Attachment to objects is universal. No one is free from attachment of one kind or the other. The Sanskrit word for attachment is “Aasakti”. The term “Raga” also is used sometimes.
Attachment is the first child of Maya. Attachment is the most powerful weapon of Maya for binding the Jivas to the Samsaric wheel of birth and death. You will never come back into this world if you loose attachment to everything.
Attachment is a kind of strong glue that affixes the mind to the object. There is in the mind, a gummy substance which is like a mixture of castor oil, glue, gum arabic, mucilage of tragacanth, gluten paste, honey, glycerine, jack-fruit juice and all the other gummy substances of this world. This mind is glued, as it were, to the objects with this mixture. Therefore, the attachment is very strong.
Why does the mind get attached to objects or persons?
Because it finds pleasure in objects or persons. Wherever there is pleasure, there is attachment. The mind is attached to wife, son, house or friend because it finds pleasure in these objects. Humanity thirsts for the possession of objects and wealth. This possession of objects generates selfishness. Selfishness causes greater attachment. Wherever there is attachment, there you will find the feeling of “I”-ness and “mine”-ness. The full misery now starts. The whole circle of Maya begins to revolve. The human becomes a slave now. Strong iron chains are fastened to the body. This is a self-created trouble through attachment.
Attachment is the root-cause of all human ills and sufferings. It is the product of ignorance. Wherever there is strong attachment, there one will find infatuation and fear. Infatuation is a delusion. Infatuation and fear are the old-standing associates of attachment. The cause of fear is attachment to this body and property. Attachment and fear are inseparable. They are like fire and heat. Attachment takes on various forms. One should always be on the alert to detect its subtle workings. It does not spare even Sannyasins who have practically renounced everything. They slowly get attached to their Ashrams and their practice. This attachment is much stronger than the attachment of worldly persons. This is more difficult to eradicate.
The mind tries its utmost to get attached to some form or the other. It can never remain without clinging to one form or another. It leaves one form and immediately clings to another. This is its nature. This is due to the quality of Rajas. If Rajas is eradicated, all attachments will die by themselves.
The seeds of attachment are ingrained in the subconscious mind. We have to obliterate or fry all these seeds into right thinking, enquiry and knowledge of the Atman. We have to cut asunder all these illusory attachments with the sword of dispassion or non- attachment. Non-attachment is dispassion or indifference to sensual enjoyments. It is a purely mental state. The binding link is really in the mind. “I”-ness and “mine”-ness are the two poisonous fangs of the mind-serpent. Extract these two fangs and the serpent-mind will be tamed. There can be no bondage then. Like water running off the lotus leaf.
It is the mind that creates the ideas of “I”-ness and “mine”-ness. It is the mind that links the Jiva with the body and creates a body-idea that the person is the body. It is the mind that causes attachment to worldly things. If the binding link in the mind is destroyed, you can remain wherever you like. You can roam about peacefully in any part of the world, unattached like water on the lotus leaf. Nothing can then bind you. The whole mischief is wrought by the mind.
A man may rule a vast dominion and yet he can be unattached. Queen Chudalai and Raja Janaka had no attachment to their wealth and kingdoms, Janaka said, “Even if the whole of Mithila is burnt, nothing of mine will be burnt”. Look at the exalted mental state of Janaka! He was resting in his own essential divine nature. He had not a bit of attachment. The mental state of Chudalai also was the same as that of Janaka. Work cannot bring misery but it is the attachment to it and identification with work that brings in all sorts of worries, troubles and unhappiness. Understand the secret of Karma Yoga and work without attachment and identification. You will soon attain God-consciousness. This is Jnana. This is the fire of wisdom which burns all the fruit of actions.
Never say, “My body, my son, my wife, my house.” Attachment is the root-cause of all the miseries and troubles in this world. Discipline the mind carefully because old habits will creep in. Destroy them to the very root. Lead a life of perfect non-attachment. This is the master-key to open the realms of Brahmic bliss. But work incessantly without attachment, without any identification to the outcome of work. Then alone can you have real happiness. You will yourself feel that you are a different being now. Karma Yoga elevates us to sublime, magnanimous heights. One should work patiently. No meditation and Samadhi are possible without a preliminary training in Karma Yoga. To work without attachment is doubtlessly a difficult task. It is an uphill work, but it becomes easy and pleasant for a person of patience and determination. You will have to do it at any cost if you want the final beatitude and immortality. Everybody will do it, though not now, maybe after several hundreds of births. But the question is: why not now? Cut short the cycle and enjoy supreme bliss right now in this very second, in this very birth. This is wisdom. You will have to train the mind daily in all dealings and actions.
Do not get attached to the worldly life. Study. Turn the mind towards God or the Atman and do daily Japa, meditation and study of holy scriptures. Study books on Vedanta and Bhartrihari’s Vairagya Shatakam. Develop intense internal dispassion by understanding the illusory nature of this world. Always remember the pains of this worldly existence. Learn to discriminate between the Real and the Unreal. Try to develop dispassion as much as you can. Have no intimate connection with anybody. Lead a life of non-attachment to this world. Live like the lotus leaf in water. Do not bother a bit when you lose petty things. Think always that the perishable objects of this world are worthless. Repeat mentally the formula, “All objects are perishable”. Do enquiry into the nature of the Atman. Meditate daily. The person who has no attachment in this world is the happiest person.