Yama

Yama refers to the five ethical restraints that govern a person's conduct toward others and the world. As codified in Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras (2.30), the five Yamas are: ahiṃsā (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (continence), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). Together they form the moral foundation upon which all further yogic practice rests.

Yama represents the conscious mastery over one's lower impulses and the alignment of individual will with universal dharma. Through sustained practice of these restraints, the aspirant purifies the mind-field (citta), dissolves karmic impressions (saṃskāras), and creates the inner conditions necessary for concentration, meditation, and self-realization. Patañjali calls them mahāvratam — the Great Vow — because they are universal and unconditional.

At the absolute level, Yama is not an externally imposed rule but the spontaneous conduct of one who has realized the non-duality of ātman and Brahman. When the illusion of separation between self and other dissolves, non-violence, truthfulness, and non-grasping arise naturally as expressions of that unity. The perfected Yama is therefore not restraint at all, but the effortless outflow of one's true nature (svabhāva).