Devanagari
अहिंसा सत्यमस्तेयं यावदर्थपरिग्रह: ।
ब्रह्मचर्यं तप: शौचं स्वाध्याय: पुरुषार्चनम् ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
ahiṁsā satyam asteyaṁ
yāvad-artha-parigrahaḥ
brahmacaryaṁ tapaḥ śaucaṁ
svādhyāyaḥ puruṣārcanam
Synonyms
ahiṁsā
—
nonviolence
;
satyam
—
truthfulness
;
asteyam
—
refraining from theft
;
yāvat
—
artha — as much as necessary
;
parigrahaḥ
—
possessing
;
brahmacaryam
—
celibacy
;
tapaḥ
—
austerity
;
śaucam
—
cleanliness
;
sva
—
adhyāyaḥ — study of the Vedas
;
puruṣa
—
arcanam — worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead .
Translation
One should practice nonviolence and truthfulness, should avoid thieving and be satisfied with possessing as much as he needs for his maintenance. He should abstain from sex life, perform austerity, be clean, study the Vedas and worship the supreme form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One should practice non-violence, truthfulness, and avoid theft. One should accept only what is necessary, and practice celibacy, austerity, and cleanliness. One should study the Vedas and worship the Supreme Lord.
One should accept what is necessary and not more than that for living.
Purport
The word
puruṣārcanam
in this verse means worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, especially the form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. In
Bhagavad-gītā
it is confirmed by Arjuna that Kṛṣṇa is the original
puruṣa,
or Personality of Godhead,
puruṣaṁ śāśvatam.
Therefore in
yoga
practice one not only must concentrate his mind on the person of Kṛṣṇa, but must also worship the form or Deity of Kṛṣṇa daily.
A
brahmacārī
practices celibacy, controlling his sex life. One cannot enjoy unrestricted sex life and practice
yoga;
this is rascaldom. So-called
yogīs
advertise that one can go on enjoying as one likes and simultaneously become a
yogī,
but this is totally unauthorized. It is very clearly explained here that one must observe celibacy.
Brahmacaryam
means that one leads his life simply in relationship with Brahman, or in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Those who are too addicted to sex life cannot observe the regulations which will lead them to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sex life should be restricted to persons who are married. A person whose sex life is restricted in marriage is also called a
brahmacārī.
The word
asteyam
is also very important for a
yogī.
Asteyam
means “to refrain from theft.” In the broader sense, everyone who accumulates more than he needs is a thief. According to spiritual communism, one cannot possess more than he needs for his personal maintenance. That is the law of nature. Anyone who accumulates more money or more possessions than he needs is called a thief, and one who simply accumulates wealth without spending for sacrifice or for worship of the Personality of Godhead is a great thief.
Svādhyāyaḥ
means “reading the authorized Vedic scriptures.” Even if one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious and is practicing the
yoga
system, he must read standard Vedic literatures in order to understand. Performance of
yoga
alone is not sufficient. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, a great devotee and
ācārya
in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava
sampradāya,
says that all spiritual activities should be understood from three sources, namely saintly persons, standard scriptures and the spiritual master. These three guides are very important for progress in spiritual life. The spiritual master prescribes standard literature for the prosecution of the
yoga
of devotional service, and he himself speaks only from scriptural reference. Therefore reading standard scriptures is necessary for executing
yoga.
Practicing
yoga
without reading the standard literatures is simply a waste of time.