Niyama 4 - Faith

Faith- The ability to start and maintain an activity without knowing how it will end..

Can anyone guarantee the result of a project? If we were to insist on knowing the outcome before beginning any activity, we may never start. We start an activity based on certain assumptions. All we can guarantee is effort, not the result. To sustain effort over time and be able to keep going in adverse circumstances we need faith. Here, we experiences both eustress (motivation) and distress. Faith builds courage, awareness and success. Two elements contribute to faith

Patience: On the path of achievement, one experiences frustration, self doubt, loneliness, failure & learning. This does not mean that we are failing. The lessons are subconscious and take time to manifest as svabhava. One must be patient, have faith in our capability and keep trying.

Perseverance: Often one method does not solve the problem. One may have to try other ways to get to the solution, sometimes with no help, no recognition or money. Projects left midway only increase frustration, a sense of failure and stress.

Share your opinion and experiences

• What is the essence of faith?

• How we increase our ability to believe in ourselves?

• When does our faith in others increase?

• When do we lose faith in ourselves and others?

Niyama 3 - Svadhyayam (Introspection)

Sva means "self' or "belonging to me." Adhyaya means "inquiry" or "examination". The word Svadhyaya literally means, "to get close to something." It means to get close to yourself, that is, to study yourself. It could also mean meditation or contemplation.

This aspect has 2 sub-aspects.

Reflection: Means looking at oneself/state of the present/current state mapping. Here, the person not only reviews the situation objectively but also considers his present experience (do I like this? How do I feel? Why am I anxious?).

This element is one of the most important aspects of Situational Awareness as it is the most effective way of increasing jnana (conceptual knowledge). While it is easy to learn a skill, to learn the subtleties of the skill requires reflection on the subject.

Acceptance: This is the first step to finding a solution, accepting current state of being. We accept what we did and the consequences of our action. This opens the way for us to find solutions and a forward path with lower stress levels.

Acceptance can occur as a compromise or as consensus. The result of consensus is positive on everyone but compromise can result in pain. How does one deal with the negative impact of compromise?

What happens if no solution emerges?

Share your opinion and experiences

• What is the right time to introspect?

• Does introspection have a structure?

• What is the role of instinct & intuition in introspection?

• How does one weed out emotions when reflecting?

• What are the issues one faces when accepting reality?

• Why is reality hard to accept?

Niyama 2 - Santosham (Positive Thinking)

Santosham may be defined as gratification obtained by doing one’s duty

Happiness is fleeting, but peace is more lasting. Calmness not only increases clarity of thought, but it also calms others down. Another’s positive feeling always increases positive energy in us. How does one recognize this & more importantly, imbibe it?

There is no easy answer to obtaining this sense of peace. But, often, we do come across people who, though they may not be affluent, exude a sense of peace that lifts us also. How do they get it? It seems that there are two requirements: Doing the right thing in the circumstance and having realistic expectations.

Share your opinion and experiences

• How important is awareness of reality on Santosham (feeling of calmness).

• How do we generate this feeling of serenity within us?

• How importance is the ability of current reality in the feeling of Santhosham?

• How important is “confronting versus sidestepping issues” for achievement of Santosham?

• What is the impact of expectation on Santosham?

• How important is it to do your duty in order to achieve the feeling of calmness?

• What is duty? Where does it start and where does it end? How do we know we are doing our duty?

• How important is emotional stability in achieving a sense of peace?

• What happens to the feeling of calm when the solution is one of consensus as opposed to compromise? Which is better?

Niyama 1 - Soucham (Cleanliness)

There are two types of Soucham- Antarasoucham (Internal cleanliness) & Bahirasoucham (External Cleanliness).

In order to maintain hygiene or Bahirasoucham (external cleanliness), one must be aware of what one is doing; therefore there is an increased awareness in the individual. Since time immemorial, cleanliness has been addressed with varying degree of severity, from separation in certain times to strictures in different circumstances. Today, these are being followed to varying degrees by different people, but it is important that we understand how & why our elders thought it fit to impose these “Traditional cleanliness” rules.

In 1330s, a plague hit China and spread to Europe in 1347 and by 1351 had reached all corners of Europe & the Middle East. It had the effect of killing around 35% of Europe’s population (35 million people in 2 yrs). Overall, it reduced the world’s population from 450 million to between 350 & 375 million. During this time it was noticed that Jews, living in Ghettos, away from the village suffered lower deaths. This was on account of strict Rabbinical Laws on cleanliness followed by them. The water that they used was from the wells in their backyard & not the community wells, this lead to greater control over bacterial infection. Also, injunctions on personal hygiene & disposal of waste ensured that the carriers, rats were less likely to infect the community.

In India, there are strict rules for cleanliness, especially when eating. Indian’s eat only with the right hand. Eating from another person’s plate, something that has come in contact with your mouth, your saliva or your plate is not allowed and called 'jootha' (in North India), 'ushth' (in Western India), 'etho' (in Bengal), 'aitha' (in Orissa), 'echal' (in Tamil Nadu), 'enjulu' (in Karnataka), or 'engili' (in Andhra Pradesh).

