Attachment

Attachment'-in itself is the most common, natural, genuine, honest confession. Attachment is most commonly associated with persons, places and things. There are more than one hundred shlokas amongst 700 shlokas of Bhagwad Gita that attachment has been referred to and explained in threadbare details as to lure the bewildred Arjuna to shun it and do his 'karma' i.e. take part in the battle dispassionately, detatchedly. In normal parlance, is not each one of us 'smitten' by attachment? All our happiness emanates from it though sadly all our unhappiness, too germinates from attachment only. Is this my statement an exaggeration or a plain truth?  

With things our attachment is not very harmful as it is our individual domain. We are so much inclined to hoard, store, keep intact for years small things, dresses, playthings associated with our childhood-things that once upon a time gave us joy we want to keep them forever. This is another matter that after long intervals when we 'discover' them during some clear-the -clutter-campaign, they bring back memories which can moist our eyes or cause a lump in the throat and we hurriedly pack them to save them for some other time when we could afford the luxury of brooding or delving upon past as generally there is dearth of time in hand. 

We love the mess, too that the things we are attached to tend to create. Removal of any particle from near our bed side table or a cupboard can put us off. The bathrooms and lobbies and drawing rooms generally bespeak of our attachment with kinds of things we display therein. The almirahs hide in themselves nothing but our own penchant for things connected with one occasion or the other, gifts received, dresses we deem 'lucky'  (howsoever old and unfit they may become). With passage of time, this attachment does not lessen even though the things fall in Keynesian law of diminishing marginal utility. 

The most vulnerable aspect of attachment is with persons as it leaves the sanctum sactorum of our own individuality. Incidentally, this is also the cause of greatest happiness-seeding of attachment and romance of relationships quickly followed by rising expectations and aspirations and with expectations accompany as a natural corollory the disillusionment and  hurts. In this world of 'illusions' as all scriptures tend to prove, it is the attachment which is the root cause of all pains because what we deem to possess and gives us pure happiness and abundant joy  proves an illusion and becomes the cause of torment and hurt. Attachment is natural basis of human relationships and it takes a lifetime to understand all its nuances and complexities as to how the attachment, harbinger of all the joys of the world becomes the cause of the sorrows unfathomable and unbearable. If it is a  'thing of beauty' then why not 'a joy forever'? Why attachments denote that joy 'whose hands are forever at his lips/bidding adieu'( Ode on Melanhcoly by John Keats).

I feel it is not just in relationships that attachment becomes a cause of unhappiness, attachment of any kind tends to lead to some sorrow in any context- work, project, place of stay, transient things and even intransient ideas. Attachment is like a sheen which affects the ability to see things logically, rationally, judiciously. Somewhere it blurs our vision and perception. Attachment makes the prudence take a back seat and enables passion rein. It calls for constant vigilance against attachment when we work passionately for  projects with involvement of human kind. It does not mean-definitely it does not mean not doing things with heart but there is a very thin thread between the personal and professional-both deserve to be given due respect without affecting the other adversely. 

Attachment with past is the most harmful. In this our world where the only thing constant is the law of change, it is very natural that attachment with memories howsoever beautiful would cause pain. We tend to be attached to painful memories more which return to impact the joyous present every now and then. This attachment with past leads to negativity which has ample potential to cause a damper on every joy of the present. In short, this attachment is a 'kill joy'.

Opposite to attachment is detatchment. Generally it is associated with ascetics and seers who renounce the world. It takes a lifetime to meet such noble souls who have completely overcome attachment with persons, places, things, power, pelf and comforts. 

Attachment is humans' strength and weakness, too. It tests and poses challenges of human kind whether we are able to make it our strength or let it it be our weakness. Life takes the role of a teacher who examines how prepared we are for happiness and how vulnerable to pains and tribulations. We all love to be happy and joyous-our basic nature. Anandmohan, the ultimate joy is all we seek whatever the medium. To detach ourselves or to renounce is not our forte, cannot be as long as we are living on this planet as normal beings. But for sure, it is our duty to guard ourselves against pains and sorrows- come what may. The biggest is challenge is to follow the middle path between the detachment and attachment i.e. Anaskati-to be away from life while being in thick of it.