The Yoga Sutras
Writer: Felix Quist Møller
16.02.23
“Yogena cittasya padena vacam. Malam sarirasyaca vaidyakena. Yopakarottam prvaram muninam. Patanjalim pranjaliranato’smi.” - Invocation to Patañjali
“To the noblest of sages, Patañjali, who gave us yoga for serenity of mind, grammar for purity of speech and medicine for the perfection of the body, I salute.” - Invocation to Patañjali
The Yoga Sutras. Yama, the God of Death
Dear reader. Welcome back to Healing Arts!
During the next few months I will take you on a deep dive into the yogic philosophy and how it relates to my own life as well. Hopefully you will gain some insights in what yoga is all about.
Last month we investigated the four different approaches or paths of yoga and ended up discovering that Hatha yoga is where the party is at; so moving forward from here we will dig into the system behind that – the so-called Eight Limbs of Yoga, Ashtanga.
To understand the eight limbs, I would like you to imagine a tree. Not just any tree, but the world tree Yggdrasil. This tree represents your world. Imagine as if you were sitting on the ground in Lotus position, legs crossed with your bottom connected as roots into the soil. Your body is like the stem of the tree and from your heads sprouts the crown. This is you as a spiritual being. A plant with intelligence, interconnected with the World around you, just like a tree.
All eight limbs are like centers, moving up through your body from head to toe. The first limb is the spot where your body is connected to Nature, under you, with roots into the solid, and this is a limb called Yama. Yama is the name of the deity of death. The body is the vessel of your soul and is made from nature. It came from nature, and when it has served its purpose, it becomes nature again. Since everything you are made from is nature, it will be the first to greet as survival instincts in the shape of hunger, and the last thing to say goodbye to you as fear of death.
Back at that near death experience I had when I was a kid, which i wrote about in the beginning of this blog, it was the part of me that was made from nature which was left there, dangling outside the window, getting ready to splatter on the sidewalk, while my atman or soul was sucked out and saw myself in a third person view. It was as if that experience created a clear gap in me between the immortal and the mortal, and I believe that that day my Ego was born. The fear of dying and all actions that derives from that initial fear is the ego. Be that fear of death or fear of abandonment or all other psychological and existential issues.
In the yoga sutras, the teachings of Yama are what comes closest to something religious, because it contains doctrines; universal moral laws about how to behave in this world, much like the ten commandments. Personally, I have broken almost all these laws in my life, and I can say with certainty that to every action I have done, there has always been a reaction from my surroundings, and that the most fruitful parts of my life have always been when I followed these laws as best as I could. However, I have always strived for spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection; I am definitely no saint. An interesting thing about these five commandments is that they seem to transcend through all religions, cultures, ages and time. You can almost apply the principles of Yama to everything, which makes them Universal.
The five principles of Yama is: Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (celibacy) and Aparigraha (non-hoarding).
Next week we will begin to take a closer look at these five principles of Yama. Yama being the first out of eight limbs in the Ashtanga system. Are you with me so far? If not, please feel free to DM us on social media or send us a mail.
Namaste
Felix