In many parts of India, after touching food that has been cooked, one is allowed to ghee, milk, curds etc. only after washing.

It is also normal in many parts of India to separate utensils for cooking and utensils for eating.

Share your opinion and experiences

• Is cleanliness an important factor in achieving situational awareness and reduced stress?

• Cleanliness is next to Godliness… why did our ancients say it?

• What are your views on the Indian rules of hygiene?

• What is Internal Cleanliness? How does one clean one’s thoughts?

• How does one avoid internal pollution?

• Why is cleanliness given such a high priority in the scheme of self improvement?

• What is the impact of cleanliness in thinking and improvement?
• Which is better? Toilet paper or water?
  

Niyama (Inward Focus)

Often, we are accused of acting. What do people mean when they say we are acting? Do they mean we are saying something that we have no intention of doing? Or misrepresenting the truth? Or operating at a surface level without being genuine?

Is it possible for a person to portray consistent behaviour when one’s Karma (action) does not match one’s Dharma? Can such behaviour inspire trust in others? Will such behaviour stand under pressure? What about the resultant stress that is generated?

In order to portray a consistent personality to society, one must be properly integrated as an individual. This is Niyama and is the foundation of Yama. Niyama increases internal awareness, resulting in better assessment of reality, leading to proper management of situations and lower stress.

Niyama means rules or laws, for personal well being. Niyama refers to the attitude we adopt toward ourselves and our actions. When Niyama is followed, our ability to interact with the external world in a peaceful manner is enhanced. It is about stabilizing our relationship with our environment, being at peace with ourselves and our actions. Niyama is a key aspect of Dharma.

Inward focus increases awareness of Dharma so that our actions with the external world are congruent with our natural state of being. The objective of this step is to integrate personal thoughts, words and deeds into a cohesive whole, resulting in clarity of focus, understanding of requirement and peace in actions.

Niyama has 6 elements: Soucham (cleanliness), Santhosham (happiness), Faith, Accountability, and Referencing.

Yama 6 - Aparigraha (Equanimity)

Ability to react evenly in any situation ensures lesser extremity of reactions, thereby ensuring easier recovery from a situation.

Aparigraha means "hands off" or "not seizing opportunity." On an extended scale it can mean equanimity.

The human safety system is designed to evaluate any situation on the basis of “Do I like this or not”/ “Is this good for me or not”/ “Is he friend or foe”. This evaluative system then takes a position based on the data available and prepares a coping action. In many cases, the brain decides based on previous information available with it, and this may not be appropriate to the situation and result in over-reaction. This is why equanimity is important.

Equanimity is the non-judgmental attitude that we take to ensure that we are fair to ourselves & others when taking a decision. It removes bias, hasty, ad hoc & ill -considered decisions.

Share your opinion and experiences

• How do you keep your equilibrium in any situation?

• How do you recover your equilibrium if you lose it?

• Is it possible to remain calm in any situation?

• Is ability to remain calm hereditary?

• Why are some people naturally calm?

• Can prayer help our ability to remain calm? Why?

• What is the impact of equanimity on others?

• Equanimity and emotional intelligence - How are they related?

Yama 5 - Valour

Our ability to retain our Dharma (values), yet get the job done. It could also be the ability to challenge the status-quo without compromising Dharma of others, making them insecure such that they react without considering the fall-out of their actions.

How often do people come out of meetings, discussions, or conversations feeling stressed, utterly frustrated, steam-rolled and exhausted? The reason: inability to stand up to one’s own point of view resulting in being forced to work in a direction that is outside one’s zone of comfort/values/Dharma.

Such situations unleash frustration, anger and stress in everyone. Ability to stand up for one’s point of view requires courage, conviction, ability to face fear, ability to sacrifice and willingness to act on one’s beliefs. This needs to be done without triggering a violent reaction in others.

Share your opinion and experiences

• How do you maintain your position without offending others?

• What are the qualities a person requires in order to stand up for his Dharma (values)?

• How do you handle fear when opposing authority?

• How do you manage the feeling of arrogance when your subordinates, children and other juniors oppose us?

• How do you reconcile to the reality of any situation? How do you know when to stop pushing?

• What happens to whistle blowers? How do they manage the conflict between duties to their country versus duty to mankind?

• Which is more important? Duty to family, duty to country or duty to mankind?

Yama 4 - Diversity

Ability to respect and imbibe dharma of people of various gender/ cultural/ religious/ colour/ countries etc. ensures acceptability of ideas & lower stress.

With business crossing borders, one person’s actions could be interpreted as another person’s insult, resulting in stress. Sensitivity & awareness to the other’s cultural, racial background is one of the most important requirements today. Ability to remove sexual bias in business relationships is an important personal development requirement. Correct interpretation of verbal and non verbal signals is the key to peaceful relationships and lower stress.

Diversity is being able to work with other people’s Dharma & Svabhava to a common goal without sacrificing your own

Share your opinion and experiences

• How do you adjust to other people’s opinions without creating discord?

• How do you adjust to diversity in food?

