Yamas – Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness / Trusting Abundance)

Introduction

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Context

• Sutra 2.39 and the fifth yama

Translations

• When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one’s birth comes. (Sri Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)
• Acknowledging abundance, we recognize the blessings in everything and gain insights into the purpose for our worldly existence. (Nischala Joy Devi)
• On becoming steady in non-possessiveness, there arises the knowledge of how and from where birth comes. (Swami Satyananda Saraswati)

Heart of the Teaching

• Aparigraha is the social restraint or yama that teaches non-attachment, non-grasping and non-possessiveness.
• It involves releasing clinging and greediness. Most teachings express that having things is not a problem; rather, it’s our relationship to things that can be a problem.
• We learn that aparigraha is the result of trusting that we will have what we need and of our ability to enjoy possessions without being defined by them, and the ability to let them go.

HOLDING ON CAUSES GREAT SUFFERING

The resistance to change, and tenaciously holding onto things, causes great suffering and prevents us from growing and living life in a more pleasurable way. – Donna Farhi

DON’T WASTE ENERGY HOLDING ON TO WHAT ISN’T REALLY OURS

The final yama is aparigraha, or non-possessiveness and non-hoarding. As befits the end point of such a journey, aparigraha is about letting go. The Yoga Sutras advise us not to waste any energy holding on to that which is not really ours in the first place. – Rolf Gates

Making it Relevant

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• Robert Butera, Ph.D suggests in his book, The Pure Heart of Yoga p 200 that looking to others for confidence and security creates distraction in the mind.
• A consumer society tends to seduce with false images, ideals, and paradigms. Distractions from the outside world often prevent living and enjoying the present moment and in turn we experience suffering or lack of ease. This breed of dis-ease comes in the form of greed, jealousy, selfishness, hatred, violence, and ego, countering our most valued virtues of love, patience, joy, faith, and hope.

More Talking Points

Media Influence

• Media has the potential to manipulate the mind by doling out “advice,” i.e. perfume that will turn your dating life around or pants that will change the shape of your body.
• We find ourselves wishing to be like a celebrity or taking on beliefs or desires for material things, making it difficult to focus on who we are inside, what we truly believe and what we actually need to survive and thrive.

Letting Go of Non-Material Things

• One aspect of aparigraha is noting how difficult it can be to let go of the past, whether it is suffering the loss of a loved one, a relationship or a previous clothing size.
• Accepting change can prove to be extremely challenging when it comes to matters of the heart or to our sense of identity.
• In attempts to find identity, there is a tendency to lose sight of Self and attach to external things, sending the mind into a tailspin of vritti (distractions of the mind).

LETTING GO OF THE OLD, EMBRACING CHANGE

Aparigraha advises us to travel lightly while on the spiritual path… Much of the work we do with aparigraha concerns the obvious. We can’t use a closet if it is stuffed full of worn-out clothing… More difficult is the aspect of aparigraha that concerns worn-out beliefs. Many of the basic assumptions that guide our daily choices are unconscious, unseen… Old thoughts and ideas are an energy in our lives that rob us of the moment. Aparigraha invites us to walk away from yesterday’s outdated beliefs… Yesterday’s definition of a man or a woman, a race or a religion, a blessing or a curse no longer has any power over us… We can experience the lightness that comes from freedom from our own ideas. – Rolf Gates

More Talking Points

• Change is the only constant
• Grasping feels like wanting or “needing”
• Observing aparigraha can help us free the mind from feelings of loss or lacking
• A pure state of being comes from a place of understanding and compassion
• Cultivate virtues: love, patience, faith, hope, compassion and joy
• Give away what you do not need
• Question “needs,” dependencies and jealousy
• “Make a list of the material things that you would like to have. Prioritize the items in their order of importance to you. Whenever you have the urge to buy something, consult your list and follow it. Ask yourself, ‘How will this new thing enrich my life?’  and ‘What are the costs and benefits I would derive from owning this new thing?'” (Judith Lasater)
• Awaken spirit with beliefs that foster the “less is more” and “it is better to give than receive” philosophies
• Allow the Self to radiate through creating pleasure in Self-identity
• Be present
• Become aware of the Self through actions such as meditation and shifting perspective / practicing santosha (contentment)

