When you study these steps of the Yoga, try to practice them to the best of your ability. -- Swami Abhedananda

1. Ahimsa: Anyone who has conquered the feeling of injuring others, has conquered fear from either animal or other human beings in his presence.
2. Satya: We are stating the ideals of a Yogi. These ideals are very high. We should try to be truthful when ever we are not forced into the opposite feeling.
3. Astey: In the first place, we will remember that the feeling of possession arises from a strong attachment to our petty animal self. First of all, that attachment is to the physical body, and then to anything that is related to the physical body.
4. Brahmacharya: Continence is the next virtue. We must not waste our energy, which is dissipate in most cases by men and women who do not understand the laws of life.
5. Aparigraha: Non-receiving of any gifts is also a virtue. Here the gifts, of course, do not include those that are given by friends or relatives through love, but only such gifts as to obligate and bind us, because there is the motive of getting better things in return.

#hindudharma #swamiabhedananda #yogapsychology

To right-thinking people "dharma" and "satya" are interchangeable words and their goal is -- as it has always been -- to rise higher so as to realize Him who alone is the truth. For them there is no pursuit higher than that of practicing truth in thought, word and deed.

Kim Satyam? (What is truth?)

Bhutahitam! (Truth or truthfulness is what is spoken for the well-being of all living beings.)

Ko Dharmah? (What is Dharma?)

Abhimanto yah sistanam nija kulinam! (Dharma is that which is determined by the elders and by learned people.)

According to Sri Chandarsekharendra Saraswati, dharma is our only protection. It is dharma alone that gives man happiness. There need be no doubt or confusion about the dharma we ought to follow. We are all steeped in the dharma that our great men have pursued from generation to generation. They have inwardly realized eternal beatitude.

Great indeed were the misfortunes suffered by Sri Rama during his exile in the forest. To a son going on a long journey the mother gives food to take with him. Kausalya does the same when her son Rama leaves for the forest, but she does so after much thought. Kausalya gives Rama the eternal sustenance of dharma. "Raghav," she says to him, "it is dharma alone that will protect you, and this dharma is what you yourself protect with courage and steadfastness." It is the escort of dharma that the mother provides her son sent out from his kingdom.

#chandrasekharendrasaraswathi #hindudharma #spirituality