Glossary

Vow

In yogic thought, a vow of self-restraint is considered complete only once it holds without exception — across every kind of being, every place, every time, and every circumstance.

Four conditions

This teaching names four conditions a vow of self-regulation must meet to count as universal rather than partial: jati, holding regardless of the kind of being or form of life involved; desha, holding in any place; kala, holding at any time; and samaya, holding under any circumstance. The underlying idea is that a vow observed only in some settings, or only some of the time, falls short of what the tradition means by a true vow.