Aparigraha, Non-greed or non-grasping

From Living Your Yoga's chapter on Greed:

Judith Lasater writes about when her kids were little... 

"I told the baby-sitter that after dinner the children could have the apple pie that I purchased at the health food store earlier in the day...when I returned the babysitter told me that there was a huge fight about the pie. 

Not only did each child want more pie, but equally intolerable to all three was the possibility that one might get more pie than another. Needless to say, I was dismayed. By the time the next Wednesday rolled around, I had purchased not one, but three apple pies. Before leaving to teach, I told the children that after dinner that each child could have their very own pie. 

I stressed that, even if they started eating apple pie at that moment and did nothing else for twenty-four hours a day for the rest of their lives, there would still be enough apple pies left in the world for them to eat. I wanted them to realize that there is enough time, enough love, and certainly enough apple pie in life...You see sometimes we temporarily lose our way, becoming convinced that if we acquire this thing or that skill, we will finally become acceptable to ourselves and to the world. In our fear, we have forgotten that we are already whole."

I told the above story to my kids and they shook their heads "yes" as their eyes popped out of their heads imagining their own pie. Aidan (8) said, "I get it mom, there will always be enough pie."

In class today a student spoke about not "grasping" to her grandmother's life, such a hard thing to do. Others spoke about material items and always seeking out the latest in technology.

-t