Yama 2 - Satya (truth)

Doing what is right, not what is convenient. When we work with integrity, we inspire trust; this makes our conditioning or value system acceptable & less fearsome to others...

Satya (truth): The actual term in yoga sutras is satya or truth but this aspect is being expanded to a more easily implementable position called integrity because it is more appropriate in today’s context. Also, truth in the world of illusion is difficult to define and easy to deflect. Hence, integrity has been substituted.

In the context of Situational Awareness, integrity is not about honesty alone; it is about aligning ones’ behavior with conditioning, willingness to sacrifice one immediate goals for the needs of a greater value, working with complete commitment, devotion and single-mindedness to achieve the objective and not be tempted by anything. This quality of steadfastness to a higher value objective inspires and maintains trust with those we interact because our communication removes selfishness. These actions keep stress levels low and awareness levels high.

Integrity, or its absence, can take many forms:

• Intellectual integrity: Arrogance, misleading, exaggerating…
• Business integrity: Putting personal interests first, passing the buck, bribing…
• Decision integrity: Not taking cognisance of all inputs, not taking stakeholders into confidence…
• Communication integrity: Hiding critical information, no transparency, etc…
• Process integrity: Not ensuring that process parameters are met…

Anecdotes, experiences and situations to help understand…

Exercise: You are a manager and have to appraise three subordinates; as a result, one may be asked to leave the company. All are of the same level with minor differences. What will you do? How will you handle…? 

• How will you approach the decision? 
• How will you handle the people? 
• What is the fear that such an encounter generates? 

Share your opinion and experiences 

• Is it always possible to maintain a level of integrity? 
• How do we maintain integrity in our personal life, like paying taxes? 
• How do we teach integrity within our family, especially with our children? 
• How do we maintain integrity when we move in society, on the road, at the bus stop, at a restaurant? 
• How do we maintain integrity at work, as a superior, subordinate and peer? 
• Business integrity; Is it possible to work with integrity with our suppliers & customers? 
• Integrity & public life people like politicians, civil servants, police etc; How does it impact Dharma of a nation? 

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Yama 1 - Ahimsa (nonviolence)

Ahimsa (Non-Violence): is the ability to react in a non-threatening manner to stimulus contrary to our conditioning, controlling anger, frustration, giving positive feedback.

To understand non-violence, one must understand violence and its relationship to anger, fear, frustration, ambition and power.

Violence covers a vast spectrum, from subtle abuse to genocide where entire populations are exterminated. It also includes killing of animals, plants and all elements of nature with which we need to live in harmony. It includes injury to oneself.

Control is extremely difficult but this element is the key to progress in stress management and Situational Awareness.

Ahimsa would include the following capabilities:

• Ability to regard the other’s point of view before reacting.
• Ability to control an emotional hijack when faced with fear, anxiety, frustration and loss.
• Ability to respond in a non-threatening manner to stimulus when it is contrary to our conditioning.
• Ability to give feedback without losing control of the process.

There are 3 types of violence: Tamasic (confused), Rajasic (Passionate) & Sattvic (Balanced).  

Tamasic violence comes out of lack of knowledge and is driven primarily by fear and confusion. 

Example: All forms of segregation and separation, whether of colour, caste, religion or creed arise out of ignorance because there can be no difference between living beings. 

Rajasic violence primarily out of passion and is driven by emotions such as anger, lust, greed, ambition etc.  

Example: All forms of sexual assaults are driven by Rajas. 

Sattvic violence is very difficult to achieve and is characterized by high communication and patience. 

Example: A parent scolding a truant child. When the parent is trying to push his or her own agenda on the child, then it is Tamasic. When the parent scolds the child because he or she is afraid of what society will say, then it is Rajasic. When the parent scolds the child for deviation of a value that has been explained often, then the reason is Sattvic. This is characterized by the parent trying to separate the person from the problem. Violence is used as a tool to drive home a point after various methods such as sama (discussion), dana (inducement), bedha (discord) have failed. 

Anecdotes, experiences and situations to help understand… 

Situation 1: Citation for Param Vir Chakra (India’s highest award for gallantry in battle) awarded to COMPANY QUARTER MASTER HAVILDAR ABDUL HAMID, 4 GRENADIERS reads: 

At 0800 hours on 10 September 1965, enemy forces launched an attack with a regiment of Patton tanks on a vital area ahead of village Cheema on the Bhikkiwind road in the Khem Karam Sector. Intense artillery shelling preceded the attack. The enemy tanks penetrated the forward position by 0900 hours. Realising the grave situation, Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid who was commander of an RCL gun detachment, moved out to a flanking position with his gun mounted on a jeep, under intense enemy shelling and tank fire. Taking an advantageous position, he knocked out the leading enemy tank and then, swiftly changing his position, he sent another tank up in flames. By this time, the enemy tanks in the area spotted him and brought his jeep under concentrated machine-gun and high explosive fire. Undeterred, Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid kept on firing on yet another enemy tank with his recoilless gun. While doing so, he was mortally wounded by an enemy high-explosive shell. 

