Jai Shree KrsnaGuruji
Non-injury:
The first Yama which Lord Shree Krsna gave was non-injury. To follow this Yama we are not supposed to hurt any person. Neither by words nor deeds. We should have an attitude of non-injury. Knowing or unknowingly you are injuring a lot of people. This has to be avoided; you must restrain yourself.
Interestingly, here Shree KrsnaGuruji did not include the action of “thoughts” because, as He has said, until one can follow the Yamas and Niyamas a human being cannot yet control their thoughts. When you are beginning your journey the possibility of controlling your thoughts is far off.
So first, consciously make an effort not to say or do things which are going to hurt any person.
Truthfulness:
We have to be truthful. You must always speak the truth. Your speech must be truthful and agreeable to the other. So do not disturb others.
You have learned to be untruthful from childhood. Shree KrsnaGuruji explained that as a kid you may have seen your parents or elders pay bribes or tell lies to get a desired outcome. This is where the problem starts, and a child learns that it is natural to tell lies. From there, the choice to lie, cheat, or deceive becomes an accepted fact for you, indeed it becomes a defect in you.
Be truthful and hold on to your belief in the divine, then the whole universe will work towards you. Truthfulness has to stem from you. Truthfulness doesn’t mean putting your ego in front. Truthfulness means being considerate of others too.
It is always better to avoid the situations that require telling lies or disturbing others, it is always better not to get involved in it.
Non-stealing:
Why do you take others? Have you paid for it? No? Then it is not yours.
Whatever you might steal may have been written for another person, so by taking it away, you have done grievous harm to them and yourself. You may say, I’ve just taken a little thing, but that little thing is a big demerit, and you may not realize it.
Let us say, you were arranging the clothes for your Krsna murti for a celebration. Just imagine Krsna’s garments are tied up by a simple pin. If someone removes the pin or if loses the pin, or if somebody robs that pin, the whole garment comes off.
So even a tiny object when we take it without permission is called stealing. So never take anything without permission. Just because something is lying over there doesn’t mean you can take it. No, it is still called stealing. Even if you return it the injury has already occurred.
The system in place by Lord Shree Krsna is a very, very complex system. Do not disturb it by stealing and adding to your book of karma.
Non-attachment:
You should never be attached to anything in this world. Not a person, not a place, and not a thing. Attachment creates karma and keeps you from progressing in your spiritual growth.
In the Uddhava Gita, Chapter 2 verses 52 – 74, the Avadhuta (Lord Dattatreya) gives the beautiful lesson learned from one of His Gurus–the Pigeon.
Briefly, there is a loving and devoted couple, a male and a female pigeon. They were attached to each other and their offspring. The young offspring got caught by a fowler’s net. Then the mother tried to save them, and she too got caught. Then, the father tried to save that mother and the babies and he too got caught. The simplest explanation for this is when you have attachments to people, places or things, you are going to get trapped into their karma as well.
Even if you are doing things in good faith, if the thought itself comes “I have to do this thing,” and then you do it, if you feel that you have accomplished something, then that is a hundred percent karma for you.
Only natural actions do not constitute karma; if the thought process happens of thinking “I” or “mine” that means karma has happened too. Getting trapped in karmic loops with others will keep you from rising higher on your spiritual path, a path which may take you across many births.
Shame:
It is shameful to do things which are hurtful to others in our world. There is shame in being untruthful. Don’t fall into a shameful state. Be in sync with the dharma as taught by your Guru. Remember there is no shame in doing one’s own duty even if it is devoid of merit.
Non accumulation of wealth:
People have this habit of gathering for tomorrow, but the true spiritualist doesn’t gather anything for tomorrow.
He has to live life like a bird or an animal. It is only when hunger strikes them that they go and eat. However, human beings are always thinking about what’s going to happen in the future?
You say, “I have to save for tomorrow.” Why is it important to save? Do you think God will not feed you? God is feeding all these birds and animals. Everything is driven by the Divine. When God wants to feed you, food will come.
Why are you bothered about the shelter you are building? People have spent so much money to buy houses and properties and then later must sell the dirt cheap or simply walk away from them. So, what happened to all that hard earned money?
If you try to accumulate this kind of wealth, it is going to be detrimental to you. You have to understand that you came into this world without a penny and you will get out of this world without a penny.
If you accumulate any wealth of any kind, you will be bothered about those objects. If you are given a gold coin and I tell you, keep it with you. Where are you going to keep it? Will you keep it with you wherever you go? If you try to bury it somebody’s going to come and dig it up. If you have jewels or if you have gold, in some places, they will cut your throat to get it.
Accumulation of any kind, any wealth anywhere, whether it is houses, money or whatever is going to be detrimental, and you are going to be caught in many life cycles. Please don’t accumulate anything as you alone are accountable for all you gather for yourself.
You should read Uddhava Gita, Chapter 18 verse 17, where Lord Shree Krsna has warned: “Whether in the acquisition of wealth or after it has been acquired, in the increase, preservation, expenditure, enjoyment, or loss of it, men undergo exertion, fear, anxiety, and delusion.”
Faith in God:
You should know which God you are talking about. The God who is unmanifest, whom we call as the Brahma, and the God who is manifest whom we call as Lord Shree Krsna.
Lord Shree Krsna is a name given here, but in other places in the world where they practice different religions, He is called as God, God Almighty, Father in heaven, Allah and such. Absolute faith is in that Supreme God, by whichever name He is known.
People will know who is in the latest movie, what fashions celebrities are wearing or who won the big sports game, but do they have any idea about God? Zero idea!
