Bhakti is not about attachment or detachment but about commitment – please explain.

Answer Podcast

Let’s understand this first by looking So, in spiritual life, we talk not so much about attachment or detachment but about commitment What does that mean? Attachment basically means that the desires have taken control of me Even when I don’t want, my desires go in that direction, they drag me in a particular direction So, if you consider from the perspective of the Vedic three margas there is Karma Marga, there is Gyan Marga and there is Bhakti Marga The Karma Marga is defined by attachment We think that this world is a nice place Some things are wrong but if I do some adjustments, life will be happier So, those adjustments may be financial, those adjustments may be religious also, I have to do some Yajna, I have to do some Puja or whatever it is That is one way of looking at it So, in Karma Marga, one is attached, one thinks that by getting things in this world, I’ll become happy So, basically in Karma, we romanticize the world Oh, it’s a nice place I just have to find things Oh, I’ll have a wonderful life I just have to find Mr. Perfect or Mrs. Perfect I just want to find a perfect partner, then life will be perfect But actually, we are all imperfect people So, we’ll never find a perfect partner But the mind is imagining Oh, things will work out one day, that is the Karma Marga So, that is attachment, that is we romanticize the world Then, in Gyan Marga, we go to the opposite extreme We demonize the world You know, everything is temporary, everything is illusion Everything is illusion Everything is illusion And our focus is, you know, this world will cause me suffering, I want to get out of this world I want to get out of this world That is where the focus is detachment Now, there are several problems with this focus Because, first of all, we are conscious beings and we cannot be defined by the negative What I’ll not do, or what I’ll give up We have to have something positive in our life If we focus too much on detachment the only desire I have is that the only desire I should have is that I should have a desire for nothing The only thing to think is that there is nothing to think That is a very negative view And when we focus too much on detachment another problem that comes is we become too discouraged if we are not able to become detached We make detachment the defining characteristic of our bhakti So, for example, say I am fasting on Ekadashi I decide I am going to fast Nirchal It’s good if I can fast Nirchal But the point is not to fast Nirchal The point is I have to chant more, to hear more to connect with Krishna more But if I think the success of my Ekadashi is if I fast Nirchal Somehow I am not able to fast Nirchal I drink some water I take some food And then I feel I am so attached, so fallen, so useless And I am beating myself up all the time And I am not doing anything constructive So, if we are too detachment centered Then we deprive ourselves of the opportunities for connecting with Krishna So commitment means that that’s the path of bhakti We don’t romanticize the world, we don’t demonize the world We utilize the world Utilize means we understand that there are resources in this world and use them in Krishna’s service And one of the resources in this world is the things of the world So the things which I have, I’ll use them Another resource in this world is detachment Detachment is also a resource Different people can have different levels of detachment And you should see this simply as a resource in the practice of bhakti Some people may come from a very sattvic background And they may have more detachment than others Just detachment is not the sign, not the proof of devotion There are some even materialistic people who are more detached than devotees But they are not devotees It’s good to be detached But we have to see detachment simply as one resource on the path of bhakti It’s an important resource, but it’s just one resource But when we focus on detachment we make detachment as the definer of our bhakti Because I give this up, so I’m a great devotee And because I can’t give it up, I’m good for nothing My devotion is defined by how much I’m connected with Krishna So even if because of our attachments we are dragged into something wrong What do we do after that? We come back and start practicing bhakti Commitment means, I’ll keep doing this, no matter what happens I’ll keep doing this, I’ll keep doing this So bhakti is defined by our commitment to Krishna And detachment is helpful in the path of bhakti But detachment is not the definer of bhakti The definer of bhakti is the activities that we do for connecting with Krishna And whatever if we can center our bhakti on commitment to Krishna that commitment to Krishna will itself give us higher satisfaction And by that higher satisfaction, by that inner enrichment detachment will come and that detachment will be sustained Otherwise detachment doesn’t come And even if detachment comes that detachment makes us proud That detachment doesn’t make us devoted I’m a fast nirjan and then I go in the kitchen and look who is eating what All attached All attached So, my body is fasting but my ego is feasting So that detachment doesn’t take me closer to Krishna So, our focus should be on commitment Let me do what I can to connect with Krishna on a regular basis And then detachment will come naturally Does that answer your question? Yes