On Aparigraha

Aparigraha is one of the five vows that both householders (Śrāvaka) and ascetics must observe. This vow is the principle of limiting one's possessions (parimita-parigraha) and limiting one's desires (iccha-parimana).

Worldly wealth accumulation is considered as a potential source of rising greed, jealousy, selfishness and desires.  Giving up emotional attachments, sensual pleasures and material possession is a means of liberation.  Eating enough to survive is considered more noble than eating for indulgence.  Similarly, all consumption is more appropriate if it is essential to one's survival, and inappropriate if it is a form of hoarding, show off or for ego. Non-possession and non-attachment are a form of virtue, and these are recommended particularly in later stages of one's life.  After ahiṃsā, Aparigraha is the second most important virtue.

Commentary:  Why do we strive to accumulate?  Why do we worry about money?  Why do we feel good when we make money and feel bad when we struggle?  Why do we worry about making others jealous?  Why do we feel jealous?  My meditation teacher once simply said, keep money in your pockets not in your head.  He also said that for a successful career in politics, one has to move away from a personal desire for money and sex.  I believe that Aparigraha can help take us inwards towards pratayahara and higher states of consciousness.  We can effectively shift our attention from the world to the inner-self where there are less distractions and less concerns in worldly life.

An interesting note is that Aparigraha discusses possessions in a sense of not only material possessions, but also in emotional attachment and sensual pleasures.  Can we expand this thought to include the body?  For example, is body-building a form of attachment and accumulation?  Are we accumulating muscles or even ultimate flexibility in asanas for a yogi?  When I think of Jainism / Buddhism / Hinduism, I think of great minds letting go of the form all together.  I think of astral beings and conscious expansion, not the body.  

When I tihnk of great saints like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar / The Dalai Lama / Baba Ram Dev / Amma, I do not look towards their bodies as a sign of enlightenment, rather it's quite the opposite.  I look towards their minds and vibrations, towards their wisdom and knowledge, towards utlimately, their grace.