FROM RAM DASS

The process of awakening brings you into a struggle with every habitual way you have of thinking about the universe, even the deepest ones, because every one of them has you locked into being some facet of who you think you are. ‘I’m somebody who’s really getting on toward enlightenment, aren’t I?’ says the ego… What often happens when we face this stripping away of our models is that we will give up this and that, and instead grab onto that and this. It’s too uncomfortable not to have anything to cling to, and so we substitute a new set of attachments for the old ones. We give up family, we give up social forms—and we start clinging instead to spiritual leaders and spiritual forms. Uh-uh. It’s all gotta go. Big clearance, everything must go. That doesn’t mean we have to give up everything at once; we can give things up as we come to not need them quite so badly anymore. And it doesn’t mean we can’t use spiritual forms; we just have to remember as we’re using them that sooner or later, they’re going to have to go too. Knowing all that makes us feel very vulnerable. There’s no authority we can turn to, nobody to tell us what to do. We can only keep turning to our hearts, listening for what feels like the right next move. – Ram Dass

GRATITUDE, APPREHENSION, DISTRACTION, ENOUGH

Aparigraha gives us the secret to earthly life. Take a moment to feel gratitude for the great blessings that surround you: the home you live in, the service you do in the world, the availability and quantity of food you have to eat. The riches also include your friends, your health, and the opportunity to dedicate time to know your own heart. Even when you acknowledge the bounty, is there still a lingering apprehension that part or all of it may be taken away? That the well might run dry? Just thinking that a resource is limited initiates fear, thereby lessening the joy in the present moment… We have distracted ourselves from the true happiness within by impeding the access into the spiritual vistas with material wants and needs. If we are able to live within the material energy allotted us and generously use the word, “enough,” abundance cascades in our direction. We become free. – Nischala Joy Devi

INVESTIGATING GREED

Greed presents itself as the longing for both the material and the nonmaterial, especially wanting more than is needed. However, whatever you stockpile—be it diamonds, big houses, fame, money, proficiency at advanced yoga poses, or less flashy things—you will inevitably encounter two certainties. First, all will be lost. Second, these things, in and of themselves, will never satisfy your cravings, which are expressions of your feelings of fear and emptiness. You see, sometimes we temporarily lose our way, becoming convinced that if we acquire this thing or that skills, we will finally become acceptable to ourselves and to the world. In our fear, we have forgotten that we are already whole. – Judith Lasater

NOTHING IS PERMANENT

What was in the morning is not at the midday; what was at the midday is not at night; for all things are transitory. Our body, which is really the cause for all kinds of human efforts, is as transitory as the scattering clouds. All our objects of pleasure are changing. Wealth is as transitory as a wave; youth like a cotton particle blown off in a whirlwind; and opportunities like the fleeting dreams. Why should I be attached to anything when nothing is permanent and everything is changing? – Anitya Bhavana

THE EGO

The ego constructs our identity and can hold us hostage to our belongings. The ego thinks that we are our body, our mind, and our thoughts and feelings. When it subjugates our inner intelligence, it literally possesses us. As we accumulate material goods, fame, fortune, and so on, our ego becomes stronger… aparigraha is not being possessive and applies to materials, objects, our bodies, and our thoughts. Rejecting the concept of “mine” will be difficult for the ego, but doing so is necessary to progress in yoga… Our ego loves to call ideas its own and cling to its ideas and opinions. But everything—including the world and ourselves—is always changing, and instead of a rigid ego, we need a flexible heart-mind to navigate these changes comfortably. – Nicolai Bachman

WE CAN EVEN HOARD RESENTMENT!

Many of my resentments were aparigraha violations. I not only held onto these resentments but cherished them. I hoarded them. Yet I remained perplexed about the fact that anger lived in me. Jesse [The Reverend Jess Lee Peterson] told me that I would not be free in a spiritual sense until I did the work of forgiveness. I had to go back to each of those people I had harbored resentment toward, speak honestly about the particulars of our relationship, and formally forgive them. Only after I had let go of these old animosities would I be truly free. To [my] protests…Jesse answered, “The spiritual life is always about letting go. It is never about holding on.” Let go and be free. – Rolf Gates