Niyama i.e. cultivation of certain virtues. The Niyamas which form the routine code of conduct consist of certain good habits which lead to the development of the total personality of a man and also influence attitude towards spiritual pursuits and facilitate the spiritual progress. The following five factors have been accepted as the fundamentals. 

• Sauca is the first element of the five-fold Niyama. This refers to the practice of purity in every sphere of the bodily and mental activity.

• Simply speaking Sauca consists of physical cleaning of the body, externally by washing and internally by taking pure and suitable food in appropriate quantity and quality.

• It also consists of maintaining the purity of mind by avoiding passion, anger, greed, delusion, pride and jealousy.

• Sauca also refers to the purity of the intellect which can be achieved by useful studies to procure correct wisdom.

• Thus by keeping one's body, mind and intellect clean, one can easily progress on the path of spiritual development.

• A mind which is not in the state of contentment cannot concentrate and meditate.

• Discontentment is the root cause of all miseries and it produces all sorts of conscious or unconscious conflicts in our mind.

• Asantosha or discontentment should be always avoided in order to have smooth progress on the path of spiritual attainment.

• Santosha or contentment refers to non-pursuance of the pleasure of the world and being satisfied with whatever one gets as a result of his honest labour.

• The asantosha is one of the biggest hurdles in the path of spiritual enlightenment.

• It is the indifference of the mind to all enjoyment, comforts and other pleasures which a common man aspires to achieve.

• Its primary goal is to drive the mind away and completely beyond the world of illusion and misery.

• Tapasyah or austerity refers to the perfection of the sense organs and body after destruction of impurity by austerities.

• It stands for the habit of hearing, the arts of life and the suffering caused by heat, cold, sun, rain etc.

• The essential purpose of tapasyah is to purify the body and since it is under the control of the will, it is therefore included under Niyamas.

• The living body cannot be used as a perfect instrument of consciousness in the presence of the impurity of the body and lack of control. Tapasyah or austerity refers to the perfection of the sense of body after destruction of impurity by austerities.

• It is that art which enables us to enjoy the various unseen and unheard beauties of life, which gives us the immense strength to bear the suffering caused by heat and cold, sun and rain etc.

• This involves a siddhi or perfection of the body and the senses, meaning thereby a functional perfection, which enables the yogi to use the body for the purpose of yogas, without any kind of hindrance.

• Svadhyaya or self-study consists of developing a habit of devoting regular time to study philosophy and spiritual texts, which reminds the aspirant that the spiritual self is the reality.

• Svadhyaya refers to the union with the desired deity by self-study.

• Svaddhyaya refers to the union with the desired deity by self-study.

• Though Svaddhyaya starts with the study of problems relating to spiritual life, its main purpose is to open up a channel between him and the object of his search.

Isvarapranidhana consists of complete surrender to the God and the constant meditation. lsvarapranidhana can lead ultimately to samadhi.