Other yogis who have given the Yamas and the Niyamas may say, “oh, we have Shiva as our god, we have this or that one as our god.” These are called Demi gods. A demigod is a department head and is not the Almighty God.
When Lord Shree Krsna says faith in God, He is not talking about any of the demigods over here. The absolute knowledge and faith of the Supreme Divine, which is beyond all these demigods, is what Shree KrsnaGuruji is saying is needed.
All these demigods will all be merged and destroyed at the end of time. They have a finite lifetime. God Almighty is infinite.
Those who are followers should know very well that on this path of love and devotion, Lord Shree Krsna is the divine God, who is the ultimate. That is why the Lord Himself is saying to have Faith is “Me”, God alone.
Chastity:
Another Yama on the spiritual path is chastity. The word chastity comes from the word chaste. Just the thought that, yes, I want to possess this person, the desire, just the desire makes a person fall down. It is a lusty desire. Just the lusty thoughts that a person may have for any other person could be a man, could be a woman, could be any other–is unchaste.
Some people think that having physical sexual contact is the meaning of unchaste but the movement that desire comes into the mind, you are no longer chaste. Have no such thoughts and abstain from lusty ways of life also.
Why has Lord Shree Krsna said this? Well, if you want to have desires of any kind, they should be only one desire of wanting to be with God. In the life of the seeker, aspirant, disciple or devotee on the path of Love and Devotion there is only single pointed devotion is to that One Supreme Divine Person, the Supreme Divine God in your life.
When you learn to direct your thoughts towards God, while doing all the work that is needed around you, then you are following the Yama of chastity.
Silence:
What is the meaning of the word “silence”? Silence doesn’t mean just shutting your mouth. Silence means silencing the mind.
The mind takes in all its inputs from the senses and the sense organs of action, then the cogitation that happens is a cacophony of high-level noise within you. This happens because the mind is opinionated and judgmental.
There’s so much noise that you cannot even imagine. You might have shut your mouth and said that you are in Mauna, in silence, but it is not true. Your mind is continuously speaking. The term silence, where Lord Shree Krsna is concerned, is to shut your mind. Stop it from reacting to everything. If your mind is lost in God, then there is no choice for it to react to anything.
Shree KrsnaGuruji has told this story of two Buddhist monks walking; one is the Guru, and the other is his shishya (student). When approaching the river they meet a beautiful woman. The woman says, “I can’t swim across the river.” So, the Guru puts her upon his shoulder and takes her across. He drops her on the other bank and quickly resumes his walk with his shishya in tow.
After an hour or so, the student says to his teacher, “It must have been wonderful to carry a beautiful woman like that.” Just then, the Guru turns back to him and says, “she got down at the riverbank, why are you still carrying her?”
Now, do you understand? If a thought of a person keeps on rankling inside of your mind, it is called karma. Silence is the most important word here. So, be silent in your mind also.
In this, Shree KrsnaGuruji said Lord Shree Krsna has given a rider here. The rider is this:
If you want to have thoughts about a person, if you want to think about some person, thing, animal or whatever, then have ascetic thoughts about it. If you have sattvic thoughts, then you will be born as a human being in a higher womb.
If you have Rajasic thoughts, such as “I wish that person doesn’t come back again” or “That person owes me,” or some kind of a rajasic thought that you have, then that thought is going to make you into a demon or you will be born as a very poor and miserable person.
And if you’re thinking, ” I want to kill that person, I want to destroy him, I want to make mincemeat of him.” know those thought to be Tamasic. And when you have tamasic thoughts, what you are going to get is the life of a rakshasa or you will be born in the worst womb on earth. Maybe you will be born as a worm in the excrement.
So, why would you want to be born like that? Ask yourself this question. If you really want to have a thought about a person or an animal or whatever, can you not have a sattvic thought about that person?
This is Lord Shree Krsna’s philosophy. So, understand please, silence means silence of mind. When there is silence of mind, there is automatically silence of the mouth also.
Patience:
Sai Baba used to say, “Shraddha and Saburi.” Saburi means patience. Human beings have no patience and want only instant results. They want it here and now, but they are not interested in putting any inputs to it.
The word patience is explained by the Lord slightly differently than in the material world. And you will be amazed at what he says.
Patience means you have got to control your tongue, your impulses, and your baser instincts. It is to calmly endure life’s trials without complaint, knowing that everything unfolds according to God’s will.
Forgiveness:
Every person who is irritating you, putting you in the wrong place or saying something bad about, or whatever the other person is doing good or bad, you are not supposed to react to it.
Please forgive those who are ignorant. People behave according to their nature.
They truly have no idea. Spiritually perfect people are different in that they know there is no need to react to the actions of others because a reaction will bind them to the offender. Remember, Jesus also said this on the cross, ”Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing.” So forgiveness is an important word conducive to your spiritual growth.
Fearlessness:
Fearlessness doesn’t mean becoming stupid. It doesn’t mean that you have to go and fight with a dragon.
Fearlessness, according to Lord Shree Krsna, doesn’t mean becoming foolish. Fearlessness means you should know exactly the right kind of thing to be done. When the Lord is on your side, should you not be fearless? When you know it to be true, you will become fearless. But if a person doesn’t even know who his God is, how can he become fearless?
You should have the right knowledge of the political, the economic, the social will, and the responsibility. You should know exactly how to say the right things at the right time. That is more important.
This completes the Yamas as expounded in the lessons of Shree KrsnaGuruji. Please continue onward to the Niyamas.
Be sure to check out The Ten Lessons of The Master
