Giving as a Yogic Practice

The holiday season is coming and for many this is a time of gift giving and anxiety about the whole process of gift giving.  Amid marketing and retail craziness take time to look at how you practice giving.  The ability to give without ego and attachment can be a yoga practice, making you a better yogi. 

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, yoga is defined as reaching a state where the whirlpools of the mind are blocked.  Then - tada drashtuh svarupayevasthanam – the seer resides in one’s true essence.  The mind unites with universal consciousness instead of identifying with the sensory perceptions and the material world.  This connection leads to a state of bliss.  There are no attachments in this state of bliss.  No possessions to worry about.  No bills to pay.  No angst over relationships. 

Patanjali goes on to say that to overcome the pain of identifying with the world around us, we must engage the practices of yoga over a long period of time (abhyasa) and experience a sense of non-attachment (vairagya). Non-attachment does not mean detachment.  It is not a state of uncaring.  In fact, it means to be fully present and engaged in the world with the realization that your time here is finite and all that you have - all of your stuff - is temporary and transient. 

I remember Swami Satyananda speaking in India that if a villager has one pair of shoes he considers himself fortunate and takes very good care of those shoes without ever thinking about having a second pair.  As Westerners we may have 20 pairs of shoes and still want more.  And our mind has many thoughts about those shoes - to find a place for them, keep them clean, match our clothes – the shoes begin to occupy the mind.  Now look at this in the context of all that we own.  Our mind becomes possessed by our possessions.  How much do we really need?  How much can we let go?  It is time to recognize, “All you are unable to give possesses you.” (Andre Gilde)

Swami Sivananda says:

"The water of the Ganga cannot decrease if thirsty people drink it. So also your wealth cannot decrease if you do charity. Share with others whatever you possess, physical, mental or spiritual. You will expand. You will experience oneness and unity of life. Strip yourself of the veils of limitations. It is easy to fight in the battle, but it is difficult to give a gift silently without manifesting pride and self-glorification and without expressing to others. Charity must be spontaneous and unrestrained. Giving must become a strong habit. Give, give and give.”