Havildar Abdul Hamid’s brave action inspired his comrades to put up a gallant fight and to beat back the heavy tank assault by the enemy. His complete disregard for his personal safety during the operation and his sustained acts of bravery in the face of constant enemy fire were a shining example not only to his unit but also to the whole division and were in the highest traditions of the Indian Army. 

Situation 2: In 1303 AD, Ala-ud-din, the Sultan of Delhi besieged Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India, (which was under the control of Rajput Rana Rawal Ratan Singh) because he desired Rani Padmini, the queen of Chittorgarh and a famed beauty. Frustrated in the siege, he ultimately agreed to have a glimpse of Rani Padmini in a mirror. But the Sultan, on seeing the image, was besotted by the queen and reneged and invaded Chittorgarh again. Realising the impossibility of the situation, the Rajputs decided to commit Jauhar and Saka. The women committed ritual suicide (jauhar) within the fort while the men sallied forth to certain death (saka).  

The Rajputs committed jauhar again on 8 March 1535 when Bahadur Shah attacked Chittorgarh and on 22 February 1568 when Akbar attacked the fortress.

• Conditioning or dharma in violence: Generally, violence disturbs peace. Can violence be used to protect dharma? 
• Is a soldiers sacrifice for his country (called veergati (veer=valour + gati = way) an act of ahimsa?  
• What is the value of fear in non-violence? How does fear change individuality? How does fear become part of our conditioning? 
• Can a fight for freedom through violence, even defensive action be termed as non-violence? 

Share your opinion and experiences: 

• Can we control anger? What is the source of anger? How do we control it? 
• What is anxiety? How does it manifest as a reaction?  
• What happens when things go wrong? How do we cope? 
• How important is communication in managing anger? 
• Importance of patience in management of violence. 
• Does our ability to control violence improve with age? 
• Is killing for food himsa (violence)? 
• Is satyagraha or non-violent protest himsa or ahimsa? Remember – a protest or strike provokes another into reacting. So, when one’s actions provokes a violent reaction, is it violence or non-violence? 
• Is killing for God or religion OK? 
• How do you convert an anger emanating from fear or confusion to justifiable anger, if such a thing is possible? Try it today...

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Yama (transaction or outward control)

Introduction: Generally, stimulus comes from more than one source, hence it is rare that the stimulus is received with complete attention. The quality of reception depends on the state of awareness, called vijnana (awareness of the situation) and any drop in awareness creates error in estimation and expectation, in both, the individual manifesting and receiving the stimulus. This can generate stress, especially if the situation calls for a high degree of adjustment and one that is difficult to cope. One also get stressed if the situation results in confrontation, in an insensitive or irrelevant response. Ones reactions to stimulus and ability to work with others in a peaceful manner or bring balance into his or her tasks and relationships are fundamental building blocks for a sustainable solution to stress.Yama is the first element of Situational Awareness. It enables us to and live a life where our actions leave us as well as those we interact with a sense peace. It results in us being able to enjoy a stable and balanced relationship with our environment.

Yama has different meanings, "rein, curb, or bridle, discipline or restraints". In the present context, it means "self-control or forbearance" when dealing with the environment. Patanjali's Yoga Sutra mentions six key elements in Yama that cover all aspects of personal behaviour with the external environment.

Effective yama is being able to align ones svadharma with that of others to achieve common goals while instilling the sense of peace in all entities affected by ones action. Therefore, yama means exercising restraint in ones reaction to stimulus.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra mentions six key elements in yama that cover most aspects of behaviour with the external environment. These elements are ahimsa (Non-violence), satya or hrta (Integrity), brahmacharyam (sexual continence or diversity control), asteya (Non-stealing & Teaming), aparigraha (Equanimity) and mitahara (diet control). When one implements these elements, there is an increasing sense of control and peace because the interaction become less threatening and more collaborative. This results in lesser emotional turmoil, an increased awareness of vijnana and svadharma.

Share your opinion and experiences:

• Do we control events?
• What is the best way to react? What is the end we should aim for?
• Is it possible to achieve a win-win solution every time?
• If we cannot achieve a win-win solution, then how should we manage the situation?
• How do we react, ensure success, yet ensure peace in any reaction?
• How important is transparency in a reaction?
• How important is it for us to respect the other person’s svaharma in a situation?
• How do relationships get affected? Why do they get disturbed?
• What does it take to restore a disturbed relationship?
• Can a relationship be one-sided? How do you manage an important one-sided relationship?
• How important is patience in a relationship?
• How important is communication in maintaining relationships?
• How do you use communication to diffuse tension?

