Article 12: Minimalism through Ashram living
by
Suman Rajupet – Spiritual Guide
Growth of consumerism has resulted in overusing Earth’s natural resources by more than 70 percent. If everyone on earth lived like the average American, we would need 5.2 planets to support us. This overconsumption is not sustainable.
A minimalist lifestyle involves intentionally living with only the things one really needs. It means consciously removing anything that distracts us from living with freedom and purpose, to realize that less is more.
Swami Tejomayananda has shared “Simple Living – High Thinking”. It is a simple, yet profound concept meant to guide us to the Self. In today’s consumer driven world this can feel most difficult to practice. When everyone around us is living with or striving for the latest gadgets and clothes, it’s hard not to want for and behave similarly. Often when wanting, we lose sight of the bigger picture – we lose sight of how this level of consumption and the mentality of consumerism has a deeply negative impact on our environment and ourselves. This, combined with the ever-growing push of all nations for economic growth will inevitably lead to our planet being unlivable. Unfortunately, ‘inevitably’ is in the not-so-distant future. The effects of our everyday consumerism often have equally negative effects on our environment when compared to some of the more commonly cited forms of pollution. For example, the emissions that come from landfills (think Amazon packaging) are equivalent to all the emissions of all the planes we fly every year (think Amazon delivery). Combined these emissions amount to 940 million tons of CO2 in our environment every year.1
Circling back to where we started “Simple Living – High Thinking” – although it may feel difficult to practice, it is imperative that we do. One way to translate this imperative is “Minimalist Living – Sustainable Thinking”. ‘Minimalist Living’ means to discriminate between what we need and what we want. ‘Sustainable Thinking’ is to keep the future of our planet and the generations of beings to follow in mind to guide ‘Minimalist Living’. As we invoke a sustainable thinking mindset, we will gravitate toward minimalist practices; we will live simply, think selflessly, and invoke the higher Self.
References:
Action to Implement
Post your reflections & observations in the comments section below ⬇️
🌱 December 2022: ✅Do the following:
- Simplify one closet or one drawer in your home every week. Remove items that have not been used in the last 1 year.
- Dispose of unneeded items in a responsible way.
Past Months Action to Implement
🌱 November 2022: ✅Make a list of the gifts you usually give during the holidays.
🌱 October 2022: This month, add 1 or 2 regional plants from the Xerces Pollinator Conservation website to your landscape!
🌱 September 2022: This month, review the Green Building list & commit to 1 simple and 1 challenging item to implement in your community/center.
🌱 August 2022: This month, read the Prthvi Seva Guide & commit to at least one practice to make your center/community more sustainable.
🌱 July 2022: This month, take a closer look at your travel impacts:
🔢 Estimate the carbon emissions of your mode of travel, lodging, food, and purchases
🙋🏻♀️ Commit to making one change to reduce your carbon footprint
🌱 June 2022: This month, take a closer look and identify your food waste as:
🍌 food prep scraps
🍽️ plate waste (unfinished food)
🤦🏻♀️spoiled or unwanted foo
🌱 May 2022: Implement the following actions.
- Reduce food Packaging.
- Learn about local and seasonal foods.
- Support a local grower & shop at Farmer’s Markets.
🌱 April 2022: Sahasra Vrksha Sankalpa – As a CommUnity, bring your heart and hands to the ground to plant 1000 trees together. Track and share here.
🌱 March 2022: Contribute to the health of our planet and the health of beings by doing the following:
Each day take inventory of what goes in the trash.
Identify the most common item.
Find an alternative that eliminates this waste.
🌱 February 2022: Implement the following and encourage others to follow:
- Unplug chargers when not in use
- Use the ‘Energy Saver’ mode on phones & laptops
- Use cold water for laundry & line dry
🌱 January 2022: Identify 3 actions you do that help the environment and 3 actions that harm it
Our December PS Workshop
CommUnity Reflections
There is a story where a man pays a visit to a Sufi and finds the house empty. He enquired to the mystic as to where the furniture was. In response, the mystic asks the man where his furniture is. The man responds that he is visiting, to that response, the mystic says- “So, am I”. Reflecting on Guruji’s note, I notice that when I minimize being an extrovert, my life is simpler. Shorter conversations, holding off on impulse buys, less time on social media helped as well. There were STRONG emotions when it came to stuff. Donating them after offering gratitude helped immensely (courtesy: Marie Kondo). With simple changes, I feel I have the time to do things that really matter. The days I am mindful, I tend to have more clarity. Grateful to the team for raising the awareness + raising our standards of living.
~ Vijayalakshmi Indira
This reflection on minimalism was eye opening and the impact of packaging on landfills from our unending ‘wants’ resulting in C02 emissions that were higher than all the airplane emissions in the world was sobering. With prosperity our desire for unfettered consumption and wanting to keep up with the Joneses and trends goes up.
~ Arundhati Mahapatra
This came on the heels of a truly inspirational Trinidad yatra where we experienced the Ashram style of living for a week. It was a return to the basics. Where all our key physical needs were met, and we disconnected from the virtual world and connected with nature, seekers and ourselves. And foremost to see Swamiji embodying this minimalistic living and sustainable thinking.
Personally, I shop for things I don’t need and end up returning many of them. I plan to be much more vigilant and significantly reduce online ordering, increase reuse and recycle.