Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga: YAMA | APARIGRAHA

With firmness in non-possessiveness comes complete understanding of the “why-ness” of birth.

With gaining firmness in Aparigraha, non-possessiveness, we unravel the mystery of this life. Our unfulfilled desires bring us back to this world again and again. The desire to be wealthier, more important, the desire to dominate others and consume more than others, are ingrained in all of us.

This tendency makes it easier for us to commit violence, be dishonest, steal, and indulge ourselves, rather than to embrace the previous four Yamas, non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, and non-indulgence. Behind violence, dishonesty, stealing, and indulgence lies one clear objective - gaining greater control over the objects of our desire and eliminating those with the potential to stand in our way. This phenomenon can be described in one word: possessiveness. 

All of our desires and the possessions fall into one of three categories: Putraishana, desires associated with family and offspring; Vittaishana, desires associated with material wealth and Lokaishana, desires associated with power and fame. 

These three categories of desire come to life in many ways. When they manifest, they demand action. When we succeed in fulfilling our desires, they demand more. When we fail, we are disappointed, sad, and angry. In both cases, a network of new samskaras (mental imprints) are created.

If we’re unable to let go of our worldly attachments they become the driving force in our life. During the time of death, our long-cherished desires all present themselves before our consciousness. As we approach the final moments in our life all the prominent attachments emerge and dominate our consciousness and we are absorbed into that. 

Cultivating thoughts opposite to those that most occupy our mind, is the essence of the practice of Aparigraha. In practice, non-possessiveness involves renouncing our desires and aversions. Through introspection we come to know what is there to be let go of. 

With the help of this, Vairagya (letting go) and meditation, we identify, minimise and eventually eliminate our mental possessions. As we progress in the practice of Aparigraha, we begin to see our subtler and more potent mental possessions. We know we must renounce them or they will drag us back to exactly where we left having to learn all the same lesson over again.