What is detachment and why it is important?

What is detachment?

The English meaning of detachment is "a state of being aloof " but according to Bhagvad Gita it is more than this. Bhagvad Gita teaches detachment in the best way possible and also explains the reason for this detachment. In this post I will discuss on detachment from Bhagvad Gita point of view. To understand the real meaning of detachment we need to understand the Law of Karma first. Once the law of karma is understood the meaning of detachment and its importance can be understood easily.

What is Law of Karma?

The Law of Karma is a universal law due to which every living entity is suffering or enjoying. This law indicates that a living entity will have to face the results of its action. The action can be either pious or evil and the results of it has to be faced by one who is doing action. For pious action the results will be good and then he (who done pious action) will have to face the results of his pious actions. And if he performs evil actions like killing animals then he have to face the negative results of that action. This law is also the answer to one of most important question of life: why bad things happen with good people? This law is also the answer to why some babies die on birth? or why some babies have inherent medical problems? or  why some people are so lucky? One can face the results of his action in present life or next life. According to Vedic knowledge there are three types of Karma: Sanchit, Prarabdha, and Kriyamana. The English meaning of Sanchit is Accumulated, these karmas are the accumulated or stored karmas from many past lives. The word Prarabdha in English means Destined, whatever we are experiencing now is because of prarabdha Karma. It is a the fruit of some portion of sanchit karma. The Kriyamana karma is karma which will be performed in this life. So whatever we are experiencing success or failure in any endeavor is due to our karma. Our desires also comes in law of Karma and whatever we desire we will either get it in this life or in next life. 

Once I was discussing this with one friend and he was trying to troll this law. He in funny tone said "Look I am laughing on Bill gates how rich he is, haha haha... "  And he asked that whether he will become like Bill gates in this life or next life as he was trolling Bill gates richness. According to vedic knowledge he will become like Bill gates in present or next life according to his Sanchit Karma. But he is in ignorance and don't understand the pain of birth or death.

Basically detachment is to act neutrally without attachment to the fruits of the action and perform action without any selfish motives. Detachment also means not showing or thinking proprietorship on any of the possession because nothing remains with us after death. Action can be anything whether it can be eating or desiring in mind everything comes under Law of Karma. So detachment also means to let go the grudges on people who may have behaved in a unexpected way which made us angry on them. To know more about how to achieve this checkout my old posts this and this. Detachment also means we should not be envious of any person's success. If one is not detached then his every action with attachment will be counted according to law of Karma and he has to face its results. 

Every spiritualist will emphasize on detachment from worldly matters, its easy to say but very hard to implement. For this I prefer Bhagvad Gita and act according to it. The most famous verse is :

karmany evadhikaras te
ma phalesu kadacana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango 'stv akarmani

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. (Bhagvad Gita As it is 2.47) 

For practicing detachment I act according to this verse. But its really hard to act with detachment for a new spiritualist, for it, Lord Shri Krishna has said:

mayi sarvani karmani
sannyasyadhyatma-cetasa
nirasir nirmamo bhutva
yudhyasva vigata-jvarah

Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight.(Bhagvad Gita As it is 3.30)

Here Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to surrender all his works to him, but does it mean Lord is in need? certainly No. He is saying such because he don't want Arjuna to be affected by Law of Karma. Same as Arjuna I perform my actions by surrendering all my works to Lord Krishna by which I can be detached from the fruits of the action. For a amateur spiritualist he can perform action without selfish motives first and act just for others. Lord Krishna also explains detachment in following verse:

yasman nodvijate loko
lokan nodvijate ca yah
harsamarsa-bhayodvegair
mukto yah sa ca me priyah

He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me.(Bhagvad Gita As it is 12.15)

Being detached also means we should be stable in happiness and distress. We should not be elated in happiness(success) and should not self doubt or feel down in distress (failures). One should not behave like Sine wave as given in below image:

Sine wave of Human Emotions

The Sine wave's magnitude changes continuously instead by being detached we should act by being neutral and our emotion state should be steady at any time like DC current (straight). Enough of Electrical Engineering, back to spiritual science 😃 !

I know its hard to act with detachment and I will explain easy methods for detachment in future posts.
Such detachment helps one to get rid of future distresses and in severe cases depression because detached person won't feel any happiness or sadness for the result of the action he does and he will attain peace of mind. There is no wealth than peace of mind in this world. This is one of material benefits of detachment but spiritual benefit is more important. Lord Krishna explains our current situation by analogy of a Banyan Tree in Bhagvad Gita. The verse is:

sri-bhagavan uvaca
urdhva-mulam adhah-sakham
asvattham prahur avyayam
chandamsi yasya parnani
yas tam veda sa veda-vit

The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.(Bhagvad Gita As it is 15.1) 

adhas cordhvam prasrtas tasya sakhaguna-pravrddha visaya-pravalahadhas ca mulany anusantatani karmanubandhini manusya-loke

The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human society.(Bhagvad Gita As it is 15.2) 

Banyan Tree

Lord Krishna says one who knows this tree is the one who knows Vedas in real. Knowing means to understand it spiritually. Banyan Tree is one of the strangest trees I know and this tree is amazing me even more after reading Bhagvad Gita. Its structure is first of all very weird and creepy (according to horror movies and serials 😃) compared to other trees and in India some people believe Ghosts stay on this tree. But it gives very important spiritual message of results of attachments to action and its results as enlightened by Lord Krishna from Bhagvad Gita. According to above verse, the branches of this tree which goes upward and downward are nourished by three modes of nature we need to relate this analogy with our lives. As I wrote in my blog post the three modes of nature decides the personality of a person. So his actions are also bound by these modes and attachments to his actions will bind the soul to this material world. The banyan tree also has roots going down and according to analogy it indicates the attachments to actions and due to such attachments we are bound to take birth for reaping the results of our actions according to Law of Karma. The down direction of the roots indicates we are going down in mortal lives.

Detachment can be learnt from Lord Krishna by studying him. Though he was there in the great war of Mahabharata he was not attached to the war or the results. He clears this in Bhagvad Gita by the verse:

na me parthasti kartavyamtrisu lokesu kincanananavaptam avaptavyamvarta eva ca karmani   

O son of Prtha, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I need to obtain anything—and yet I am engaged in work. (Bhagvad Gita 3.22)

He is God and he don't need anything but still he is there with Arjun performing the role of Charioteer in war. He is the best example of detachment and Renunciation.

 What is the importance or need of detachment?

Spiritualists are trying to get out of the cycle of birth and death and reach the spiritual abode of Lord Krishna i.e Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha is where the Lord Vishnu stays where everything is ideal and perfect. One who goes there never takes birth and there is no death and only happiness. According to law of karma every action leads to binding of the soul(we) to this material world which is full of miseries and sadness. By detaching there is very less or no Kriyamana karma and hence no results to suffer or enjoy. However this doesn't guarantee ones entry to Vaikuntha, for it one has to develop strong devotion towards Lord Krishna, but detachment helps in decreasing risk of increasing future births.

I hope I explained the detachment and its importance in easy language. If you have any doubts please comment them in the comment box below. And please follow this blog for future posts.