This stage could be regarded as the ethics of yoga or the ethics of restraining.

Yoga is the path, which leads to the union between the Universe and ourselves, between spirit and soul, between the finite and the infinite. This path lasts for the whole of our lives.

As suggested by the very meaning of Yoga, when this is separated from life it does not lead anywhere. Not only does yoga not erase life or insist that this should be denied, but on the contrary it leads us to a new understanding with regards to our humanity and the world in which we live. As several of the Yoga’s asana emphasize the fact that God is omnipresent, it is important that we free ourselves of any kind of prejudice, which might prevent this from happening. Prejudice is constructed in childhood under the influence of an environment created by people who are fundamentally unhappy and ignorant. 

If you do not want to end up being like them, you should seriously decide to embark on the path of Yoga. Yoga’s ethics does not uphold the same values as social ethics, as it is spiritual ethics, in other words, that which allows us to develop as spiritual beings: it makes us conscious of ourselves not as social individual, but as cosmic beings living in God’s infinite ocean. SAT CIT ANANDA. 

Ahimsa  - Do not kill

We all know that those who break the law forbidding manslaughter are legally persecuted. Ahimsa, however, does not have anything to do with ‘manslaughter’. All Indian philosophers talk about the immortality of the soul. Therefore, no one can kill us nor can we kill others. It is only our body that is mortal. This, as all things on earth is finite: we had one body as children, which changed in adulthood and will be different as we grow old.

The esoteric law Ahimsa says that humans kill themselves at all times. Humans have a tendency towards violence, towards engaging in the continuous struggle among the body, the mind and the emotions. For instance, we wake up in the morning and our mind tells us: “You have to get up and go to work”. Our body, on the other end, does not want to execute this order, it is passive and, therefore, a conflict starts between them. In another occasion, maybe we are in love with somebody, but our mind tells us that this is not allowed, that it is not moral.  In yet another occasion, our emotions might want to feel elation and fulfillment, but our body is sick and weak.  Again conflict arises! This state of affairs makes us impotent, irritable and violent against the world. The real reason for this situation is however in ourselves: body, feeling and mind - as in Esopos’ myth of the swan, the crab and the fish - pull us in very opposite directions.

Yoga is, first of all, union of body, emotions and mind. This Oneness is only possible when, by becoming free on the one hand, by training our will power on the other, as an ability to control the body, the emotions and the mind, we can eventually become independent of them. Failing this, we shall forever remain enslaved by the conflicts arising among opposite internal ‘wants’.  We should also remember that to repress something does not free us from it. Quite the opposite, in this way, we push this further within the depths of our subconscious and this will emerge again, it will cause problems again.

Let’s examine this situation in depth. The human brain is made up from thousands of small cells-neurons. When we become aware of a new object the neurons, under the impulse of this stimulation, unite into small agglomerates, which serve precisely the purpose of preserving this information about people, work, home, friends etc. When we call into action one of these agglomerates, an acquaintance or an event, which has occurred in our life comes to our memory.  If we develop good concentration we could be able to recall all past events so realistically that we could even totally immerse ourselves in the past.

The neurons’ agglomerates subsequently form larger groups where both unpleasant and pleasant, edifying and depressing memories are stored. It should by now be clear that the brain is divided into several ‘compartments’ constantly fighting with each other, as for instance the ‘compartment’ responsible for morality and that responsible for sexuality or the ‘compartment’ responsible for freedom, autonomy and independence and the one constantly reminding us of a person who once made us scared or oppressed us. In this last example, we may start hating this person. The result is, however, that all we manage to do in this way, is to destroy the part of the brain where the information about this person is stored.  Hatred, anger and envy as well as other negative emotions are catastrophic. We may end up hating someone who is not in our surrounding environment, even someone who has been dead for a long time, and this because in a part of the brain the compartment responsible for this memory is still active.

The first point that one needs to realize is that all we know about the world is within us. It is ‘memory’. This kind of knowledge divides because it contains conflict: every compartment has a special kind of energy and each fights the other. You really should make the effort of realizing that everything is within you. On the surface it might appear that all people and events are real, but in facts, all these are nothing else but mere parts of your own brain in constant internal dialogue with each other. Yoga is, first of all, that which unites all these parts into one, without having any of them oppressing the others. There are three paths leading to this union: Bhakti, the love which units all our internal and external ‘pieces’ and dissolves all conflicts among them. Let’s look within ourselves to that ‘I’ who already loves the whole world, without forcing it, without pushing ourselves to love.

Each part of the brain has a telepathic connection with the object found in memory constantly. When you have negative thoughts about a person, you send negative emotions to them. If the other person has no negativity, then your feelings will find no similar feelings and will return to you. If you have managed to influence the person in a negative way and he or she was similar to you, this means that conflict will arise when you meet. In the case where this person has no hostile emotions, you will become a bait to attract more negative feelings.

When every spot in our brain is predisposed to a specific flow of emotional state, it is capable of attracting similar energy and information from the surroundings as well as from other people. Magic is based on this. People who are aware of it create a state inside them, which is in tune with the higher, in other words with religious emotions through prayer, through the mantras, through faith, by offering service to God, through higher feelings, or receive higher knowledge through creative acts, philosophical thinking, development of intuition etc. This more advanced side takes control of the whole brain. The existing knowledge and methods of yoga, as well its ways of influence, unite the brain in one piece, and thus someone can develop their uniqueness. This path crosses the transgression of the conflict between the internal and the external. In this way, a person learns to live in harmony both with their external and their internal world. OM SHAKTI SHAKTI SHAKTI.

Satia – Truth.

