necessary — that is the santoṣa.
Tapaḥ is, the word comes from tapa, heat. An intense work, an intense thinking. There will be heat in the body. That is tapaḥ. Somebody studies intensely without any disturbance, deeply concentrated, unconcerned about the surroundings, circumstances and the time. That one hour is a tapaḥ. Focused completely. And as we know, if we heat the gold, impurities are gone and pure gold remains. Tapaḥ brings out the purity in us. Tapaḥ separates impurity and purity even at the philosophical level or even at the physical level. So tapaḥ is an endurance to the pairs of opposites. To test and allow the body to its limits. Stretch it to the limits. Test its endurance level, forbearance level. That is tapaḥ. Intense cold is there — whether body can remain or even mentally without shivering, or able to withstand the cold, able to withstand the heat. Little bit of heat in the summer — unable to bear it, run into an AC room. Tapaḥ means endurance to the pairs of opposites. Let the body withstand. Let it be trained to withstand the changes in the atmosphere. In the Bhagavad Gītā, qualitatively we find three types of tapaḥ based on the guṇas: sāttvika tapaḥ, rājasika tapaḥ and tāmasika tapaḥ. Details are given. Similarly, tapaḥ has various dimensions, various aspects. In the Taittirīya Upaniṣad - तपसा ब्रह्म विजिज्ञासस्व। तपो ब्रह्मेति। स तपोऽतप्यत , tapaḥ was raised to a very high dimension. By tapaḥ, one can achieve the state of brahman. Similarly, in the Bhagavad Gītā, śārīrika tapaḥ, mānasika tapaḥ, vācika tapaḥ was told. Details are available.
Svādhyāya is sva adhyāya. Studying oneself, estimating ourselves, self-measurements — the direction of thinking, quality of thinking, the way of our behaviours, the way of our attitudes, whether it was in tune with the dharma, whether it was in tune with the society, whether it is a lovable attitude, whether the behaviour is acceptable. All such adjustments and corrections which we do within ourselves, choosing our personality — svādhyāya it is. But in general, traditionally, svādhyāya also means reading and study of books, literature which promotes, inspires towards liberation, mokṣa-gāmi. And we have seen earlier in the first chapter, repetition of Om, praṇava-japa, is a svādhyāya.
So these are the yama and the niyamas. Concluding this niyama, Swami Vivekananda in his own wonderful way writes beautifully about this particular niyama in his commentary in the Rāja Yoga. Swami Vivekananda: "External purification is keeping the body pure. A dirty man will never become a yogi. There must be internal purification also. That is obtained by the first named virtues. Of course internal purity is of greater value than the external, but both are necessary, and external purity without internal is of no good at all." This is how Swami Vivekananda summarizes the niyama. Śauca, santoṣa, tapaḥ, svādhyāya. We shall see more about this in the later sutras when we try to understand connected to the result and the practice of each of the upāṅga. Let us see those particular sutras.ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः|| To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/YENOaKLTGpc?si=WHLFdr2RX-Uj4UWA
Read n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org
मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
No comments:
Post a Comment