How is detachment empowering?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
How is detachment empowering? Yes, detachment basically enables us to not get emotionally consumed by things over which we have no control. When I’m attached to something, then say I’ve interacted with one person, and now I’m going on to another job, another work, I’m interacting with the second person.
But if I’m too attached to that one person, then even while I’m talking with the other person, I’m thinking, Oh no, if he does like this, what will happen? If she does this, what will happen? If this happens, if that happens… So what has happened? I’m doing some second work, but I’m emotionally consumed by the first one. Now I have told myself to show it to that other person. Now what that person is going to do, it’s up to them.
I’ve done my best part. I’ve explained that this is one of the best things. But if they’re not going to do it, they’re not going to do it.
I can’t help it. So other person’s behavior is not in my control. But when I’m attached, then I’m just consumed by that other person.
They do this, they do that, this, that, this, that. So basically, our attachments, they disempower us by making us distracted from what we are doing. Say I’m working on one thing.
Say I’m studying on my computer. But if say I’m attached to sports, I’m attached to politics, I’m attached to this, I’m attached to that. Then what happens? While working on the computer, I’m thinking, What is the latest cricket score? What are the latest political news? What is this? Let me just go and watch.
Or what is the latest Facebook update? Let me go and see my notifications. So what is happening? That is there constantly distracting me. And then I’m not available for whatever I’m doing.
So detachment on the other hand, what it does is, Okay, that’s done, it’s done. Yeah, it’s not that we should be unaware of news. It’s not that we have to be cut off from social media.
But there’s a time for that. We don’t have to be constantly consumed by it. So we decide.
This is, I’ve done that. It’s over now. Tomorrow I’ll do it.
Next week I’ll do it. Now let me focus on this. So detachment helps us to not be emotionally consumed by other things while we are doing one thing.
Detachment means that we focus on that which is in our control. And we leave things which are not in our control to Krishna. So in that sense, by making us emotionally available for the things that we should be doing, detachment is empowering.