How essential is right way of living?

We often come across people who live a unwholesome life, but talk high about their spiritual achievements. There are many modern Gurus who live a lowly life, while preaching spirituality to others. They even say that Yama and Niyama of Yoga are not at all needed and one can straight away jump to meditation or ‘other limbs’ of Yoga. 

I have ridiculed them in my post ‘tail wagging the dog’. What does Buddha say about this attitude?

Buddha gives the simile of a piece of cloth (MN 7: Vatthupama Sutta). Supposing you have a piece of cloth, that you would like to dye.  If the cloth is not clean, no matter what you do, the cloth will never take on the color you want. The color would almost always be dirty and not the one you wanted it to be dyed. 

You need to first wash the cloth thoroughly before trying to dye it. Then only it can give desired results. The dye cannot coverup the dirt in an unclean cloth.

Similarly,a sinner cannot hope to rid himself from his sins by taking a dip in holy rivers. Buddha says that any holy river is as ineffective as your own well if you are a sinner, and your well is good enough. if you  are pure.

The import is -  try to clean yourself first, before embarking on spiritual path. That is the reason why Buddha makes ‘righteous living’ as the pre-requisite to embarking on holy life. That is exactly the reason why Patanjali talks about Yama and Niyama as the first steps of Yoga. 

If you don’t do that, your fate is like the piece of dirty cloth that can never take on the desired color no matter how much you try. 

So, don’t try to close your eyes on your unrighteous way of living, hoping that this or that Guru is going to teach you some magic  ‘technique’ to cover up all your shortcomings. It has not done that on the Guru; and so how can it do for you?