Redefining the Yamas & Niyamas: Brahmacharya

In reframing the yamas and the niyamas we first committed to self-study (svadhyaya), then to infuse that study with love (ahimsa) and this love can be found as the ultimate reality of who we are, our truth (satya). This recognition helps us understand that layers of gunk, like our habitual tendencies, have distorted our ability to know ourselves as divine. We must burn away the gunk with our internal fire (tapas). NOW we get to live, love and create from our divine center which brings us to brahmacharya. Brahman translates as: the divine, the ultimate, and infinity. Charya translates as: the path, to move, to walk, and to live. Together this is the combination of aum and shakti or divinity plus energy= brahmacharya.

We can start very simply by acknowledging that what we think, say, and do amounts to the kind of energy we expel into this reality. Thinking too much, saying too much, and doing too much, sees the saw into a mighty kerplunc on the playground of life. On the other hand, thinking too little, saying too little, and doing too little will see that same saw to a big kerplunc on the other side of the life playground. Managing ourselves has proven to be quite the balancing act. A quote from the Bhagavad Gita sums it up perfectly, “Peace is granted to those whose mind stays balanced  in the midst of honor and dishonor, heat and cold, pleasure or pain, and who maintains equanimity during praise and blame.”

So how do we keep our shakti in a state of aum? We first remember that we are, in fact, divine. Then, we commit to our spiritual practices that literally re-mind us of this until we are renewed. When you don’t wash your clothes, they stink. When you don’t wash your dishes, you get bugs. When you don’t tend to your spirit, your flame will diminish. Ignite your flame every single morning with this simple prayer, Aum Shakti Aum.

Thank you Beautiful Reader,

As always, I am so grateful for your consideration of my interpretations. We are the CEO’s of or energy. No one will manage our energy for us, so it is up to us to define it and refine it daily as the most important gift we can give to ourselves and to others. Aum Shakti Aum

Blessings,

Andrea Dawn