Satya - truthfulness

The second yama or social restraint is Satya or Truthfulness.

It is said in the yogic texts:

There is nothing more sinful than untruthfulness. Because of this, Mother Earth once said, "I can bear any heavy thing except a person who is a liar."
Srimad Bhagavatam 8:20:4

All the heavy mountains and oceans are as nothing to Mother Earth compared to the weight of a liar therefore just imagine how overburdened she must feel in this day and age when people are accustomed to speaking so many lies.

People who are habitually deceitful carry with them a dark cloud that covers the shining light of the pure soul within. On a social level when we mislead we eventually lose the trust of others creating disturbances in our personal and public relationships. Sometimes we can even start believing our own lies, thus we enter an illusory type of existence.

Truthfulness, however, should undoubtedly align with ahimsa so that there is no unnecessary violence or pain as a result of our words or actions.

Ahimsa

The very first yama or social restraint of the Yoga Sutras as propounded by Patanjali is ahimsa or non-violence. This concept of non-violence appears also in the teachings of Jesus Christ:

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that spitefully use you and persecute you” Matthew 5.44

Ahimsa is the foremost precept upon which Buddhism stands and both the great teachers of China, Lao Tzu and Confucius place great importance on it.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Confucius

“How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?” Lao Tzu

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” Lao Tzu

In the yoga system non-violence is brought about by the understanding that all life is sacred and that all creatures have a right to live. Rather than exploiting those who are weaker or less able than ourselves, we as humans beings should take the role of caretakers of all life on earth.

The ahimsa of the yoga diet means that one keeps to a purely vegetarian diet which provides all nutrients that we need from fruit, vegetables, nut, grains, legumes and milk products.

Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras

Over 2000 years ago a great sage called Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras. Amongst the world wide yoga community this is considered a very important insight into the yoga system. The word yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘union’, it is where the English word ‘yoke’ comes from. This yoga system therefore, as explained by Patanjali, is a method of unifying the individual soul in love with the Supreme. In this endeavour he cites an eight fold path which will help the soul on her journey. The most familiar of these eight steps is asanas or yoga poses. This is given third place on the path of yoga, the first two places are the yamas and niyamas. The yamas or codes of conduct help us live peacefully with others and the niyamas purify our personal habits and the way we think

The yamas are:
Ahimsa or non-violence
Satya or truthfulness
Astaya or non-stealing
Brahmacarya or control of the senses
Aparigraha or non greed

This niyamas are:
Saucha or cleanliness
Santosha or contentment
Tapas or austerity
Swadhyaya or study of the sacred scriptures
Iswara Pranidhana or worship of the Supreme