First limb of Raja Yoga - Yama

The first limb of Raja Yoga is Yama. Yama are five in number. They are:

• Ahimsa (non-violence)
• Satya (truth)
• Asteya (non-stealing)
• Brahmacharya (continence) and
• Aparigraha (non-avariciousness)

As you can see Yoga has included "values of life" as a part of Yogic practices. In modern world you may find people who claim claim that in order to attain Yoga only certain Pranayam or Asanas are to be done. Take it for sure that such people do not know what is Yoga. They just read some books and tell dry things to their followers. Many times practitioner complain that even after doing various Asanas and Pranayams they can not see any improvement in them. The key think such people lack is observance of Yama and Niyama. It is 100% truth that Yoga is attained ONLY by one who has perfected himself in Yamas and Niyamas. Following Yama in strict sense in very difficult for most of us. However, that doesn't reduce its importance. If you want good fruits then you must nourish the tree well. It's the same thing with Yoga.

In next posts I will tell you some stories about above qualities just to reinforce their importance.