Ishvara Pranidhana : Keep God in Mind

Surrender to God means making god your top priority. Most people surrender their minds to their jobs or their relationships or their TV set. Patanjali says focus on inner truth. And

Antidoes to Bad Behaviour

Patanjali was quite aware that listing a code of ethical conduct and getting people to actually follow it are two different undertakings. So he offered some practical advice on how to turn your personality around if it wasn't already heading in the right direction

In Hinduism, it's not enough that you don't harm anyone else if in your heart you'd still really like to smack them. Thoughts are things, and negative thoughts may hurt the person you hate if they're strong enough. And they certainly hurt you! The increased pressure, churning stomach, and grinding can't be doing you any good.

Patanjali advises that when you're in the throes of a destructive emotional complex or feel trapped by a bad habit, you "cultivate the opposite". If you hate your brother-in law's guts, sit down for set a time every day and focus intently on sending him your good wishes. If his personality aggravates you so much you can't visualize his face without starting to froth at the mouth, then beam your best wishes to his inner-most soul, which is free from the personality characteristics that irritate you so much.

Patanjali suggests that rather than wrestling with a bad habit that undermines your spiritual progress, work on developing a good habit. One that counterbalances the unhealthy one. For example, if you're having trouble cutting back your unrestrained indulgence in oily carries and Indian sweets, then go out and get some exercise every day.

Ishvara Pranidhana : Keep God in Mind

Surrender to God means making God your top priority. Most people surrender their minds to their jobs or their relationships or their TV set. Patanjali says focus on inner truth. And don't worry so much. Do your level best, then surrender to God's will and let things flow. The universe is going to flow its own way anyway, no matter how much you resist! 

Self Study : Svadhyaya

Svadhyaya means study that leads to self realization. Patanjali is encouraging Hindus to study the sacred scriptures. They should study the wisdom the sages embedded in the great myths of Hinduism. And no doubt also study classic works like Patanjali's own yoga Sutras. These books generate enthusiasm for spiritual practice and help dispel doubts.

But svadhyaya has a second meaning. Ultimately self-study is more important than scriptural study. One can read holy books for lifetimes without getting enlightened Ramana Maharshi lay down on the floor and studied himself for just a couple of minutes and achieved enlightenment. It's in the direct living experience of divine being that moksha, the fourth and final goal of life, is achieved. It can only come from divine within one's own self to make the actual connection with divine being. Then the circuit is closed, and the electricity of inner illumination starts to flow. 

Discipline yourself : Tapas

Tapas actually means heat but is used in the Hindu tradition to signify the red-hot focus of concentrated attention. The Veda says God created the universe through tapas trough the force of concentrated will. Hindus practice focusing the will through self-discipline and austerity. A well-disciplined body and mind, like a lovingly cared for yet carefully trained horse, can carry us to the goal. 

Give up the Greed : Aparigraha

Patanjali took a dim view of greedy, possessive people. In Hinduism the emphasis has always been on acquiring things of lasting value. In a religion that believes in reincarnation , this means collecting things you can take with you. Everything you own is lost at death. What you can carry with you into the next life is generosity of spirit, devotion to God and Goddess, fearlessness, and all the good karma you've acquired through your loving and selfless acts. Greedy behaviour can't benefit you for more than one lifetime. Generosity benefits you forever. 

Constant Craving : Santosha

" Be content. But not satisfied!" the late Swami Rama Bharati used to tell me. He was reiterating the old truism that the wealthiest person is the one who's content with what he or she has. Constant craving for more things, more success, more sex, and more premium grade ice cream transports us out of the present into a continual uneasy relationship with a fantasy future in which we hope things will be better. But God-in the form of the deepest states of consciousness-can be experienced only in the present moment. When the mind stops being distracted by what it hasn't got, it can start attending to what it does have-living presence of divine being within itself.

Yet complacency is also a spiritual pitfall. So the swami warned against feeling smug or self-satisfied, feeling that you'd gotten as far spiritually as you need to go until you've actually reached the final goal. Enlightenment is an attainable goal to those who sincerely strive and connect with divine grace, according to Hinduism.

