Avoid chasing desires and be content with what comes naturally — these are the main rules for keeping aparigraha, one of the principles of moral conduct.
Aparigraha means avoiding excess, voluntary austerity, a sensible attitude toward the material side of life.
The ideology of the capitalist world dictates that happiness is the accumulation of a great many material goods. But this does not make people happier, and statistics confirm it.
Sociological surveys carried out in the USA showed that thirty years ago people had fewer material things but far more happiness. Now people have more material things and a greater variety of food, but this does not make them happier. A paradox, isn't it?!
In fact, happiness depends not on chasing pleasures but on the ability to enjoy what comes naturally.
Always wanting more, we do not value what we have, and so we break the principle of contentment. The world is arranged so that humanity should have enough of everything if each person is provided for according to their needs, not their desires. After all, desires are limitless.
Every person feels a spiritual thirst; in everyone lives a longing for the infinite. And when that longing is directed into the material sphere rather than the spiritual, the result is an excessive accumulation of material wealth in the hands of a narrow circle of people. And all that is left for the rest is a "pea."
If one member of a family has accumulated excessive wealth while their relatives go hungry, people will not consider that righteous behavior. But when the same thing happens in society, it is considered normal. The hundred richest people own wealth equal to that of all the rest of humanity. But it should not be so.
Aparigraha is not a vow of poverty, not a call to go and give away all your property.
Material resources are given to us according to our ability to manage them.
If you are able to preserve, accumulate and multiply these resources, there is nothing wrong with that at all. What matters is how you relate to the property that comes to you.
Ideally, one should relate to it with non-attachment and understand: this is not mine; the Supreme Consciousness gives it to me so that I can do something good for this world and serve this world.
A person who follows aparigraha keeps to a certain austerity in personal life, avoids excess, and has very high self-discipline and self-control. Such a person directs their resources toward creating good for other people and contributing to their happiness.
Getting rich at any cost goes against the harmony of nature and of the world as a whole.
In that case a person will never reach happiness, even after conquering all the riches of the material world. That is why it is important to treat accumulated wealth as a means of contributing to the well-being of other people.
Try to analyze your behavior and avoid excess. Before buying something, ask yourself: Do I really need this? Will it really make me happy? If the answer is yes, buy it. But if you judge it to be an excess, make a mental effort and give it up.
Try to economize on yourself at least in some small thing, to give up some inessential things. And then donate it to something good, direct it to some project that, in your view, benefits the world. You will feel enormous satisfaction.
Aparigraha gives birth to contentment with life.
Try an experiment: for one week buy the very best food, expensive and luxurious — enjoy it, and then analyze. Most likely, by the end of the week you will feel a dependence: there is no contentment; you want more — even more expensive, even fancier.
Then try eating simple food for a week — baked potatoes with sauerkraut, for example. Of course, the food should be balanced; you should not eat just anything, since there should be an aesthetic in food. Try to find pleasure in this simplicity. You will feel that the simple is delight. I breathe, I move — there is delight in all of it. And we deprive ourselves of this delight by thinking that we are not happy enough right now because we lack something — that only when we have it will we be happy.
Don't put happiness off until later. Try to strive for simplicity and give up excess. Direct at least a small part to a good cause by denying yourself what is superfluous.
Aparigraha means having what you need and not having what you do not need.
When a person begins to fit into the system of harmony, they receive everything they need, and the universe takes care of them. Perhaps they do not get something they might have wanted, but they do not need it anyway.
In fact, we do not know what we need. We need to trust: let the universe do everything as it should, and we will enjoy it. You will see that the universe knows better than you how to make you happy.