This is translated as truth. It does not mean only that we should tell the truth to the others, but above all, that it is necessary for us to be liberated from our fantasies. A lot of people deceive themselves. The whole of society does so. For instance, a person thinks that they act according to their will-power, but in reality they do not. They are driven by desire. Many people are unable to free themselves from simple habits, like smoking, criticizing etc. A person sometimes, led by the fear of death may beat one of their desires which harm their health. In this case, it is not will-power that appears but the fear of death. In order to test your will-power, you should try to overcome at least one of your habits. The human being in its totality is made out of habits.

What is more, humans falsely believe that they are complete. In reality, a person creates various personalities. Inside an individual there can exist simultaneously the good family-man and the hangman, compassion and cruelty, rationality and recklessness. As we have said, there are many different spots in the brain, and for each of them the person assigns a role: family-man, boss, lover, buddy etc. According to the occasion, one may adopt a lot of different personalities. In each case, one plays a role, they are different, special, not themselves. Even at this moment, while you are reading these words, you are assuming one of the most intelligent roles, that of the pupil. This role is needed to make you feel complete. You are wrong to believe that you are total. There exist whole groups of people inside you, which function as they like. Each of them takes control for five minutes and creates any situation they want in you. Only your name, which remains the same, and your body, which changes a little, make you think that you are complete. Each spot in the brain has its positive side. The one can be wise, while the other can be effective in every action. They are all essential in life. The only drawback is the fact that they are divided. These ‘pieces’ are like servants who occupy a different place in the house from the one they should: the stable-man is found in the kitchen and the cook in the stable.

The most important clue which will help you tidy this mess is the superintendent, in other words the most intelligent part of your brain, which is equipped with actions of self-stabilisation. These actions are in fact the practices of yoga. Most people present themselves as they wish, as if they were clear souls, intelligent or as if having a developed consciousness. In fact, all these are different thoughts and do not correspond to reality. We all identify ourselves with our bodies, but we only imagine that we are souls, even though we do not feel ourselves as being souls. We may not be conscious of our actions, or of the fact that they control us. However, we keep on saying that we are conscious beings. We live, acting foolishly all the time, yet we like imagining that we are smart, we derive pleasure from it. A lot of people pretend that they know even about things they are unaware of. They have a ready-made answer for every case, and judge anything in the world, even what they have no idea about. This is the reason for which Christ used to say: “You are sons of deceit and daughters of lie”. The mind is similar to a piece of embroidery created by lies, and this can only be realized when a person exercises constant self-control. There can be a time when one becomes honest to themselves, but until then even their development can be a lie, just as everything else. We have been born in lies and we have been taught how to lie for many years, but now we must re-examine what we have learnt. You can use any situation, any thought, in order to realize this. Dishonesty is a plague against truth; vanity and the internal dialogue should be stopped. This is the first goal.  

Asteya – Do not steal.

The spiritual meaning is different from simply not stealing an object from another person, since the meaning of the words ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘mine’ or ‘foreign’ depends on various factors. Asteya actually means not to steal from our own selves. Every person is constantly stealing from themselves. If you observe your life as well as the life of other people around you, you will see how elementary and prosaic it is. People make five types of movement: eat, sleep, work, fight and entertain themselves. However, a human comes into this world having endless possibilities, to develop his or her talents, to become ingenious, to accomplish any desire, to reach higher worlds, to become like Christ, Buddha or Zaratustra. But instead, one has a mind only for family, work, for small goals and desires which are suitable for animals. You look like the owner of a great castle, but you live in the basement. You can find the exit to all the beautiful rooms, you can live in all the rooms at the same time, but you cannot even imagine that. This castle means only some million dollars in your pocket. Millionaires often end their lives by committing suicide, and great fortunes seem to be more significant than any wild fantasy. Just as an ant is incapable of understanding the life that humans lead, you are unable to realize your infinite prospects and potential. The individual is a slave of the collective unconscious, blindly imitating the thoughts, actions and desires of the social circle in which he or she belongs. One spends their time without being conscious, or works like a horse, without an aim, because one needs to spend one’s life somehow, often looks outside for what is found inside, seeks knowledge, happiness, power, authority, searches for the love of God outside, but everything is inside us. Power which comes from the outside is temporary, fickle and may easily be lost. Knowledge from books, without the equivalent experience is futile and dead. Happiness coming from the outside is transformed to suffering and pain. If you have a desire, at first you should feel the state that you wish to reach. Imagine that the desire has been fulfilled, experience it, and understand that in reality it is the state of wholeness you want to achieve. You already know about it inside you. Just visualize and experience what you desire with greater intensity. Augment this feeling inside you and then you will be independent from the external.     

In the past, you needed an external motive or to be left alone or to receive advice from somebody in order to have this feeling. But now you are free. It is only a feeling, a movement of energy in the body, which depends only on you. Power is the will, the knowledge, the happiness, the love for the whole world. Yoga is the development of the inner activity, the development of the energy. An ordinary person is only externally active and internally passive, while one’s feelings and mind are altered as if they are flung from the outside. It is important that you learn to control them consciously, in order not to be dependent upon the external world. You steal from your own selves, when you live expecting for something to happen on its own or for someone else to do something for you, waiting for the prince or the magician to come to you. This will never happen, because everything dwells only inside you. What you need is celebration. But you are waiting for holidays or for a work permit so that you can celebrate. You also need food, drink, friends, presents, or in other cases you celebrate because you were offered a promotion or a prize. Nevertheless you can be in constant celebration, without a cause, just having the feeling of the movement of the cosmic energy inside you, as this energy always exists and waits for you to open up and fill yourselves with it. This is the true wealth.