Aparigraha is the practice of non-greed, non-hoarding, non-possessiveness. It is one of the 5 yamas, one of the 5 ways to be nice to others, listed as part of the first limb of the 8 limbed path of Raja Yoga.
Let’s look at the related riddle that Patanjali gives in Book 2, Sutra 39. It’s one of my favorites, because it’s so bizarre:
From Swami Satchitananda’s translation:
“When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one’s birth comes.”
Repeat that a few times and see what arises in your mind. “When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one’s birth comes...”
There are many ways to unpack this riddle, but what stands out to me is that the point of life is not about accumulation of STUFF. Life is not about buying and amassing material things, holding on to more than we need. When we hunt for and eradicate erroneous personal beliefs that lead to gathering and holding onto STUFF, what arises in the cleared out space of awareness is the true purpose of our lives.
What is the true purpose of one’s life? What is our mission? What's our calling? Why were we born? Answers to these salient questions naturally arise when we create the proper conditions through concentration practices such as those found in the hatha yoga tradition (asana, pranayama, bandha, mudra, and meditation).
Another way to understand the riddle given in the sutra on Aparigraha is this:
Aparigraha is NON-greed. What is the opposite of greed? The opposite of holding on to more than we need is gladly letting go of excess. To practice aparigraha we can consider: what do I have in abudnance that I can easily share? The point of life is not to have it all for ourselves, rather to gladly share what we have with others.
At the end of each recording this week there is a brief reflection related to Aparigraha and connecting with the deeper purpose of our lives.
I hope you enjoy!
Aparigraha: 29 min. Vinyasa Flow (suggested Spotify playlist is in the Vimeo description that you’ll see once you click the link.)
https://vimeo.com/678238004/e503c54206
Aparigraha: 37 min. Gentle, Restorative, Yin sequence (suggested Spotify playlist is in the Vimeo description that you’ll see once you click the link.)
https://vimeo.com/678216372/1726fc9009
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Love,
Shala
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