Spiritual Code and Restraints

Author(s): Manu Doshi
Publisher: Manu Doshi

Page 41

excessive attachment and as such, can avert undue craving for each other. They may therefore be capable to overcome the sensuous instinct in due course.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
BRAHMACHARYA Part 1
The Celibacy (2)
Chapter 11
APARIGRAH Non-Possession
Na So Pariggaho Butto Näyaputten Täinä Muchchha Pariggaho Butto li Buttam Mahesinä
Dashvaikälik Sutra Articles needed for life do not constitute possessiveness; the graceful Lord says that attachment is possessiveness.
Now we come to the fifth and the last major restraint known as Aparigrah. Parigrah means possessiveness; absence thereof is Aparigrah. So the term would mean not to get attached to the possessions. We possess lot of durable and consumable articles. For instance, we might be having land and other real estates, car and other vehicles, jewelry and other ornaments, clothes and apparels, footwear and other articles of leather, computer, TV, Video and other electronic equipment, beds and furniture, kitchenware and appliances, articles of food, drinks etc. and above all the money with which to buy various articles. As a matter of fact, if we do not possess such things, we may tend to feel unhappy, handicapped or even miserable. The question would therefore arise, 'Why talk of non-possessiveness when we need to possess so many things?
This question implies that we need all such articles. If we genuinely need something, there is some justification for possessing it. Do we however consider whether we really need all the things that we have? If we take an inventory of our belongings, we can figure out that there are quite a few things that we have not used since long. There could also be things that are obsolete, out of date or otherwise unusable or at least of no use to us. Thus, we do happen to possess quite a few things that we do not need or at least we do not use. They are the specimen of purposeless possession that has nothing to do with our need. We continue to hold them, only because we do not dispose them off.