Ahiṃsā is a great universal duty which a man should impose on himself in all conditions of life, everywhere, and at all times without restricting or qualifying it with any limitation whatsoever. In _Mahābhārata Mokshadharmādhyāya_ it is said that the Sāṃkhya lays stress upon non-injury, whereas the Yoga lays stress upon samādhi; but here we see that Yoga also holds that ahiṃsā should be the greatest ethical motive for all our conduct. It is by ahiṃsā alone that we can make ourselves fit for the higher type of samādhi. All other virtues of truthfulness, non-stealing only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. It is not, however, easy to say whether the Sāṃkhyists attached so much importance to non-injury that they believed it to lead to samādhi directly without the intermediate stages of samādhi. We see, however, that the Yoga also attaches great importance to it and holds that a man should refrain from all external acts; for however good they may be they cannot be such as not to lead to some kind of injury or hiṃsā towards beings, for external actions can never be performed without doing some harm to others. We have seen that from this point of view Yoga holds that the only pure works (śuklakarma) are those mental works of good thoughts in which perfection of ahiṃsā is attained. With the growth of good works (śuklakarma) and the perfect realisation of non-injury the mind naturally passes into the state in which its actions are neither good (śukla) nor bad (aśukla); and this state is immediately followed by that of kaivalya. Veracity consists in word and thought being in accordance with facts. Speech and mind correspond to what has been seen, heard and inferred. Speech is for the purpose of transferring knowledge to another. It is always to be employed for the good of others and not for their injury; for it should not be defective as in the case of Yudhishṭhira, where his motive was bad.[42] If it prove to be injurious to living beings, even though uttered as truth, it is not truth; it is sin only. Though outwardly such a truthful course may be considered virtuous, yet since by his truth he has caused injury to another person, he has in reality violated the true standard of non-injury (_ahiṃsā_). Therefore let everyone first examine well and then utter truth for the benefit of all living beings. All truths should be tested by the canon of non-injury (_ahiṃsā_). Asteya is the virtue of abstaining from stealing. Theft is making one’s own unlawfully things that belong to others. Abstinence from theft consists in the absence of the desire thereof. Brahmacaryya (continence) is the restraint of the generative organ and the thorough control of sexual tendencies. Aparigraha is want of avariciousness, the non-appropriation of things not one’s own; this is attained on seeing the defects of attachment and of the injury caused by the obtaining, preservation and destruction of objects of sense.