Yama has five aspects
Yama has five aspects to it and the first aspect of Yama is Ahimsa, which means non-violence.
Now how shall we define non-violence? We spoke about non-killing last night and we covered a bit of ground there.
To be non-violent does not only mean the killing of living beings, of animate things, but non-violence also means a non-aggression upon ourselves and upon those around us.
Now, we, having the animal nature in us, do become aggressive; perhaps not in act, but in word and thought.
So here, one has to make a very conscious effort in curbing one’s aggressive thought and one’s aggressive word.
There’s a lovely Chinese proverb that says that when we become angry, when you want to say some angry words, turn your tongue around in your mouth nine times.
Beautiful psychology that, yes, because by the time you’ve turned and twisted your tongue in your mouth nine times, your anger will have disappeared and you will not utter those words. You will not be aggressive because you can kill with words, and we know how vitriolic some people can become by uttering words of an aggressive nature.
We can do so much harm to a person’s entire life. If we are aggressive with a stick, that wound will heal in a few weeks, or a month or two; but if we leave a scar on a person’s mind, that scar can remain for a lifetime. We find parents for example, in the ill-treatment or not proper treatment, or not proper upbringing of the children, leave an indelible scar for which the child, when grown-up, suffers, and suffers, and suffers.
That is one of those in distress that wants to find union.
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