Aparigraha
I'm the type of person who is easily pleased, but not easily satisfied.
I have a big appetite for life. Which can be a two-sided quality. On one hand, it is good because it can make you motivated, energized, and eager to live and make a change. On the other hand, it can cause you to be grasping, possessive, and greedy.
Let me give you an example.
We've all been at a party or a holiday dinner (Thanksgiving anyone?) and maybe ate a little too much. To a point where you wanted to swear off food for a week. But then they bring in the pie and all of the sudden you forget about your bloated stomach as you top your pie with a scoop of ice cream.
Yogis thousands of years ago spent their time studying the mind and its inner work, in order to find a way to be at peace and free themselves from the mind's restless thinking. Ashtanga Yoga or the Eight Limbs of Yoga was created as a guideline to self-realization.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga: Yama (universal moral commandments), Niyama (self-purification by discipline), Asana (posture), Pranayama (rhythmic control of the breath), Pratyahara (turning your sensory energy inwards), Dharana (concentration), Dhyāna (meditation), and Samadhi (a state of experiencing oneness)
With constant practice, we will emerge from darkness to lightness. From ignorance to knowledge. From falsehood to truthfulness. We become free from desire and its consequences.
"Discipline yourself by the Self and destroy your deceptive enemy in the shape of desire" (Bhagavad Gita, chapter III, verse 42-3)
Here I want to bring a light on the last commandment of the Yamas:
Aparigraha (Sanskrit: अपरिग्रह) A = non, Parigraha = hoarding, collecting, or greed.
You should not take anything more than what you need or anything you have not worked for. "for this indicates poverty of the spirit." - B.K.S Iyengar. With the evolution of humans experiencing starvation and famine for thousands of years, it has conditioned us to hoard and collect in order to avoid hunger in the future. It has become our nature.
Except the yogi sees that and acknowledges that it results in greed and mistrust in himself and in God. "The yogi feels that the collection or hoarding of things implies a lack of faith in God and in himself to provide for his future." You could ask, "well what about savings?" because technically you do not need this money right now. Most of us have savings in order to avoid misfortune in the future. In a way, we are not trusting our path. Sometimes we forget that things always work out at the end. When you trust your path, everything you aspire for comes in your way when you are ready without any effort.
Instead, one should simplify his or her life as much as possible and in that way, you start to realize that you do not need much. In fact, the less you have, the more you feel like you are living in abundance.
"The root of these evils are the emotions of greed, desire, and attachment, which may be mild, medium or excessive. They only bring pain and ignorance" - (Light on Yoga 31)
Personally, applying Aparigraha in my life comes in many ways. Not asking for too much or wanting too much of anything. From material wealth, food, or love.
To practice Aparigraha daily, you can start by not taking more than what you need from materials, food, water, and electricity. To practice aparigraha in non-materialistic ways comes in forms of not wasting anyone's time, energy, and emotions. Not being greedy for attention and appraisal.
