1) Shaucha
2) Santosha
3) Tapas
4) Swadhyaya
5) Ishwara pranidhaana
1. The first is shaucha or everyday cleanliness . It includes showering and keeping yourself clean, wearing clean clothes, and seeing that you don’t have a bad breath .I f someone stinks he or she doesn,t notice it. But others have problems sitting next to him. I n satsang or during sudarshan kriya1someone has to do the sudarshan kriya, and he is thinking ,”Oh why is this person sitting next to me?!”As “so hum”goes on , instead of focusing on “so hum”, he is saying go away! go away ! My god ! oh god!
2. The second is “santosha” or contentment … happiness Be happy ! If you don’t take a step towards being happy , nothing in this world can make you happy , and you go on complaining about this and that. Once a farmer was complaining that the apples on his tree were not good .Then, one year, he had very good apples !.He had apples in plenty three times more than the usual crop!then he started complaining about having too much work to do , about having to pick all those apples, about how many were rotting , and how the prices had gone down ! Ther’es no end to complaining but life goes on anyway! It flows like a river . How do you want to live the rest of your life – the remaining thirty, forty ,or fiftytears? Smiling …or grumbling, feeling horrible about yourself , and blaming the whole world? So the second rule is to be happy and content.
3. Third is “tapas”- forbearance or penance –meaning, something is uncomfortable, but you will still put up with it happily. It’s like people, who go on marathon walks for 20 miles or 20 km . If we had to simply walk 20 km we would grumble , but when it’s a marathon , the one says , “O h I am going to walk !” whether you walk in a marathon or you walk because your car broke down , you r legs go through the same pain! But when you think you’re in the marathon , you come back the same, sweating and tired , but with a smile :”Oh I did it !” this is tapas – willingly taking it . suppose you have to travel in a plane for a long time – say eight or ten hours- what would you do? If you were asked to sit for ten hours, you would never do it , but in a plane there is no way out !you have to sit with a seatbelt !you can watch t.v to keep your mind occupied , but you have to sit ! So willingly accepting opposites is tapas .This makes our body and mind strong. Whatever you can change –change. What you cannot change , accept. If it is too cold put on a sweater. If it is too hot take of your coat .It is as simple as that !When it is raining heavily , and you get wet , inspite of an umbrella – get wet ! tapas . We have to take it .Forbearance.
4. Fourth is self study “swadhyaya”.Observe your mind.. and see what your mind says , how you behave how you act , how you feel.. do you feel good?Do you feel bad? I f you are feeling bad , just observe …all feelings –good or bad-will change .Swadhyaya is self study ,self observation.
5. Fifth is ‘ishwara pranidhana’, meaning love for the divine –surrender to the divine.when you feel you are totally helpless ,you say” oh god! You take whatever is that I am feeling!”
These are ten rules that make you very strong –that make you whole and complete .If you are clean inside and you’re clean outside, then you’ re mind is clean and free .Put anything that does not feel right , anything that’s bothering you into the “botheration basket**”.. and feel you are cleansed from inside .To feel clean inside ,we have two things –‘so hum”and “so what?”,”so what?” will certainly work , but if it doesn’t “so hum’most definitely will! With “so what?”or “so hum”,keep your smile.