"You can do it! You will do it! Do it now!" Swami Rama would shout.

Keep It Clean : Saucha

Hindus strongly believe in internal purity and external cleanliness. It's not unusual to find orthodox brahmins bathing repeatedly throughout the day. ( This is more understandable if you keep in mind the heat and dust of India.) But a dirty body is the least of problems on the spiritual path. Meditation is the Hindu method for cleaning out the gunk in the mind, which is far more serious obstruction to spiritual progress. And through japa, constant repetition of the the mind remains full of pure vibrations throughout the day, rather than polluting itself with erotic fantasies and gossipy internal jabber.

Five Things to Definitely Do

Patanjali then spelled out five niyamas, the things everyone should be doing :
1. Saucha  : Cleanse yourself
2. Santosha : Be content
3. Tapas     : Discipline yourself
4. Svadhyaya : Study
5. Ishvara Pranidhana : Surrender to God.

Control Yourself ! Brahmacharya

All Hindus are supposed to practice brahmacharya, celibacy. Fortunately, celibacy has a broader meaning for married couples! Husbands and wives who are faithful to each other are considered the equivalent of celibate. But Brahmacharya means more than avoiding extramarital sex. It also avoiding any kind of sensual overindulgence. Not giving in to gluttonous impulses for a second or third bowl of ice cream is a form of brahmacharya, for example. 

Not taking What's Not Yours : Asteya

Taking something that doesn't belong to you is wrong according to Hinduism. (So is hoarding

something you don't really need that someone else does need!) Yet the command to practice asteya,nonstealing, was never enforced as strictly in Hinduism as it was in the West. In medieval Europe, a starving man could be hanged for stealing a loaf of bread.

Hindus were a lot more flexible about this kind of thing. In a country with an increasing number of hungry people, it has long been acknowledged that sometimes you have to do to keep body and soul together. Punishment for poor people stealing something they urgently needed like food or clothing was not severe, and sometimes wasn't enforced at all. Gratuitous theft, however, was viewed less tolerantly. 

Honest Indian : Satya

You'll notice that Patanjali's instruction not to lie comes after his advice not to harm anyone. Hindus are very conscious that speech can be hurtful, even when-perhaps especially when-it's true. In a society where so much depends on group dynamics, good Hindus take care to ensure that their speech is kind and helpful. Even when this means bending the truth a little. 

Ethics 101 : Ahimsa

Ahimsa literally nonviolence. It may ring a bell because it was the famous codeward of Mahatma Gandhi's movement resistance to the British occupation of India. Ahimsa means not hurting yourself.

There are some situation where causing harm cannot be avoided. In the well-known example from the Mahabhrata, Krishna advises Arjuna to take up arms against a prince whose evil actions must be stopped. Note that Krishna makes this suggestion only after multiple attempts at peaceful negotiation have failed.

Hindus are generally a peace-loving people. Yet only a minority go so far to say that even in cases of self-defense or protection of the innocent, violence must always be avoided. Hindus generally acknowledge that the ahimsa movement worked because Mahatma Gandhi was defying the British. If he had been up against the Nazis, the outcome might have been different.

Nevertheless, practicing Hindus takes ahimsa quite seriously. A Canadian friend of mine was mentioning how each time he would leave the home of a Hindu friend she would hand him a sweet and say to him", If I have offended you in any way during your stay in my home, please forgive me". This was a women of extraordinary kindness who he couldn't even imagine anything offensive! Yet it was important to her to ensure that if she had inadvertently anyone, she is clear at once. 

Five Things to Definitely Avoid

I recently returned from Prayag, the area Allahabad where the second century B.C.E sage Patanjali had his ashram. He was a spiritual genius of the first magnitude whose books on yoga science, medicine, and grammar are Hindu classics. His presence is still strongly felt there and legends about the great master abound.

One of Patanjali's many contributions to Hindu culture was a set of ten commitments. It's a famous list of basic do's and don'ts that define what it means to be an ethical person. It spells out a fundamental commitment to spiritual life. It's the perfect place to begin our consideration of Hindu morality.