• Diversity in dressing and its impact on people, their opinion of others & relationships.

• How do you adjust to diversity in religion and value systems?

• How do you adjust to diversity in age?

Yama 3 - Team

Ability to develop a common Dharma from the Dharma of diiferent people and ensure that the common objective is met.

A team is a collection of people with a common objective (Dharma – value system). What makes this entity so important? How does the performance of a well-trained & led team make a difference?

Example: Let us compare two different football teams, one of novices and another of professionals. Novices normally never play in any single position. In any game, one person would kick the ball and everyone would run after it. As a result, everyone wants credit for the goal and this gives rise to prima donnas, who never pass the ball. On the other hand, professional team members are specialists who maintain their own positions. Though each team member has his own characteristic style of playing, the team operates on the principle of give and take, with one Dharma (value system). As a result, the team wins.

Teaming is not confined to physical possessions but also includes the ability to share thoughts, information, credit and criticism.

Share your opinion and experiences

• How do we integrate different team requirements to a single objective?

• What is the role of the team leader? Why is he or she important?

• How does one resolve intra-team conflict?

• How important is communication in a team?

• Is hierarchy important in a team?

• Is structure important in a team?

• What is the impact of a prima donna (one who constantly hogs the limelight?)

• What is morale? How important is it to team dynamics?

• How do you motivate a team in difficult situations?

• How important is giving due credit to team motivation?

• What happens to a team where politics & favouritism are high?

Yama 2 - Hrta (Integrity)

Doing what is right, not what is convenient. When we work with integrity, we inspire trust; this makes our Dharma acceptable & less fearsome to others...

What is integrity? Is it honesty? In the context of Situational Awareness, integrity is not about honesty alone; it is about aligning oneself to the Dharma of the objective to be attained (understanding the value that is being created), willingly sacrificing one’s personal needs to the higher needs of the Dharma (value) being created, and working with complete shraddha (commitment, devotion and single-mindedness) to achieve the objective. This quality of steadfastness to a higher value objective inspires and maintains trust with those we interact because our communication removes selfishness. These actions keep stress levels low and awareness levels high.

The ancient Aryas & Greeks operated on a common concept called Hrta (Sanskrit- Law of righteousness or Arête- Ancient Greek Law of Perfection). Hrta has three components: Satya (truth), Yagna (sacrifice) & Vaq (word). This law has tremendous relevance even today.

Satya in today’s parlance may be translated to; understanding of our objectives, the focus, or the target to be achieved.

Yagna can be roughly translated to sacrifice, effort required, resource required, process to be followed.

Vaq today is communication; taking people along, being diplomatic, saying the right things, being transparent, etc.

Share your opinion and experiences

• Is it always possible to maintain a level of integrity?

• How do we maintain integrity in our personal life, like paying taxes?

• How do we teach integrity within our family, especially with our children?

• How do we maintain integrity when we move in society, on the road, at the bus stop, at a restaurant?

• How do we maintain integrity at work, as a superior, subordinate and peer?

• Business integrity; Is it possible to work with integrity with our suppliers & customers?

• Integrity & public life people like politicians, civil servants, police etc; How does it impact Dharma of a nation?

Yama1 - Ahimsa ( Non Violence)

Ability to react in a non threatening manner to stimulus. This occurs when the stimulus is contrary to our Dharma. Ahimsa is the ability to control anger, frustration and negative emotion while giving positive feedback.

To understand non-violence, one must understand violence & its relationship to anger, fear, frustration, ambition and power.

Violence covers a vast spectrum, from subtle abuse to genocide where entire populations are exterminated. It also includes killing of animals, plants and all elements of nature with which we need to live in harmony. It includes injury to the self.

Control is incredibly difficult. Control requires a heightened state of awareness for to stop violence one must catch it as it develops. Control of this element is the key to progress in stress management and Situational Awareness.

There are 3 types of violence: Tamasic (confused), Rajasic (Passionate) & Sattvic (Balanced).

Tamasic violence comes out of lack of knowledge and is driven primarily by fear and confusion.

Example: All forms of segregation and separation, whether of colour, caste, religion or creed arise out of ignorance because there can be no difference between living beings.

Rajasic violence primarily out of passion and is driven by emotions such as anger, lust, greed, ambition etc.

Example: All forms of sexual assaults are driven by Rajas.

Sattvic violence is very difficult to achieve and is characterized by high communication and patience.

Example: A parent scolding a truant child. When the parent is trying to push his or her own agenda on the child, then it is Tamasic. When the parent scolds the child because he or she is afraid of what society will say, then it is Rajasic. When the parent scolds the child for deviation of a value that has been explained often, then the reason is Sattvic. This is characterized by the parent trying to separate the person from the problem. Violence is used as a tool to drive home a point after various methods such as sama (discussion), dana (inducement), bedha (discord) have failed.

Share your opinion and experiences

• Can we control anger?

• How do we control anger?

• What happens when things go wrong?

• How important is communication in managing anger?

• Importance of patience in management of violence.

• Does our ability to control violence improve with age?

• How do you convert a Tamasic anger to Sattvic anger? Try it today…