Live and let live

Open Yoga Jornal

The reference to the above principle can be found in Vedas and in the Fundamentals of Hinduism Philosophy. It means non-aggressive, nonviolent interaction with the world around.

It seems that nothing could be easier than living and letting live.

Although, whether we realize it or not, very often we fail to follow this principle. Sometimes, while we are struggling to survive ourselves, we interfere with somebody else’s life. Alternatively, we go to another extreme and make every effort for someone else, forgetting about ourselves.

“Survival” instinct is natural for us. We have it from our previous lives “in the bodies of the animals” as per yoga philosophy. Those instincts used to help us at some point to fight our enemies. However, upon reaching a certain level of evolution, most of them became irrelevant, dated and making it impossible to live in harmony with ourselves and with the world around.

Yoga tells us that as soon as we attain a human body, we can and we should expand our freedom, and get rid of dated programs.

For this purpose, yoga recommends to be:

  • kind – do not harm others;
  • logic – be consistent in your life;
  • live from the position of strength – help yourself and others to get rid of suffering.

Practically these recommendations lead to “Meditation on yoga principles”. It is preferable, to start with a classical option of this meditation, and then pronounce it loudly or mentally with closed eyes, sitting in a comfortable pose.

The First Yoga principle:

“I want to be kind, I can be kind and I will be kind! I will make every effort not to make harm to any living being unless it is necessary. If I cannot avoid doing harm, I will follow my duty.”

The first principle of yoga is the heart of the principle of Ahimsa (non-harm). The principle of Ahimsa is the principle about using Supreme Logic in your daily life.

Causing no harm is beyond our control, but we can decrease it to the minimum.

The second principle of Yoga:

“I will use my energy and focus my consciousness only on such things which lead me to my goals in work, study, leisure or yoga. Before I get involved in any task, I should ask myself if it leads me to my goals and if not I will reject it as unnecessary”.

The second principle of yoga is the heart of the principle of Brahmacharya. The principle of Brahmacharya is the principle of using logic in daily life.

It is worth mentioning that there is no particular instructions what sort of goals you should have. A goal can be chosen individually by each person!

The third principle of yoga:

“I will do my best to help all living beings to get over suffering, if they are willing it and if I am capable to help. By doing so I will overcome suffering inside me. Nobody and nothing can make me suffer!

Meditating on these principles, we can eventually find harmony inside ourselves and in our life with others, get rid of negative and become more conscious and happy.

As a result we can get to understand that the principle “Live and let live!” is a logical outcome from the process of self-knowledge and exploration of the Universe. It has been passed from generation to generation with the purpose to get the message across that the main point is – our life is the most precious thing we have.

Author: Мaria Sarasvaty-Bhavany
Editor: Kerigona, Мirra
Translator: Tatiana Sugrue
Project curator: Kerigona

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