Aparigraha (Non-Greed): Meaning and How to Practise It

Aparigraha (Sanskrit: अपरिग्रह) means "non-grasping": not holding on to more than you need. It is the fifth of the five yamas, the ethical restraints that open Patanjali's eight-limbed path in the Yoga Sutras. In English you will see it translated as non-greed, non-possessiveness or non-attachment, and each of those words catches a different side of it.

What does aparigraha mean?

The word has three parts:

• A (अ): not, without.
• Pari (परि): around, on all sides.
• Graha (ग्रह): seizing, grasping, taking hold. From the root grah, to grab.

Parigraha is grabbing on all sides: gathering things up and keeping them. The a in front negates it. So aparigraha is "not gathering, not clutching". Sanskrit often names a virtue by negating a fault, the same way ahimsa means non-harming.

You say it in five short syllables: a-pa-ri-gra-ha. The a sounds are soft, like the a in "about", and no syllable gets a big stress.

Aparigraha in the Yoga Sutras

Patanjali lists the five yamas in Yoga Sutra 2.30: ahimsa (non-harming), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (moderation) and aparigraha. Aparigraha comes last. Sutra 2.31 calls the yamas a "great vow" when they hold everywhere and at all times, with no exceptions.

So aparigraha is a yama, not a niyama. The yamas are how you treat the world around you. The five niyamas that follow are how you treat yourself. Our guide to all five yamas puts them side by side.

The oldest commentary on the Sutras, attributed to Vyasa, explains why someone would give up gathering things. It lists the trouble that comes with possessions: the work of getting them, the worry of guarding them, the grief of losing them, the attachment that grows around them, and the harm done to others along the way. Seeing that clearly, a person stops reaching. The commentary does not say that owning things is sinful. It says that grasping costs more than it looks.

Aparigraha also gets its own sutra, 2.39: aparigraha sthairye janma kathanta sambodhah. Word by word: when non-grasping is steady, understanding of the "how and why" of birth arises. We come back to what that might mean below.

Aparigraha outside yoga

The idea is older than the Yoga Sutras and shared across Indian traditions. In Jainism, aparigraha is the fifth of the five great vows. Jain monks and nuns own almost nothing, and in the Digambara tradition monks do not wear clothes. Jain householders keep a lighter vow: they set a limit on what they will own and stay within it.

In the twentieth century, Gandhi made non-possession one of the vows of his ashram. He tied it to the idea that the rich hold their wealth in trust for others. That social reading is where much of today's talk about aparigraha, consumption and the environment comes from.

Aparigraha and non-attachment

If you search for the yoga word for non-attachment, you will find two answers. Modern teachers often use aparigraha. In the Yoga Sutras themselves, the word is vairagya, introduced in the first chapter (sutras 1.12 to 1.16) as one of the two pillars of practice, next to steady effort (abhyasa). Vairagya is an inner state: desire loosening its hold on the mind. Aparigraha belongs to the yamas and is about conduct: what you take in, keep and cling to. The two feed each other. They are not the same word.

Examples of aparigraha in daily life

Few people take a vow of poverty. Aparigraha shows up in smaller decisions:

• Things. Buy what you will use. Before you buy, ask whether you want the thing or the feeling of getting it.
• Space. Give away what has sat unused for a year. Someone else can use it now.
• Gifts and favours. Accept them without keeping score, and without taking so much that you feel you owe.
• People. Let the people close to you change. Holding on to who a friend or partner used to be is a kind of grasping too.
• Plans and outcomes. Do the work and loosen your grip on how it must turn out. The Bhagavad Gita makes the same point about action and its fruits.

Some teachers also apply aparigraha to thoughts: an old grudge, a story about yourself you keep replaying. That is an extension, and many students find it useful. It sits closer to vairagya than to what Patanjali lists among the yamas.

