Gurpreet Sidhu takes you through her journey of minimalism—how she went from a from living in a four-bedroom house to living out of a 50 litre backpack
This month has been a milestone. I moved out of a property I called home for the last 10 years. The challenge was to declutter my life of the last 17 years in this country into a small backpack. As I settle into my new minimalist life preparing to leave on my world trip of spirituality having worked on practising detachment from my possessions, my self-sustained lifestyle of teaching and practising yoga and growing organic produce, and my handsome ragdoll cat Miggy. The journey took me six months.
As I began decluttering, it brought with it a sense of relief. But it also came with thoughts of death—separating from my possessions felt like something someone would do at the end of their lives. But decluttering also brought with it a sense of gratitude and freedom.
A yogi practises all his life to break involvement with the body in order to achieve enlightenment to die mindfully. Death is a biggest opportunity for a yogi
In India, yogis, sufis or monks start their journey by becoming beggars, where renunciation of Aparigraha is an important practise. If we do not accumulate then we are ready to die at any moment as the fear of death leaves our being.
Fear of death comes out of accumulating power, money, possessions, etc. Fear of death is the fear of losing. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
A yogi practises all his life to break involvement with the body in order to achieve enlightenment to die mindfully. Death is a biggest opportunity for a yogi. In ancient scriptures of the Buddhists, enlightenment is mentioned as a great death. It is said that after conscious death one would free themselves from the cycle of life and death.
A journey of Aparigraha (non-possessiveness) takes one of the journey of purity. Pure consciousness is without any other negative emotions. Possessiveness is impure and Aparigraha is pure. When you become fearless then even death when it comes become a beautiful experience.
I have downsized from a four-bedroom home to being in one room and owning only what can fit into my 50L backpack, a journey away from wants to needs. The only thing I want to keep adding to it is a life with more vibrancy
Practising to establish Aparigraha on my journey as a seeker has strengthened my faith. I know Aparigraha will have to be an ongoing journey. Spirituality is all about living death to learn to live life.
Right this moment, I see this world as a clean canvas for me and what I will write next on it depends on me. I feel in control of my life and I chose to follow spirituality above everything. I chose to give it my all to find god or to find truth or freedom or enlightenment. I know it will have its own ups and downs but it is worth it!
My friends, neighbours, internet, media, everyone else seems to have just the opposite purpose—if they have a good car then they are working on upgrading to their dream model, if they have a really nice house they are hardly home to enjoy it. I have downsized from a four-bedroom home to being in one room and owning only what can fit into my 50L backpack, a journey away from wants to needs. The only thing I want to keep adding to it is a life with more vibrancy.
My choice is to give it my all to find God. What is yours?
You can like my facebook page https://www.facebook.com./GurpreetSidhuYoga to get more updates with videos and pictures of my journey along with yoga techniques I shall be sharing there
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