Aparigraha

Aparigraha (Sanskrit: अपरिग्रह) is the concept of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness. It is one of the virtues in Hinduism and Jainism.

Aparigrah is the opposite of parigrah, and refers to keeping the desire for possessions to what is necessary or important, depending on one's life stage and context. The precept of aparigraha is a self-restraint (temperance) from the type of greed and avarice where one's own material gain or happiness comes by hurting, killing or destroying other human beings, life forms or nature.

Aparigraha is a concept that is related to and in part a motivator of dāna (proper charity), both from giver's and receiver's perspective.

Aparigraha is a compound in Sanskrit, made of "a-" and "parigrah". The prefix "a-" means "non-", so "aparigrah" is the opposite of "parigrah", so aparigraha is speech and actions that oppose and negate parigraha.

The word parigrah means ‘to amass’, ‘to crave’, ‘to seek’, ‘to seize’, and ‘to receive or accept’ material possessions or gifts from others. The word also includes the idea of doing good with the expectation of benefit or reward, not just for the sake of merely doing good. Parigraha includes the results as well as the intent; in other words, it means the attitudes of craving, possessiveness, and hoarding, but also the things that have been acquired because of those attitudes.

Monier-Williams states that the word "parigraha" has roots in the Vedic texts, referring to fencing an altar, enclosing something, assuming or putting on a dress or receiving something. In the Brahmanas and later texts, the term contextually means accepting or taking a gift, acquiring, possessing, claiming, controlling something such a property, or assistance, or constraining force on others. In some texts, the root reflects the state of marriage or having a family.

The virtue of aparigraha means taking what is truly necessary and no more. In Yoga school of Hinduism, this concept of virtue has also been translated as "abstaining from accepting gifts", "not expecting, asking, or accepting inappropriate gifts from any person", and "not applying for gifts which are not to be accepted". The concept includes in its scope non-covetousness, and non-possessiveness. Taylor states, aparigraha includes the psychological state of "letting go and the releasing of control, transgressions, fears" and living a content life unfettered by anxieties.

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