Yama — The Ethical Foundation of Yoga
The Yamas (ethical restraints) are the outer foundation of all yoga practice — the five universal ethical principles that must be established before deeper practice becomes meaningful.
The five Yamas form the ethical bedrock of Patanjali's yoga system: Ahimsa (non-harming), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (energy conservation), and Aparigraha (non-possessiveness). Patanjali declares them the 'Great Vow' (Mahavratam) — universal ethical laws not limited by class, country, time, or circumstance. These are not moral rules imposed from outside but the natural expression of a mind freed from the kleshas: a person in whom Avidya has dissolved naturally embodies all five Yamas, because the suffering-causing behaviors they restrain arise from ignorance. The practice of the Yamas is therefore simultaneously ethical training and a form of Samadhi practice: every moment of genuine non-harming, honesty, or non-grasping is a moment of freedom from the compulsive patterns that Avidya generates.
These ethical restraints, not limited by birth, place, time, or circumstance, are the universal great vow.
Philosopher Peter Singer's The Expanding Circle documents how moral concern has progressively expanded throughout human history — from tribe to nation to species — and argues that this expansion reflects a rational understanding of ethics that converges with Patanjali's identification of the Yamas as universal ethical laws applicable to all without exception.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali