The topic for the Hindi Satsang on Sunday, 2nd June, 2013 was ‘Aparigraha.’ (Non-covetousness).
Following is the transcript of the Q & A between the audience and Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.
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Q. How do you deal with a person who has the tendency to buy more than is required and then fill the home with clothes?
Dr. J: Well, if a person has that tendency to get attracted, then naturally the people who are selling things are going to go round and round and make a good business. You are not a businessman. So you can leave that person be.
Smt H: You are talking about the family member who is like this. What is Dr. Jayadeva’s attitude? More than three or four pairs of Kurtas and Pyjamas, he will make a bundle (of the rest), tie it up with a towel and keep it in a corner. He will use only three-four pairs. If you are having something extra, it is going to bother you at many times. So we have to have some such planning that something extra has to be kept aside and then quietly give it away to somebody who can then distribute. We have to let go of these things.
Q. I believe that the more relations you build, the more love grows, so this (Aparigraha) does not apply to relationships. Am I wrong?
Dr. J: You observe, does increasing relations really increase love?
Smt. H: Now if I have ten brothers and five sisters, I cannot disregard that. But then the question is about increasing relations among their friends, etc. Relations that way may even increase but to whom will you give more importance? Of course, rather in spirituality they say that the entire world is your family, but in the family, everyone should be independent and relations should be pretty straight forward. Now, you are tired but you have to go to a wedding; that would be a bondage. This kind of bondage is not right. If you tell them that you will come some other time to meet and they don’t feel bad, then it is fine, such people are very much accepted. So find out who are such true friends, true people; not touchy and sensitive, such relations are very sad.
Q. We should learn to live with only the required and minimum things. But what if some things become a habit, like smoking or drinking, which is difficult to leave?
Dr. J: Then it is not so impossible. We can do it for a few days and then suffer and then feel capable and get into a new habit.
Smt. H: It is not difficult to leave smoking or drinking. There are people who have left it in just a decision and there are people who leave and then again start. But you have to put in your effort. Good effort with a little help of a psychiatrist who can give you proper medicine and you can leave it much faster. But that determination needs to be there. Even with the help of yoga, if a person is really following the path of yoga – in the Institute, in 7 Days Camp people leave these habits because they come and stay here at the Institute and follow the diet and routine here and wrong habits go. If we think that we cannot live without something, then we become weak and tie-up which would not be right.
Q. What is yoga? What is the role of money in our life?
Dr. J: You see, how to live our life, that is what yoga tells us. All the other things are a little help.
Smt. H: Yoga is the science of life. It talks of the Purusharthas which are the four things in life that we must do. One is to live a duty bound life and make use of whatever helps us for that. Second is money. We need money to live life, for food, clothes and other necessities. Yoga says it is necessary to remove some time to earn that money. Third is pleasure. Only duty or money should not occupy our mind. Some time should be removed for something that gives us pleasure and happiness, like music etc. which relaxes us. The fourth is to do something for other’s welfare. So in one day all these four things should be done. Find out how much money you need to live your life and live and work accordingly.
Q. If we do not fulfil our dreams, then why are we on this earth? If we need Aparigraha, why are we humans? We are born as humans to become big and make a mark of ourselves.
Dr. J: Well, if you trail around, you will find that people who are in mental asylums have kept this as a motto, to go for things that they wish for. If you go to psychiatric clinics you will find the kind of people who have dreams and who have wasted their lives. So there are bad results.
Smt. H: The human mind is very strongly developed. Strong emotions as well as intellect are characteristics of the mind. Make sure that the emotions are controlled by the intellect. This kind of management is required. Animals don’t need this management, they don’t even accumulate too much. Their life is very different. We know that we will get hungry at 12 and so prepare food beforehand whereas animals go searching for food when hungry. We should not accumulate more than our biological needs, but these dreams create so many problems, just as Dr. Jayadeva said, many people have gone to mental asylums because of their dreams which don’t get fulfilled. In yoga, we say don’t dream that you want this or that. God has given us a lot, bring in the human quality of Santosh (contentment). Keep doing your duty and you will get what you need. Have faith.
Satsang is an open meeting held every Sunday from 9:30 to 10:30 am at The Yoga Institute, Santacruz East, Mumbai. It involves an interesting presentation to the public, made by the students of the Teacher Training Course. Each week, a new presentation of a Yogic concept is made in a simple way through skits and decoration for the general public, followed by a short speech from our Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.