By Dada Vedaprajinananda

It has been said that “there is enough in the world for each person’s need, but not enough for each person’s greed.” That is why one of the yogic principles of ethical conduct is to refrain from accumulating and using luxuries and amenities which are not needed to preserve our existence. In Sanskrit this concept is known as aparigraha.

How should such a principle be practiced? Does it mean that we are to live with the bare minimum necessities like an ascetic in the forest? The key to practicing aparigraha is to remember that there is no uniform standard of what is necessary and what is superfluous which can be applied to each and every individual in each and every situation.

The variables of time, place and person have to be taken into consideration.  One hundred years ago owning a car would have been considered a luxury, but today in a place like Los Angeles car ownership is necessary if one is to be able to work and get around.  But even today car ownership is not always a necessity.  For a 16 year old it is a luxury mostly good for impressing the other teenagers, but for his or her father or mother car ownership in the context of modern America is necessary. From this example we can see how changes in time, location and person need to be considered when judging whether something is a luxury or a necessity.

Everyone needs food, shelter, clothing, education and medical care.  These are the basic requirements of life.  But often in pursuing these requirements it is possible to go overboard.  A person may need one house for his or her family, but should that person acquire 8, 10 or 20 homes?

When the pursuit of happiness via the accumulation of luxuries gets out of control there are severe consequences for the individual who tries to gather as much as he or she can and for the greater society as well.

The problem for the individual is that the pursuit of luxury ultimately leads to frustration. According to yogis the fundamental characteristic of humans is to seek infinite happiness. When someone tries to get this infinite happiness through finite objects, he or she always ends up hankering for more. If someone wins a lottery and gets five million dollars, one would think that this is the end of the story and that person will live happily ever after. But this is not usually the case, and that person may either squander the fortune or start to crave for something more.

The reckless pursuit of material wealth and luxuries by various individuals has severe consequences for society.  If a few people accumulate tremendous wealth, it often comes with the consequence that vast numbers of people are forced to live at or below the poverty line. It has been estimated that it we would need the resources of five planet earths if everyone in the world were to live in the same way as someone in the United States currently lives.

So, what does this all mean for you and me who are trying to practice yoga and live our lives in the “material world?” You don’t have to dump all of your labor saving appliances and live like the pioneers on the American frontier of the 1800s. Times have changed and we have to adjust to present circumstances. But we should carefully think about what we need and what we do not need. When we apply some restraint in this sphere it helps our own personal development, because instead of “meditating” on the latest gadget that we simply “must have” our minds remain free to meditate on the cosmic consciousness. Also by maintaining a reasonable standard of living our ecological footprint becomes smaller and we enter into a greater harmony with the world around us.

One interesting thing about the practice of aparigraha is that as we go deeper into yoga and meditative practices we become satisfied with less. A group of yogis might be satisfied sitting around a campfire singing songs, while their materialistic cousins would have to go to the movies and then to a few restaurants and night clubs before calling it a night.

Try it out. Live a more simple life and see if it helps you to achieve greater inner peace, contentment and happiness.