(Sanskrit यम) Literally, “self-control, restraint, forbearance.” Also: “Rider, charioteer, rein, bridle. Road, end, way, path, course, progress. Carriage. Cessation. God of death. Twin, twin-born, couple, one of a pair. Crow.”
1. Hinduism: (a) The first mortal and the god of death. Yama, which also means “twin,” has a twin sister named Yami (यमी) and is also called Yamini (“night”).
2. Buddhism: (Tibetan gshin rje) The ruler of the hell realms and god of death. He is depicted holding the Wheel of Samara in his mouth and claws.
3. Yoga: The first step of yoga as explained by Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. As the foundation for all yoga, Yama requires:
- <li>Ahimsa (non-violence)
- Satya (truth)
- Asteya (non-stealing)
- Brahmacharya (sexual continence: no orgasm, no lust)
- Aparigraha (non-avariciousness)
The very basis and beginning of any approach to spirituality is described by this word Yama, which is a Sanskrit word. This word Yama has a lot of significance. Those of you who study studied our course called Bhavachakra: the Wheel of Becoming know that Yama is also a name of the god of the dead. That name has a lot of meaning, it is very deep and powerful word. In the context of yoga, it means restraint, forbearance, control. Really, the best way to translate this to English is with the word ethics: to be ethical.
The first thing you have to learn in any religion is what behaviors to stop: do not smoke, do not drink, do not sleep around, do not do drugs, do not steal, do not kill — all these types of behaviors. You have to learn things that you should not be doing. Many people think, “Why are they telling me what to do?” There is a reason: cause and effect, action and consequences.
Behaviors produce corresponding consequences. When you act one way, you get one result. No exceptions. When you are kind, when you smile, others smile; they cannot help it. Action and consequence. When you frown, when you are angry, you affect others. When you have a bad mood, you come into a place storming around, you affect everyone; action and consequence. Facts.
Now you notice, just in these simple examples, we do not have any gnosis of that fact of action and consequence; none. That is true, because we still storm around angry, we gossip about others, we talk badly about others, we lie, we steal, we cheat, we do dishonest things — we may say we know we should not do it, but we continue to do things that we should not do. It shows that we do not have gnosis of those behaviors. If we did, we would not do them. We do not really understand how our behaviors produce consequences, not only for us, but for other people.