Yama should be thought of as the ‘ethics of Yoga’ or ‘the ethics of restraining’,

Yoga is the path leading to the union between the Universe and ourselves, between spirit and soul, between the finite and the infinite, and lasting 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 negate life or impose that this should be denied, but on the contrary it leads to a new understanding of 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 that 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 this it is ‘spiritual ethics’ or, 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.