How to practise aparigraha

The Sutras give one method for all the yamas, in 2.33: when a harmful thought comes up, cultivate its opposite (pratipaksha bhavana). For aparigraha, that looks like this:

1. Notice the reach. The urge to grab often shows up in the body first: a tight chest while you scroll a shop, a quick hand at a buffet. Name it to yourself.
2. Wait before you act. Give a purchase a day. Many urges pass on their own.
3. Count what is enough. Pick one area, say clothes or books, and decide what enough looks like. The Jain householder's limit works well here.
4. Give something away. The opposite of gathering is letting go. Start with things that are easy to part with.
5. Practise contentment. Santosha, one of the niyamas, is the counterpart of aparigraha. People grasp when they feel they do not have enough.

On the mat, aparigraha can mean not clutching the range you had last week. Your hamstrings are different on a Monday morning than on a Friday evening. Take the forward fold you have today. It also shows up in the breath: in a long exhale you let the air go instead of holding it. A regular sitting practice helps here too, and a beginner's guide to meditation is a good place to start.

Where sources disagree

Possessions or attachment? For Jain monks and classical renunciates, aparigraha means owning almost nothing. Most modern yoga teachers say it is about the grip, not the object: you can own a house and hold it lightly. Both are in the tradition. The strict reading is a monastic vow. The lighter one is for people with jobs and families. What gets lost when the lighter reading goes too far is that Vyasa's commentary does count the things themselves, and the harm of gathering them.

Non-greed or non-acceptance of gifts? Some older English translations of the Sutras, such as Swami Vivekananda's, render aparigraha as "non-receiving": not accepting gifts. The idea is that a gift binds you to the giver. Most modern translators read it more widely, as not hoarding and not coveting. The narrow reading is worth knowing. A lot of what we collect does come to us as favours we then feel we owe.

What does Sutra 2.39 promise? Read literally, the sutra says that a person steady in non-grasping comes to know their past and future births. Traditional commentators took it that way, as one of the powers that come with practice. Many modern teachers read it psychologically: when you stop clutching, you see how your life came to be the way it is, and why. There is no way to settle this from the text. We present it as a promise from the tradition, read in different ways.

Inner peace? The original version of this post promised inner peace, less stress and better relationships. Those are hopes, and sensible ones. The Sutras do not promise them in those words, and we know of no good study that tests aparigraha as such. What holds up is simpler: fewer things to look after means fewer things to worry about.

Asteya or aparigraha? The two overlap. Asteya is not taking what belongs to someone else. Aparigraha is not holding on to more than you need, even when you came by it fairly. The Sutras give them separate places, so we do too.

To read the yamas in Patanjali's own words, the class on Sadhana Pada sutras 30 and 31 goes through them line by line, and the introduction to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali starts from the beginning. More in our yoga philosophy classes.

Frequently asked questions

What does aparigraha mean?

Aparigraha means non-grasping: not holding on to more than you need. It comes from Sanskrit a (not), pari (around) and graha (grasping). It is often translated as non-greed, non-possessiveness or non-attachment.

Is aparigraha a yama or a niyama?

A yama. It is the fifth and last of the five yamas in Yoga Sutra 2.30, after ahimsa, satya, asteya and brahmacharya. The niyamas are a separate list of five that follows.

What is the yoga word for non-attachment?

In the Yoga Sutras the word is vairagya, from the first chapter. Modern teachers often use aparigraha for non-attachment as well. Vairagya is the inner letting go. Aparigraha is the conduct: not gathering and clutching things.

How do you pronounce aparigraha?

In five short syllables: a-pa-ri-gra-ha. The a sounds are soft, like the a in "about".

What is an example of aparigraha?

Waiting a day before a purchase, giving away what you have not used in a year, accepting help without keeping score, and letting a plan change without forcing the outcome. On the mat: taking the range your body has today.

What is the difference between aparigraha and asteya?

Asteya is not taking what belongs to someone else. Aparigraha is not holding on to more than you need, even when it is yours. One is about taking, the other about keeping.

What does Yoga Sutra 2.39 say about aparigraha?

It says that when non-grasping is steady, understanding of the how and why of birth arises. Traditional commentators read it as knowledge of past and future lives. Many modern teachers read it as seeing clearly how your life came to be.