"Yoga means hugging everything within

from Dr. Vasant Lad's lecture at Ananda Ashram:

and loving yourself as you are.  This demands a great deal of awareness, and in this awareness we go through a radical transformation or rasayana.   Rasayana in yoga and Rasayana in Ayurveda are the same, they go together.  They are sister disciplines.

The 4 pillars are the same:

1. dharma - duty

2. artha - fulfillment of achievement/monetary success

3. kama - fufillment of positive desire

4. moksha - enlightenment

ACHARA-RASAYANA -

1. Devotion -

towards yourself/self-respect/self-esteem

well-wisher towards yourself

become a real friend towards yourself.  Be your own real friend, don't become your enemy.

try to forgive yourself and love yourself as you are.

2.  Non-violence -

Violence starts with comparison. 

Then out of this comes envy and jealousy which create division. 

Division creates anger and violence.

3.  Non-stealing -

"if you want to steal something, steal somebody's mind."

Krishna is a "stealer" - he steals the minds of man.  Accept the person as he/she is.  Don't be a perfectionist.  No one is perfect.  Only God is perfect.  Help others.  Help the person in need.

4. Help others

5. Look at animals & insects as if they possess the same life as we have

(as Ramirez the cat cleans himself on the stage with Dr. Lad.  Ramirez then goes to sleep.  Samadhi at the feet of the guru.)

Mahatma Gandhi - to fight against the British Empire employed Ahimsa (non-violence) and Truth (Satya).  There was a famous story of a cobra that lay only 1 and 1/2 feet away from Gandhi.  Any moment he would have attacked.  Gandhi looked into the eyes of the cobra which such love, such compassion, that the cobra opened its hood and then closed it.  The cobra felt such love from Gandhi and  crawled over him.  It was over 9 feet long.

When Gandhi died, the last words from his mouth as he was shot were:

"He Ram

He Ram

He Ram"

Hail Ram, Praise Ram.

Vasant Lad gave another story about Swami Vivekananda when confronted by a Bengali Tiger that growled and stood in front of him.  Vivekananda looked into the eyes of the tiger with such compassion that the tiger began to wag its tail.

6. Proper respect for God - cows, priests, animals, elderly people, physicians and guests

7. Speak at proper place & proper time the proper truth - Speak the creative truth that will help 2 people to unite together.  Speak the creative, constructive truth.