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Measurement of Situational Awareness

Recap – Yoga, having its roots in the word yuj, meaning “to yoke” is the weaving our conditioning with our behavior to enable us to build a cohesive personality. Raja Yoga is considered to be the Raja (king) among Yoga Shastras (a text of experience) because the king works at a material level and hence this yoga is more attuned to normal living without having to go deep into spiritual life. By design, it has two levels- a beginner’s level for self-improvement in daily life (Kriya Yoga) and an advanced level (Dhyana Yoga) for one who wishes to delve deep into the esoteric.

The world has become smaller and success lies in our ability to handle rapid change. This change could range from diversity issues in the form cultural, racial or sexual biases to assimilation of technical and business information; or issues as mundane as handling jet lag and cross cultural food.

The process of confronting, accepting, assimilating and responding to reality is not easy, especially when each experience is new and traditional/ “ready recipe” responses are inappropriate/ inadequate. This continuous need for “ground up” response tests our entire value and belief system and stresses us.

Example: Consider time. We constantly plan our lives to the clock, but does the Sun care? Do the winds and tides work to a schedule? What happens when we are engrossed with something we like? We forget time which for us, becomes the gap between when we remember starting the activity to the moment we became conscious of ourselves again. We had become so engrossed us that our consciousness was completely merged with the subject, achieved the state of Yoga. Therefore, time can only be defined as “the gap between two states of consciousness”, the time when we are completely aware of ourselves.

It stands to reason that should we be able to maintain single point focus (ekagrath) on any subject, we would be able to operate in any situation with clarity and balance and with far lesser confusion or passion. This will increase our level of consciousness or awareness and allow us to realize our full potential. This is Situational Awareness.

Measure of Progress:

How do we know that we are succeeding in our efforts? From first principles, we know that stress occurs when we perceive a lack of congruence of the stimulus with our conditioning and the ability align our conditioning with our behavior to manage any situation.

There are four stages of consciousness in the road to Situational Awareness. They are Jagrat (wakeful or transactional state); Swapna (conceptual or dream State); Sushupti (formless state) and Turiya (State where no guna exists – nirguna state). Clearly, the Turiya state is meant for mystics and not for daily application. However, the other states can be used as metrics for judging progress.

How do we judge these states?

Jagrat (transaction or awakened state) is when we are conscious of what is going on around us. It is the kinesthetic element of our existence.

Swapna (Dream State) is when we see images and intentions, the visual element.

Sushupti (Awareness State) is when the consciousness needs no form to support existence, also known as formless or nirrupa. Here audio impulse is the only conscious Situational Awareness stimulus.

The three states will manifest as shown in the matrix below. These are nine combinations of Situational Awareness which can be evaluated in a matrix shown above. The first name decides which level predominates.

Anecdotes, experiences and situations to help understand…

(Wikipedia extract) After a day at work, Rosa Parks, a 42 year old African America boarded a bus on 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, USA. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of seats reserved for blacks in the “coloured” section, which was near the middle of the bus and directly behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. As the bus travelled along its regular route, all the white-only seats in the bus filled up. At one stop, several white passengers boarded.

In 1900, Montgomery had passed a city ordinance for the purpose of segregating passengers by race. Conductors were given the power to assign seats to accomplish this; Montgomery bus drivers had adopted the practice of requiring black riders to move whenever there were no white-only seats left to seat whites.

So, following standard practice, the bus driver, seeing that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three whites standing, demanded that four black people give up their seats. Three people moved, but Rosa Parks did not get up to move to the back. The driver asked “Why don’t you stand up?” Parks responded, “I don’t think I should have to stand up. The driver said, ‘Well, if you don’t stand up, I’m going to have to call the police and have you arrested.’ Rosa said, ‘You may do that.’”

Rosa Parks was arrested and jailed for not giving up her seat. Rosa Parks is often called the “Mother of the modern civil rights movement”. She exhibited valour without anger, violence or fear.

• What were the changes to Rosa Parks state of awareness in the above situation?
• What is the role of fear in situational awareness?
• What were the fears that might have been experienced by Rosa Parks?

Share your opinion and experiences;

• How close is the concept of Situational Awareness with Theory of Relativity? How does mass, time, light and space affect Situational Awareness?
• How can one assess progress in his or her awareness levels?
• Why is it so difficult to remain in the present? How can one improve one’s awareness of the present?
• How can one improve one’s focus (ekagrath)?

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Stress and Yoga

Recap:

SvaTantra is colloquially known as independence. It is a compound word (Sva = self + Tantra = weave). Weave?

