The First Principle of Yoga

Can we follow 1st principle by 100%?

Even in any moment when we are reading, listening, watching something thousands of innocent bacteria die because of our immune system. Hectares of land must be plowed to grow vegetarian food, and it brings death to the millions of living beings who live there. A lot of trees in forests must be cut down to produce paper to print yoga books for us to read, and a lot of wild animals living in that forests would die. Even if we decide not to read books, not to eat and quietly die of hunger, even this brings to a chain of terrible deaths and sufferings. And if quiet death from hunger is not our duty, according to the Law of Karma we would get reborn in a worse position then weare now. Causing no harm is beyond our control, but we can decrease it to the minimum. So, you must be realistic and don’t be mad about every mosquito you kill or every ant you step on. Don’t turn your life into a nightmare but decrease harm wherever it is possible.

Profession and the 1st principle

Besides, you have your own Karma, and your own Dharma. In other words, you have your own living conditions and you have your own duty towards other living beings, and you have to follow your duty. Therefore, if you are a doctor and a patient requires a painful manipulation or might feel some discomfort afterwards then it is your duty to help. But, if you treat your patients as some lower level beings or don’t do your work as good as you can then you violate this principle. Well, if somebody needs to get hurt, then you should do harm in the most effective way. And you should always remember: you shouldn’t do more harm that your duty tells you. Professional doctor - this is a person who knows the price of pain, death and suffering, and seeks by all means to prevent them, and in doing so, this person becomes a great yogi. The same ideology should be implement in all other cases and professions.It is absolutely necessary to get rid of unmotivated aggression. All traces of remaining aggression should be removed from your subconscious. You must learn to control yourself, and not to be a toy for your instincts, which makes you to hurt others.

Yoga and kindness

If the person tries to avoid harming others we consider him/her as a kind person. Kindness is a very abstract concept. It is beyond the logic.We cannot give a clear and logical definition of kindness. Just our intuition can help us to recognize the kindness. But, from the standpoint of logic, there is no reason to be kind, rather the opposite - our mind, using logical arguments, calls us to be angry, and indifferent to suffering of others. It is not possible to give a definition of kindness and logical evidence that we should be kind because kindness is beyond our common logic, it belongs to the Supreme Logic. Kindness is above the Law of cause and consequence, above Karma.

Kindness and intellect?

Kindness is a look on our lives from the highest spiritual heights. Sometimes we can meet a person who is kind but the intellect of this person is not that well developed. We can conclude that in past lives this person has at least partially achieved these spiritual heights, and intellect can be developed quite fast. If a person reaches for kindness, it means that he/she intuitively feels the path of yoga. Intuition is a reflection of Supreme Logic. Therefore, the First Principle of yoga could be called as a reflection of the Supreme Logic in our daily life.Also, if you face with aggression against you, and if your duty lets you and you have a possibility, try to avoid “eye for an eye” strategy. Do your best to implement the second and the third principles of yoga to resolve a situation in a peaceful way. If you can avoid the harm – avoid it because the more harm you do the more harm you get. Learn how to turn the evil to the good. They say: "Make Good from Evil, because it is the only thing you can use for it".