A for Attachment

The Bhagavad Gita is a treasure trove of knowledge - all that you need to be is an inquisitive student, because only when the student is ready, the master appears! Join me this month in the 'April A to Z challenge,' as I take you through selected verses of this monumental scripture, and try to decipher the amazing lessons it has in store for us.  

    

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Translation

In this verse, Krishna says that the root of all miseries in life is 'sanga' or attachment.

 Attachment (sanga) leads to expectations/desires (kama) . 

Unfulfilled expectations (kama) lead to anger (krodha). 

When we act in anger, it leads to loss of discretion (smrti bhramsh) and regrettable decisions and our eventual downfall (pranasya). 

What are we attached to?

 We could be attached to our family, our job, even our house or our car. We expect that our family remains grateful to us for the things that we do for them, or our workplace appreciates the hard work that we put in, or people reciprocate our kindness with kindness. When we are attached to something or someone, we develop expectations from them. 

What happens when the desire is not met?

This desire or expectation could either be met or unmet. If the desire is met, it leads to greed for more, and if the desire is not met, it leads to anger. If our family acts in a favourable way, we hope they will keep doing so. If they do not, it makes us angry. 'How could my efforts be in vain?' 'How could someone else get promoted over me?' Am I being taken for granted?'

Anger leads to downfall.

When angry, we lose the discriminatory power between right and wrong and act in ways we might regret later. Anger can turn the best of men into beasts - nasty words, verbal or physical abuse, revengeful actions, you name it.  We might regret our words and actions later, but sometimes there is no room for recovery. 

Stay detached, but how?

Krishna says, stay detached from your efforts.  Easier said than done, right?

Krishna shows us the way too. He tells us to think of everything we do, as an offering to him. When our services offered are to Krishna, there is no expectations from anyone because the recipient was Him. The efforts that we put in tending to our work, family, or friends are purely out of love for him not for any individual person. This completely eliminates the cycle that starts with being attached.  

                                                                                              

A story from the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The Bhagavatam narrates an interesting story of King Bharata who got attached to a fawn.

King Bharata, the son of Rishabhdeva, was a pious man. His responsibilities as a King and family man had been fulfilled satisfactorily. He handed over his kingdom to his sons and retired to the forest. He hoped to spend the rest of his life meditating near the Gandaki river with a goal to attain liberation.

One day, as usual, he stood meditating in the river, when he was awakened by the roar of a lion. The lion was chasing a pregnant deer and the deer leaped across the river to save herself. As she jumped in fear, her foetus was delivered in the river, even as she drowned to her death.   

Seeing this heartrending scene Bharata took pity on the poor, orphaned fawn, rescued it and started looking after it like his own offspring. He gradually got very attached to the fawn, giving up on his meditation and worship. He would get agitated if the fawn went out of his sight, worried if a lion or tiger has caught it. Like a madman, he would look for it in the shadow of the moon. He would lose sleep if it did not eat well or was sick.  Even when death came calling, he could think of nothing but the fawn and how it would live without him.

Instead of attaining liberation, he was reborn as a deer in his next life,. All the penance he had undertaken in his life came to a naught. Being overly attached to the fawn, he forgot the very reason he had forsaken his kingdom and family, and retired to the forest.

We might wonder if it was wrong to care for an orphaned fawn? No, that was dharma. Getting ‘attached’ to it was the cause of his downfall. Had he tended to it for some time and let go of it as soon as it grew stronger, he would have gone back to his penance and attained his goal.

That is the trap of attachment that Krishna cautions us against.  

       

What do you think? 

The story teaches us to love all creatures alike yet we must consciously stay detached. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.                                                 

Read B for Balance here.