AHIMSA + ISHVARA PRANIDHANA
Understanding the synergistic connection between collective ethics and personal integrity, Scott Miller introduced the practice of observing the yamas and niyamas in pairs. He emphasized how linking each yama with a corresponding niyama creates a dynamic and diagnostic relationship between the coupling. In a paired yama and niyama practice, our collective ethics practice informs our personal integrity practice, and vice versa. An understanding of how we are doing yama-wise is an indicator of how we are doing niyama-wise. In a paired practice, the yamas and niyamas are not dogmatic rules or fixed prescriptions of dos and don’ts that dualistically classify good and bad behaviors. Instead, they become touchpoints that invite us to look deeply into the nature of our collective and personal existence, and explore the energetic interplay between the two.
The greatest yama and niyama are ahimsa and ishvara pranidhana, making these two the natural first pairing, followed by satya and svadhyaya, asteya and tapas, brahmacharya and samtosha, and aparigraha and saucha.
Ahimsa is non-violence, non-harm, care, and compassion. Ahimsa recognizes the suffering caused by our intolerant ideas, hurtful communications, and destructive deeds. Ahimsa broadly contains the other four yamas: truthfulness (satya), not stealing (asteya), not sexually exploiting (brahmacharya), and not being greedy (aparigraha). For this reason, ahimsa is revered as the greatest yama. Ahimsa understands how pain, fear, and desire underly harm and violence. It asks us to feel into the source and effect of harm we cause and harm we support - not only through our thoughts, words, and actions, but also through our silence and inaction. Ahimsa cultivates the insight of interconnectedness by inviting us to perceive the entire universe as alive, dynamic, and meaningful - a radiant mystery in which everything and everyone possesses inherent value. Ahimsa refuses to objectify and instead encourages communion through holding all of experience with care and compassion - a response that naturally arises with the insight of interconnectedness.
Ishvara pranidhana is surrender to the divine mystery and a trust in “what is.” It is the greatest niyama because of the raw courage and vulnerability it takes to practice unbridled surrender to the unknown. It requires unshakable trust in “what is” when “what is” can feel terrifying and tragic. It requires ultimate open-heartedness amidst total heart-break and a kind of continual willingness to fall into bottomless uncertainty. Ishvara pranidhana recognizes the suffering caused by our desire to control and impose limiting expectations and rigid demands on the life’s spontaneous unfolding. It asks us to understand the impact of insisting life must be a certain way instead of resting in its mystery. Ishvara pranidhana cultivates the insight of interconnectedness by inviting us to fall in love with the whole of life (including the pain and suffering) and embrace the unknown as our beloved.
How we are doing with surrender (ishvara pranidhana) energetically relates to how we are doing with non-harming (ahimsa). The more we impose our self-oriented expectations and demands on life’s mysterious and miraculous unfolding, the more prone we are to engage in limiting beliefs and actions that cause harm to the interconnected whole of Life.