by Yogi Ananda Viraj (Eugene P. Kelly, Jr.)
The present article is an attempt to introduce to the reader the concept and practice of ahimsa or non-violence as that concept appears in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and commentaries on the same. The study is by no means exhaustive nor is it grossly incomplete. The examination of ahimsa presented here is designed to augment the student’s practice of Yoga.
Yoga training can be taken as a means to willfully recondition the entire sensorium by ways of practical techniques in order to effect freedom from the suffering produced by ignorance. In conjunction with this practical method, an entire system of philosophy was generated. The system is extremely sophisticated and takes many years of study to embody. The main thrust of this essay is to make the task of comprehension a bit easier, especially for those who lack philosophic expertise. However, each reader will determine its worth, but only the student of Yoga will fully share its presuppositions and hence existential value.
yoganganusthanad asuddhiksaye jnanadiptira vivekakhyateh
Following the practice of the steps of Yoga, when impurity has diminished there is an illumined knowledge rising towards discriminative perception.– Yoga Sutra, 2.28
It is the above sutra that Patanjali, the systematizer of the Yoga Sutras (ca. 200 C.E.), makes use of to introduce the eight-fold Yoga path (marga). According to the Yoga system of Patanjali, impurities (asuddhis) of the organs of knowledge are the cause of human suffering. However, the term asuddhi or “impurity” is employed in a most technical sense, as it bears relation to an entire system of thought and practice and should not be construed in a fashion other than that which the Yoga system dictates. The author of the Yoga Sutras sees the practice of the eight-fold path as that which removes impurities. The following sutra delineates the eight-fold path:
yamaniyamasanapranayamapratyahara-dharanadhyanasamadhayostavangani
Abstentions, observances, postures, breath control, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation, and samadhi are the eight parts.– Yoga Sutra, 2.29
As is obvious, yamas or abstinences are listed first, and the next sutra lists the yamas:
ahimsasatyasteyabrahmacarya-aparigraha yamah
Abstinence from injury, falsehood theft, continence, appropriation of objects are the yamas.– Yoga Sutra, 2.3
The first of the yamas or abstinences to be listed is ahimsa or the abstinence from injury. This is not without purpose. A definition of ahimsa is provided by Vyasa, a commentator on the Yoga Sutras (ca. 650-850 C.E.): “… abstinence from injury means the abstinence from malice towards all living creatures in every way and at all times. And the other abstentions and observances (niyamas) are rooted in it. Insofar as their aim is the perfection of it, they are taught of yamas and niyamas however, thoughts are seen to be hindering when considerations (vitarka) arise which thwart the practice of ahimsa or yamas and niyamas. Patanjali speaks to this problem:
vitarkabadhane pratipaksa-bhavanam
[If there be] detrimental thoughts [there should be] cultivation of [or reflection on] opposites.– Yoga Sutra, 2.33
Pratipaksa bhavanam can be translated as generation of opposites, i.e., reflection which is opposite to the inhibitive (badhana) considerations (vitarka). Still it is not entirely clear what this generation of opposites entails. Vyasa sheds some light on the matter with a few examples. Thoughts to the extreme such as “I will kill him who hurts me” should be inhibited by reflective activity such as “Baked upon the pitiless coals of the round-of-rebirths, I take my refuge in the Yogic law (dharma) by giving protection to every living creature.” 2 Vyasa, even more graphically, continues to oppose that initial thought of killing with further reflection: “I myself, after ridding myself of perverse or inhibitive considerations (vitarka-badhana) am betaking myself to them once more, like a dog. As a dog to his vomit, even so I betake myself to that of which I had rid myself.” 3
In further delineating the practice of pratipaksa bhavanam or generation of opposites, Patanjali states:
vitarka himsahayah krtakaritanumodita lobhakrodhamohapurvaka mrdumadhya-adhimatraduhkhajnanantaphala iti pratipaksabhavanam
[Since] considerations [such as] violence whether done, caused to be done, or approved; whether preceded by greed, anger, or delusion; whether mild, medium or intense [in nature]result in endless suffering and ignorance, generation of opposites [should be employed].– Yoga Sutra 2.34
The results of inhibitive or detrimental thought (vitarka-badhana) are clearly stated as being suffering (duhkha) and ignorance (ajnana). Yoga philosophy states that these two are concomitant, that is, they are as inseparable as fire and smoke. The pratipaksa means “opposition.” The term bhavanam could be used in this context to mean either ”cultivation,” “generation” of, or reflection on opposites. In any case it denotes the deliberate generation of thoughts opposite in nature to detrimental thoughts (vitarka-badhana). This should not be understood to mean analysis of detrimental thoughts but simply replacing one type of thought with its opposite. This willful process of replacement is, in effect, the formation of new thought impulses (citta-vrttis) which overpower the detrimental ones. Given that the Yogin practices the yamas for some length of time, these new thought processes gradually replace the negative one altogether. A transformation of the mind is effected.
Within the framework of yama and niyama, the thought waves or impulses (citta-vrttis) are held to be themselves the violence, greed, and anger. One does not have thoughts (vrttis) signification that the Yogin has grounded him or herself in ahimsa. The other yamas as well as niyamas have their respective manifestations or external signs to indicate mastery of these disciplines. Concerning ahimsa Vacaspati Misra adds:
Even [enemies] whose hostility is everlasting like horse and buffalo, mouse and cat, snake and mongoose, in the presence of the exalted [Yogin] who is grounded in abstinence from injury, conform themselves to his mind and renounce altogether their hostility. 4
Concluding Remarks
We have seen how the yamas and niyamas function in the Yoga philosophy by taking an in-depth look at ahimsa. It was noted at the outset that these practices are the fundamental aspects of a practical training to diminish impurity (asuddhi). This impurity is the direct cause of ignorance and its twin, suffering. The practice of ahimsa is a step on the way to illumined knowledge (jnana-diptira) which culminates in the discriminative perception (viveka-khyati) which “sees” the difference between the consciousness (purusa) and the non-conscious and modifiable source (prakrti) and her manifestations or evolutes (vyakta). It is the realization of this difference which breaks the bonds of ignorance (avidya) and effects freedom from suffering.
It is also noted that ahimsa is the context and intent of all other yamas as well as niyamas. However, it should be noted here that this is just the beginning stage of Yoga training, as there are six more levels of practice. The beginning stage is concerned with the cultivation of thoughts and perceptions which, rather than disrupt the mind, will eventually lead the mind to a stable state and hence prepare it for the higher stages of Yoga. Thought precedes action, both verbal and bodily. A stable mind, according to the Yoga philosophers, is a non-violent one. To authentically practice the fundamental stages of Yoga requires great commitment and an attitude of professionalism. This professionalism is here defined as that dedication to the practice of non-violence which does not concede to class, place, time or situation. The professional is devoted. He or she is fully cognizant of the fact that there are two kinds of thought processes. Those that hinder, or are detrimental, are to be replaced via ahimsa. Generation of opposition is the practice. Reflecting upon the endless consequences of hindering thoughts, he or she is sensitive to the needs of others, as well.
1. The translations of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali presented in this article are the author’s. 
2. Ibid. Vyasa Bhasya, p. 1835
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid. Tattva-Vaisaradi, p. 186.