Weave here, is the weave of Siva with Sakti... Isn't that religion? Not at all!

Siva = sense of personal identity & Sakti is the manifestation of that identity. Simply put Tantra is the weave of our sense of identity with our actions.

So, SvaTantra is our ability to yoke our sense of identity with our action in any situation. Yoke? Yes, yoke is the English term for the Sanskrit word, Yoga... both words come from same background.

We take and implement decisions all the time. This causes stress. Isn’t stress a result of a negative outcome? Actually, we experience stress all the time. Whenever we wish to get things done, we make an effort. This causes change, to which there is resistance. The effort to effect change and overcome resistance to the change, both result in stress.

Any stress situation has two elements: the stressor and our coping action, out of which the only the latter is truly in our control. Our ability to cope effectively is limited only by our capability, our ability to assess the situation, decide on what to do, effectiveness in implementing the decision and dealing with the consequence of our action.

Elements of Situational Awareness;

Situational Awareness is a stress management tool which addresses solutions at two levels; an intervention to manage the immediacy of the situation and a developmental aspect where the lessons (vijnana and jnana) are imbibed, resulting in us being able to either avoid the situation in future or to deal with it more effectively.

Intervention. In many new or difficult situations we often feel overwhelmed, experiencing a kind of psychosomatic hijack characterized by a feeling of being out of control. We need some tool that clears the clouds of confusion and brings a sense of clarity and balance.

Development. This solution is used in the following cases:

Often, we react without fully understanding the situation. This results in a stress residue after the situation has passed. These stresses need to be purged in order that we remain in reality and at peace.

Some situations are long-term and need continuous attention. This means continued focus on incremental improvements to bring the situation under control.

Finally, all experiences result in learning at both, vijnana (transactional) and jnana (value) levels. The faster this assimilation occurs, the better will be the capability of the person to manage a similar experience again.

Any stress management tool we use must cover the following areas related to us:

• Ability to interact with our environment in such a way that we retain our sense of peace and keep the peace with our environment.
• Ability to digest and assimilate inputs from the environment, extract and assimilate the essence of our experience, reference and understand concepts and build a base for better interaction with the environment.
• The opening up of the world has thrown up many opportunities and challenges. The cost of assuaging ambition is often very high in terms of health, relationships and other lost opportunities. The ability to prioritise and balance these requirements is very important.
• As we move to extract more from life without losing our sense of peace, a key requirement is our ability to retain emotional integrity, dual brain operation (left and right/ logical and creative) and high oxygen absorption. The reason is that without such a balance, thinking can become polarized, leading to stress.
• Finally, our ability to process data needs to be enhanced. The ability to handle multiple situations, each with its own demands, is the key to the effective utilization of our time and energy.

Situational Awareness is an exercise in capability building, directing our energies to generating maximum effectiveness for the time that we are alive. This means understanding the objective of what we are setting out to do, putting together a plan that has measurable milestones, eliminating waste in the form of frittered energy, fear, etc., in our operations, communicating effectively, learning continuously and being aware of what we are doing.

While there are many Yoga techniques, these have their base in the liberation of the soul and are not compatible with the demands of managerial stress situations. The most appropriate Yoga technique is Raja Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga (King of Yoga or Eight Limbed Yoga). Raja Yoga has two main sections – Kriya Yoga (Activity Yoga) and Dhyan Yoga (Merger Yoga). The latter section refers to liberation, but the former is very relevant to managers.

This discipline is one of the most comprehensive and complete tools in situation awareness.

Kriya Yoga has 5 parts;

• Yama – Transaction Control – How to interact with the external surroundings. This is based on managing transactions or managing response to stimulus.
• NiYama – Conceptual Control or inward discipline– How to manage the turbulence generated by conflict and change within our personality.
• Asana – Managers need to be physically fit to be able to take effective decisions and put in the effort to affect change. Asanas, in addition to increasing fitness levels, help in managing the fallout and reduction in stress levels.
• Pranayama – This compound word simply means – discipline in breathing. This discipline has two objectives- it increases oxygen intake, thereby reducing the level of toxins in the body which accumulate as a result of stress and it balances left and right brain activity. Both are critical to effective decision making.
• Pratyahara – colloquially, this is meditation. What is does is akin to the effect of stress on a prism. A prism breaks down white light into its constituent colours, somewhat like what a manager does with information, breaking it down to its constituent parts in order to take decisions. A prism becomes dysfunctional if is dirty or stressed – its crystalline structure is disturbed, when its ability to breakdown the incoming light is compromised. Praytahara brings back the crystalline ability to process information and data.

Share your opinion and experiences;

• How do you cope with Stress?
• What do you know of Yoga?
• How do you build capability?
• What is learning? How does it affect stress?

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