Possession is outside. Attachment is inside. Use what life gives you but do not let it define you.
Having lots of money while not having inner peace is like dying of thirst while bathing in a lake.
Yogananda
Hmm! I suppose I am experiencing a forced type of Aparigraha. Aparigraha is a Sanskrit word meaning non-possessiveness. It is also the fifth Yama or ethical principle found in the first limb of Patanjali's Raja yoga path. Life really seems to be helping me to travel along this path lately. I am finding this non-attachment getting easier to master. It is hard to be attached to that which you do not have :). I am no longer bathing in a lake (if I ever was lol)...more like dipping my toes in a puddle, but I am not that thirsty anymore. There is a peace in this that is quenching my thirst from the inside. I am being given what is truly needed.
"I do not own much physical possessions, so physical possessions own me less and less. I am becoming free."
I remind myself of this often and it brings that peace that quenches thirst.
Now, I didn't actively renounce anything. I do not believe that giving up what we own is a necessary part of the waking-up process. Life removed a great deal from this human, maybe, because I was too attached? When I asked for an acceleration of this process, it obliged.
This word, aparigraha, when properly translated...is more about non-attachment than it is non-possession. It is not about what we own or "give up" on the outside...it is about not being attached to it. If Life gives us lots in the form of abundance or ease...great...use it without fear of losing it...and use it for so-called "good". If it gives us less...use that too without fear of losing it, without a constant craving for more. (I may, in all honestly, still have some work to do in the "craving for more" department lol).
There is another Sanskrit word here that may apply to this situation, "Akincana". Akincana means without material possessions or desires for it. Hmm! (I still, as a human with remaining ego attached, have some desire for this situation to improve in the material department...but I am beginning to trust more and more that Life knows what it is doing. More and more, I am allowing it to guide me towards what is needed for my growing into the experience of unconditional peace.)
Now the term, "Akincana" has a cool story to it. It originated in the Srimad Bhagavatam (scriptures of the Supreme One). In this scripture Queen Kunti calls Lord Krishna,"Akincana-gocara", in her prayers - meaning that the divine is easily approached and realized by those who are "materially exhausted" and without worldly pride.
There are also a few stories to share related to these concepts. (Don't worry, these ones are not about this human I call "me" :))
The first story is a western one, whose origins probably date back to Greece, 2500 years ago. It is said to have come about from an exchange between a wealthy, court-catering philosopher by the name of Aristipuss and a penniless monk who lived in a barrel and owned only a cup, by the name of Diogenes the cynic.
The Wealthy Minister and the Penniless Monk
Two young friends grew up together in moderate circumstances, enjoying Life and each other. Eventually the time came for them to take different paths. One friend chose "materiality" as his master. He became educated and affluent, eventually becoming one of the king's most trusted ministers, serving him night and day, always at the king's beck and call. For his service, he lived in notoriety, wealth, and luxury. The other chose a "spiritual path" of renunciation. He lived in extreme poverty and squalor, barely getting a meal a day.
One day the king's minister was happening along a back road on one of his many errands for the king, when he spotted his friend in rags sitting on the side of the road eating a meager portion of rice and beans from his small alms bowl. The monk had just made the long trek from the village for his morning begging and was too exhausted to make it back to the monastery. So, he sat where he was eating the bit of food he was given.
"My friend, it pains me to see you living like this." the minister, in his finest silks, said as he jumped off his horse to go to his friend's side. "Why don't you come back to the castle with me?" he asked as he squatted by the monk putting a gloved hand on his friend's thin shoulder. "If you learn to cater to the king, as I have done, you will no longer have to live on rice and beans."
The tiny monk, looked up at his friend and with love in his clear seeing eyes said in return, "If you learn to live on rice and beans, as I have done, you will no longer have to cater to the king."
Yogananda's Experience with Akicana " Two Penniless Boys in Brindiban"
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda shares the story of how he and a friend were challenged by Yogananda's brother to board a train penniless. They were not to ask for food or beg. They were not to tell anyone they were penniless (so they didn't evoke pity). And at the same time, they were not to miss one meal and were to return home by midnight.
Trusting in the goodness of "The Invisible Hand", Yogananda accepted the challenge and he and his friend boarded the train to the holy city of Brindiban. Without begging or disclosing their pennilessness, they were offered a grand feast from one of the passengers, and return tickets from another.
Yogananda's faith fed him and his friend and provided a way home. He showed his brother that he didn't need money or possessions- "bread" -to make his way. He needed faith in God or "The Invisible Hand".
This reminds me of the words Jesus spoke when he was quoting Deuteronomy in Matthew 4:4
Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Vivekananda and the Cobbler
Choosing a life as a wandering monk, Vivekananda gave up his middle-upper class status as a son of a renown lawyer to pursue his spiritual calling as a Brahmin monk. As a monk, he lived only on the kind and cold offerings of others. He often found himself starving and desperate but was determined to offer spiritual guidance to those who came to him. One day he found himself especially hungry and exhausted after three continuous days of serving the public in this way. Many rich merchants were amongst the people whose questions he relentlessly answered. Not one of those well-to-do people during those three days, however, offered to feed him.
An old cobbler of the lowest caste, saw the Brahmin monk in his exhaustion and hunger and felt great compassion. He, however, was afraid to approach the monk because he was an "untouchable" and it was the law that he never address a Brahmin. The punishment for breaking such a law was severe. Still, his compassion overtook him and he offered to get fresh ingredients to make fresh bread for Vivekananda. Because he had vowed never to touch fire, the monk refused the kind offer but suggested he would take what was already made. Thrilled that the Brahmin would accept his lowly gifts, the cobbler ran home and returned with freshly baked bread which Vivekananda accepted with the greatest humility and appreciation.
He wrote:
I doubted, just then if it would be even more palatable, even if Indra himself, king of the devas, held out a cup of nectar in a golden basin before me. I shared tears of gratitude and thought, thousands of such large-hearted men live in lowly huts, and we despise them as untouchables.
The moral here goes beyond the value of giving away what we own but these stories can bring us back to the truth that material possessiveness should not be the aim of this Life...detachment from our need for it can take us to the higher goals of compassion and a realization of our Oneness or inter-beingness.
We don't need to necessarily renounce anything but our "attachment" and recognize that sometimes an absence of material possession or a giving away of at least some of it to those in need...can free us in ways we never thought possible.
Non-attachment (vairagya) is the constant mastery of freedom from craving felt by one who has ceased to thirst for seen or unseen worldly pleasures. Yoga Sutras 1.15
Wow! How I rambled today. :) Maybe next time I will share Zen and Taoist stories about the virtues of pennilessness
All is well.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Autobiography of a Yogi
The Complete Workd of Vivekananda
Srimab Bhagavatam
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