ATTACHMENT IS THE CAUSE OF OUR UNHAPPINESS
Dr Roshan Singh – Jyotishacharya Shastri Pundit
“In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna “Yogah Karmasu Kaushalam,” which means that performing your work with excellence and sincerity is yoga. It is a very important passage because it teaches us that yoga is not merely about postures or breathing exercises.
Yoga means “union.” It is, ultimately, union of the Self with the Divine. Karma yoga is action performed which unites us to God, action which brings us closer to Him, action which purifies us. Whatever your duty is, if you perform it with utmost sincerity to the best of your ability and with excellence, that is yoga. When we remember that yoga means union, particularly union of the self with the Divine, we can extrapolate the message that one way to become progress on the spiritual path and become united with God is through performing every act with sincerity and excellence.
What is crucial is that we do not become attached to what that fruit is or what those returns are. Bhagwan Krishna’s instruction to Arjuna on the battlefield was not that his actions wouldn’t bear fruit but that he should not have expectations or attachments regarding what that fruit will be. The motto we should all take from the Gita is, “Do your best and leave the rest.” We must perform our actions to the best of our ability, with full knowledge that they will bear fruit. What fruit they will bear and when that fruit will be borne is out of our hands.
The reason that Bhagwan Krishna gave this message is that expectations and attachments are the cause of our unrest and unhappiness. Even positive, fruitful results are rarely up to our highest expectation, and thus expectation nearly always leads to frustration and depression. The solution is to decrease our expectations and do our best without clinging to a desired result.
Yes, it is human nature to have dreams and goals. There is nothing wrong with wanting a particular result or working toward a goal. In fact, it is what motivates us to act. The dictate of Krishna is very subtle. He does not mean that we should not work toward a goal or wish for a particular result. Even on the battleground of Kurukshetra, even after having the Bhagavad Gita sung to him by the lips of Lord Krishna, Arjuna still naturally fought the war in order to win. He fired each arrow hoping and expecting that it would pierce the target. His actions were thoughtful, careful, focused and goal-oriented. Yet, he was not attached to the end result.
This is the beautiful and complex subtlety of Krishna’s teachings. We must do our best, working toward a goal with focus, attention, care and effort. Yet, our emotional stability and our inner peace must not be affected by the results. We study hard in school and it is natural and correct that our goal is to achieve high marks. If we did not hope to get high marks, there would be no impetus to study! However, is our emotional state contingent upon whether we get an A or a C? Are we ecstatic with an A and bereft with a C? Are we unable to sleep for weeks prior to receiving the results because we are so filled with tension of the result? That’s the difference that Krishna is trying to teach us.
It is important to realize that Krishna is not telling us to become indifferent or apathetic. This is a really crucial difference. He is not advising us that we should not care about the results. He is simply saying that we should not become affected, internally and deeply, by the results.
These teachings are so crucial today when people are committing suicide and having to take prescription medicines to fight their depression. The more attached we are to a particular result, the more likely we are to be discouraged and dejected if that result does not manifest. That is why we must take the message of nonattachment to heart.”
Love light and Divine Blessings to you and your family
Let us spread this message widely and bring peace to this planet.
Punditji