Question – Gurudev, some people think one has to master the yamas and niyamas (The yamas and nivamas five behaviors to avoid and five to engage constitute the first two limbs) before one can practice the other 6 limbs out of the 8 limbs of Yoga as propounded in Patanjali Yoga Sutras. What is your take on this?
Gurudev Sri Sri – The limbs are not sequential, they are all together. The practice of the others contributes to the ability to observe the yamas and niyamas. When we teach meditation in prisons, we see that the moment they have a taste of meditation, their whole thought process and behavior pattern changes. They start on the path of non-violence. They become very truthful, and the tendencies to cheat disappear. So the yamas and niyamas start happening in people’s lives just when they begin meditation. Yoga would be incomplete if even one limb is absent from it. All the eight limbs coexist. Our program is the same way. We do some asana, and some pranayama-breathing exercises-and meditation that leads to samadhi (the 8th limb, not a practice but a state of consciousness transcending thought).