Yama

Yama names the first of the eight limbs of classical yoga: a set of ethical restraints - non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, restraint of excess, and non-possessiveness - that govern conduct toward others before any physical or meditative practice begins.

Their placement first in the eight limbs is deliberate. Classical teaching treats ethical conduct as the ground on which the later, more inward practices are built, on the reasoning that a mind still entangled in harm, dishonesty, or grasping is a poor instrument for the concentration the later limbs require.

Modern practice sometimes skips directly to posture and breath, treating yama as background rather than foundation. The classical ordering suggests this is a shortcut with a cost: the inward practices are harder to stabilize on ground that has not first been made ethically steady.

सम्पादकीय डेस्क से, शास्त्र डाइजेस्ट। (विस्तृत निबन्ध अभी अंग्रेज़ी में है; हिन्दी अनुवाद क्रमशः आ रहे हैं।)