Detachment leads to serenity!

Detachment is easier than attachment. In detachment, you become free without any burden to bear. Attachment needs exertion on our part. If you are attached to something, then the thought will pester you most of the time. For instance, if you are attached to your children, then there will be constant worry about their wellbeing. If they fail to return home at their regular time, then our mind imagines many mishaps. On the other hand, if you treat your children as a trust given by God, you will fulfill your duties to them without any burden. You will not get unduly attached to them since they are trust from God. When you start thinking about ‘mine’, then all the attendant woes pester you. We must try to cultivate a ‘carefree’ attitude reposing our entire faith on God and trust His wisdom too!

Whatever comes on your way must be for your own good and progress. It is willed so by God and not a kind of accident. It is only an incident meant for your spiritual progress. God is more concerned with your spiritual welfare rather than your material progress. No doubt, it is He who provides food, clothing and shelter to all the beings. But his focus will be mostly on your spiritual uplift and hence sometimes, he subjects the individual to certain trying situations to enable him to learn some spiritual lessons. God considers quality above quantity. Hence affluence is no measure for God’s grace. In fact, if God loves an individual, he will satisfy the barest necessities in a frugal manner. In general, affluence brings arrogance in the human psyche. Hence it is written in the Bible, “It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle hole than the rich ascending heaven. It is not that rich man cannot reach Heaven. If a rich man is noble in heart, he can one day reach heaven. Since most of the rich people are devoid of human virtues, it is mentioned that it is difficult for them to reach God.

There lived in India, one great saint cum incarnation called Saibaba in a dilapidated mosque in a remote hamlet Shirdi. He used to say that poor people are dearer to God. Poverty is better than a kingdom. But affluence cannot stay with us forever. It is fleeting and hence the rich people have more worries and concerns than the poor. If the poor worry for a morsel of food, the rich is concerned about the safety of his wealth. If one is wealthy, four people always haunt him. First is the government which collects wealth tax and income tax, second is the thieves, third is the close relatives and fourth is natural calamities. Hence the rich man gets minimum sleep though he rests in an air conditioned room. The poor enjoys a full night sound sleep after a hard labor day long. The rich are haunted with many diseases like blood pressure, diabetes, heart troubles and what not? Hence we should develop virtues to become dearer to God rather than man. In times of trouble, God alone can help us. We may be poor in riches but we should not become poor in morals.

If we develop detachment towards the world, God will attach automatically and he will become closer to us. Hence in proportion to our detachment, God will come encouragingly nearer and enable us to get relief from the miserable cycle of births and deaths. Hence it is advisable to hold God with our right hand and the world with the left hand. In course of time, our hold on the world will become loosened and our hold on God will become stronger!