Patanjali began by listing five yamas,things that no one should ever do :

1. Ahimsa : Do not harm anyone

2. Satya    : Do not lie

3. Asteya  : Do not steal

4. Bramahacarya : Do not overindulge

5. Aparigaraha     : Don't be greedy.

Manu and women

Manu the ancient Hindu lawgiver is leery of granting women independent status. He prefers that they be supervised either by a father or a husband. This way there's no question who is a baby dad.

But Manu's impression of women wasn't all bad. " Men who wish for good fortune must always honor women," he wrote. " The gods shower happiness and prosperity wherever women are venerated. But in those lands where women are not respected, misfortune surely befalls".

The Ten Commitment

The ultimate goal of Hindu spirituality is liberation from the wheel of rebirth. But while we're still riding up and down on the wheel, there's a practical matter we need to attend to. How do we live in this world? How should we conduct ourselves?

Moral principles are foundation of every religion. Not everyone is capable of becoming enlightened in this lifetime just as very few of us have the stuff to become gold medal Olympic athletes. But all of us have to live together on this planet. And most of us are concerned about living at peace not only with others but also with ourselves and with God. Our ethics shape both our inner and outer worlds.

Different religions hold many principles in common. Other ideas about what constitute virtuous actions are startlingly different. We've already looked at one major difference between Hindu beliefs and Christian and Islamic principles. Christians and Muslims feel morally obliged to convert other people to their religions. Hindus feel respect for other faiths is a more appropriate moral position. Let's look at the basic ethical tenets of Hinduism. We'll see how they agree with and how they diverge from contemporary Western views. 

Selling Sons

The dowry probably did not start out as a bad thing. On the contrary, its original purpose was not to demean women but to support them. In Hindu culture, most women have the birth home when they marry and become part of their husband's family. The dowry ensured that they brought their own financial resources with them-money they could use to support themselves and their families if their husband died or abandoned them.

Hindu males, however, stay with the birth family. The eldest son is particularly important since he's responsible for looking after the welfare of his younger siblings, for supporting his parents when they retire, and for conducting the parent's funeral rites.

While men receive their inheritance when their parents die, women receive theirs when they marry. This means that each time a daughter marries, her family sustains a substantial loss of income. There's financial loss in both cases, but families only feel that it when the girl marries because the son keeps his money within the family.

This system has become grotesquely distorted. It has evolved from sending a daughter away with  some worldly goods, to would-be-in-laws demanding huge sums of money from parents looking for husbands for their girls. " If she's joining our family, she better bring plenty of income with her!" In other words, these parents sell rights to their sons for exorbitant prices.

The disastrous social consequences are that Hindu families go bankrupt financing the weddings of their daughters. Many families just can't afford to have girls. Now that tests to check the sex of a fetus are available, some Hindus opt for abortion if the fetus is female. That it should come to this is bitterly ironic since Hindu scriptures uniformly condemn abortion.

The opposite practice, of demanding money for a daughter, was strictly forbidden in Hindu law. It smacked too much of prostitution. 

Declined Status

Nevertheless, there's no question women have lower status than men in Hinduism. The difference in status was almost certainly not so dramatic in the distant past. Hindus scriptures written centuries ago describe women and teachers and philosophers and show women receiving initiations they are denied today. The Veda itself includes women among its highest seers.

Some of the unfortunate problems women experience in Hindu culture today may be due to 1,500 years of nearly continual invasions from the north, beginning around 500 B.C.E. To protect mothers, wives, and daughters, women were increasingly confined inside the house, cutting back their wider social roles.

But the worst problems Hindus women experience are due to the horrible practice of selling sons. Though outlawed in modern India, sadly this custom is still widely practiced.

Yemen

The majority of Yemen's population is divided into tribal groups, especially in the northern areas of the country where 85% of local residents belong to various tribes. There are also small groups of peoples of Turkish/Ottoman origin in urban areas. Roughly 53% of the population are sunni Muslims following the Shafi school while 45% adhere to the Zaydi Shia branch of Islam with small minorities of Ismail Muslims.

Lantern Festival

It is not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival; Which is sometimes also known as the " Lantern Festival" in locations such as Singapore and Malaysia.