But it is easy to see that ordinary minds can never commence with these practices. They are naturally so impure that the positive universal sympathy as manifested in maitrī, etc., by which turbidity of mind is removed, is too difficult. It is also difficult for them to keep the mind steady on an object as in dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi, for only those in advanced stages can succeed in this. For ordinary people, therefore, some course of conduct must be discovered by which they can purify their minds and elevate them to such an extent that they may be in a position to avail themselves of the mental parikarmas or purifications just mentioned. Our minds become steady in proportion as their impurities are cleansed. The cleansing of impurities only represents the negative aspect of the positive side of making the mind steady. The grosser impurities being removed, finer ones remain, and these are removed by the mental parikarmas, supplemented by abhyāsa or by śraddhā, etc. As the impurities are gradually more and more attenuated, the last germs of impurity are destroyed by the force of dhyāna or the habit of nirodha samādhi, and kaivalya is attained. We now deal with yamas, by which the gross impurities of ordinary minds are removed. They are, as we have said before, non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-covetousness; of these non-injury is given such a high place that it is regarded as the root of the other yamas; truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, non-covetousness and the other niyamas mentioned previously only serve to make the non-injury perfect. We have seen before that maitrī, karuṇa, muditā and upekshā serve to strengthen the non-injury since they are only its positive aspects, but we see now that not only they but other yamas and also the other niyamas, purity, contentment, asceticism, studies and devotion to God, only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. This non-injury when it is performed without being limited or restricted in any way by caste, country, time and circumstances, and is always adhered to, is called mahāvrata or the great duty of abstinence from injury. It is sometimes limited to castes, as for example injury inflicted by a fisherman, and in this case it is called anuvrata or restricted ahiṃsā of ordinary men as opposed to universal ahiṃsā of the Yogins called mahāvrata; the same non-injury is limited by locality, as in the case of a man who says to himself, “I shall not cause injury at a sacred place”; or by time, when a person says to himself, “I shall not cause injury on the sacred day of Caturdaśī”; or by circumstances, as when a man says to himself, “I shall cause injury for the sake of gods and Brahmans only”; or when injury is caused by warriors in the battle-field alone and nowhere else. This restricted ahiṃsā is only for ordinary men who cannot follow the Yogin’s universal law of ahiṃsā.