(A couple of paras from the article "Mind Management in Everyday Life" in the BSY Magazine publication Yoga Mag September 1999 issue)
When we try to enforce or live or bring a concept into our lives, it becomes a philosophy or an idea with which we identify. But when the concept becomes a philosophy it is not translated into action. There is a split between our personal philosophy and our actions in the outer world. Why? Lack of discipline, lack of awareness. Yoga has been very clear in saying that the beginning of yoga is through discipline – discipline which is not enforced but which is the outcome of the awareness spanning all the different dimensions of the human personality.
In the first statement of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali says that yoga is anushasanam. This word has been translated in English as discipline, but it is not discipline. Anushasan means 'awareness of the inner personality that is manifesting in the outer world'. Anu means 'subtle', shasanam means 'to rule, to govern, to be in control of'. Therefore, according to Patanjali, yoga is a form or method of governing the inner nature. It is a method of directing the inner nature harmoniously so that it can manifest externally. And this is the beginning of yoga.
~Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
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