Aparigraha - Non- GreedYS II - 39

Yoga Sutra II- 39 - APARIGRAHA STHAIRYE JANMAKATHAMTA SAMBODHAH - When non-greed is confirmed, a thorough illumination of the how and why of one's birth comes.

Swami Satchidananda tells us that "Aparigraha is abstention from greed or hoarding--which is a form of stealing ---or not receiving gifts. " He says that many times gifts are an advance of future obligations to the giver, and that accepting them binds us and makes us lose our neutrality. However, if one is strong enough to remain free from obligation, then the gifts can be accepted. "Feel, 'I am giving her an opportunity to use her money in the right way, but I am not obligated by this gift.' " The commentary ends "When the mind becomes calm and clear by being free of desires and obligation, we gain the capacity to see how our desires caused our present birth. We directly see the cause and effect relationship because we are detached from it; we are no longer bound up with it."

"Attachment, and the anxiety which accompanies attachment, are obstacles to knowledge. As long as you are clinging desperately to the face of a precipice (and thereby to your life) you are in no condition to survey the place you climbed up from or the place toward which you are climbing. So Patanjali tells us that freedom from attachment will result in knowledge of the whole course of our human journey, through past and future existences. Such knowledge would, of course, be in itself proof of the theory of reincarnation." - "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood

See related posts:

• Asteya - Non-Stealing YS II - 37
• Yama - Abstinence YS II - 30

Asteya - Non-Stealing YS II - 37

Yoga Sutra II - 37- ASTEYA PRATISTHAYAM SARVA R -ATNOPASTHANAM - To one established in non-stealing, all wealth comes.

For this sutra Swami Satchidananda tells us that "If we want to become the world's richest people, this is a very simple way." He is referring to asteya, non-stealing, as a practice. We are told in his commentary that "All of us are thieves. Knowingly and unknowingly, we steal things from nature." The reference to our theft is our breath. "Instead, we should receive each breath with reverence and use it to serve others; then we are not stealing. If we accept it and don't give anything in return, we are thieves." Swami Satchidananda gives us examples of wanting something for nothing. Like going to work and not doing anything, doing personal things at work and then getting paid for it.

He further says "If we are completely free from stealing and greed, contented with what we have, and if we keep serene minds, all wealth comes to us." If we do not run after it, before long it runs after us. If nature know we aren't greedy, she gains confidence in us, knowing we will never hold her for ourselves." Swami Satchidananda tells us that usually when we get something, our tendency is to lock it up like our " money, property or even people." He says that if we adopt an attitude of being open "If you want to come, come, when you want to go, go," and everything will say "Why do you want to push me away? Let me stay with you. Don't send me away."

Finally he tells us after many illustrations that "The richest person is the one with a cool mind, free of tension and anxiety." "A carefree life is possible only with a well controlled-mind, one that is free of anxiety, one without personal desire or possessions."