Yamas: Aparigraha

Aparigraha translates as non-grasping or non-hoarding.   It’s also about spreading the love and good fortune.  It’s about not holding on to that which binds you.   On a material level, this was perfect timing as we were in the process of weeding out, organizing and getting rid of stuff for our yard sale. 

I LOVE this process and always have.  There is something so freeing about just getting rid of anything that is cluttering up your living space.  It’s a very Buddhist process, constantly asking yourself, “How attached to this am I?  Do I really need this?”  I applied the one year rule (if you haven’t used it/wore it in a year, get rid of it philosophy) and realized that there were several things that I had already asked myself about years before and kept, so they got the boot.

One thing that was particularly liberating to me was letting go of books I had carried with me for over 20 years.  Books that meant something so big to me at 18, 22, 25, book like Kerouac’s Dharma Bums, some Jim Morrison poetry, etc.  I’ve been carrying them, moving them from apartment to apartment, house to house, for almost two decades, because they had meant SO MUCH to me then.  I looked at them and realized, they had meant so much to me, defined my young, burgeoning identity, made a statement about who I was.   But they’ve given me what they needed and I don’t need to continue carrying them.  Like Buddha’s story of the raft – he says, use the raft - it can help you get across, but once you’re across the river, why are you carrying that raft around on your back? 

Yogis and Buddhist have long said though, it isn’t the stuff, the materialism that is bad or evil.  Not at all.  There’s nothing wrong with stuff, or even having stuff.  It’s our illusions and attachments to this stuff, that somehow these material things will make us happy, fill a void, etc.  When we attach ourselves to so much stuff and our lives and living space becomes cluttered, so will our hearts and minds, according to Feng Shui principles.

Aparigraha also applies to not attaching mentally, not ruminating, as a psychology teacher recently said on a conference.   This is a big practice for me.  There are certain issues and particular people that I ruminate about constantly.  This is holding on, hoarding thoughts, grasping.  And all it does is cause a big ugly knot in my soul and gut.  It was much easier to clean out the garage.   So, this is about cleaning out the garage of your mind and soul, getting the poison out.  This is the most important practice, of course.  But I’m still working on it.  Constantly.

The notion of simplifying has been in the forefront of my mind lately and I am putting it into practice as much as I can.  Less is more.  Simplicity is key.  Aparigraha was the last Yama and now that we’ve practiced the five restraints (or don’ts), now we move on to the Niyamas, the observances (or do’s).

Sauca (purity) is next!