Category:Giving Up Attachment
Theme Analysis
The path to spiritual perfection is paved with the gradual process of giving up attachment to the temporary, material world. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that while the living entity cannot be "desireless," it is essential to redirect those desires from the mundane to the transcendental. Attachment to family, home, wealth, and the physical body acts as a binding force that prolongs our stay in the cycle of birth and death. This detachment is not achieved through artificial suppression but through the principle of param dṛṣṭvā nivartate—experiencing a higher taste. By engaging in sādhu-saṅga (associating with devotees) and bhakti-yoga, one develops a deep attachment to Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, making material opulences seem as insignificant as "untouchable stools." Ultimately, while we give up attachment to material enjoyment, we must remain judiciously attached to anything that can be utilized in Kṛṣṇa's service, such as money used to spread the saṅkīrtana movement.
- The Nature of Material Bondage Every conditioned soul possesses a natural attraction to material things, which is rooted in a prominent bodily conception. This attachment to worldly relations, society, and sex life acts as a contamination that must be surrendered at the feet of the Supreme Lord to avoid the miseries of continued material existence.
- The Process of Detachment Through Higher Taste Detachment is not a result of stopping all desires, but of awakening elevated knowledge. By associating with devotees and accepting the superior quality of spiritual life, one can give up the morbid desires for material proprietorship and the body, replacing them with a better desire to serve the Supreme Person.
- Exemplars of Renunciation Great kings and devotees like Ambarīṣa, Bharata, and Dhruva Mahārāja set the standard for renunciation by treating opulent kingdoms and family ties as insignificant for the sake of self-realization. Their examples show that a pure devotee can give up all material attachments all of a sudden by the grace of the Lord.
- Judicious Detachment (Yukta-vairāgya) While one must give up family and social attachments to go back to Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that we should not give up things that can spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. True renunciation involves giving up the results of karma and surrendering to Kṛṣṇa's will while using all available resources for His service.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Purifying the Heart by Giving Up Attachment to the Temporary.
Pages in category "Giving Up Attachment"
The following 48 pages are in this category, out of 48 total.
A
- According to the advice of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada, we should not give up attachment to money that can spread the Krsna consciousness movement
- All the previous acaryas, being induced to engage themselves fully in the service of the Lord, gave up attachment for material life and thus accepted the staff, which signifies full engagement of the mind, speech and body in the service of the Lord
- Ambarisa gave up all attachment to household affairs, wives, children, friends and relatives, to the best of powerful elephants, to beautiful chariots, carts, horses and inexhaustible jewels, and to ornaments, garments and an inexhaustible treasury
- Among many such persons who aspire for liberation, one may actually be liberated during his life. Such a person gives up his attachment for society, friendship, love, country, family, wife and children
- An intelligent person should be satisfied with eating prasada or with performing the five different kinds of yajna (panca-suna). By such activities, one can give up attachment for the body and so-called proprietorship with reference to the body
- Another aspect of this verse (SB 4.9.62) is that Dhruva Maharaja's father, Uttanapada, would very soon give up attachment for his palaces and would go to the forest for self-realization
- As confirmed in the Vedanta-sutra (1.1.1), athato brahma jijnasa: without inquiry about the Supreme, or the Transcendence, one cannot give up attachment for this material world
E
- Emperor Bharata was so attracted by the beauty of the lotus feet of Krsna that even in his youthful life he gave up all kinds of attachments to family, children, friends, kingdom, etc., as though they were untouchable stools
- Every conditioned soul has a natural attraction and attachment for material things, but one must simply give up this attachment and surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead
H
- Her (Devahuti's) son was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can give up material attachment, therefore, only when one has attachment for the Supreme Person. This is explained in Bhagavad-gita
- Here (in SB 7.14.13) also, the same point is stressed: one should give up attachment for his wife - or, in other words, for sex life
- How to give up this material attachment and become attached to Krsna, developing Krsna attachment? The process is sadhu-sanga
I
- I should now give up my attachment for things created by the external energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I should engage in thought of the Lord and should thus surrender unto Him
- If one simply remains attached to a woman, that single contamination will be sufficient to prolong one's miserable material existence. Consequently, in Vedic civilization one is trained from the beginning to give up attachment for women
- If there is any obstruction to this surrendering process, one should immediately give it up without attachment
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam (SB 10.32.22) Krsna told the gopis: You have been able to give up all attachment for material enjoyment, and you have searched after Me
- In the beginning of spiritual realization, while one is trying to give up one's attachment to materialism, there is some leaning towards impersonalism. BG 1972 purports
- In the Bhagavad-gita, it is stated, param drstva nivartate: (BG 2.59) one can give up all connection with material attachment when one is able to see the param, or the superior quality of things
- It is judicious to give up family attachment before one attains old age and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- It was certainly a great blessing of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that King Anga could give up the attachment and go out to the forest without being seen by anyone
- It was not a very easy task for the King (Anga) to give up his opulent kingdom and young, faithful wife, but it was certainly a great blessing of the Supreme that he could give up the attachment and go out to the forest without being seen by anyone
L
- Lord Caitanya does not pursue the paths of karma-yoga or jnana-yoga or hatha-yoga but begins at the end of material existence, at the point where one gives up all material attachment
- Lord Caitanya's teachings begin from the point of surrender to Krsna. He does not pursue the paths of karma-yoga or jnana-yoga or hatha-yoga but begins at the end of material existence, at the point where one gives up all material attachment - CC Intro
M
- Maharaja Khatvanga advises that one give up material attachments and surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus one achieves success in life. This is pure bhakti-yoga, which involves vairagya-vidya - renunciation and knowledge
- Maharaja Pariksit was awarded all material amenities and an undisputed kingdom in which to enjoy the undisturbed position of king, but by the grace of the Lord he was able to give up all connections with material attachment
O
- One cannot give up attachment for this material world. By the evolutionary process in 8,400,000 species of life, one cannot understand the ultimate goal of life because in all those species of life, the bodily conception is very prominent
- One has to give up all attachment for worldly relations before one is able to go back to Godhead, and thus when a devotee is too much absorbed in worldly affairs, the Lord creates a situation to cause indifference
- One is therefore required to give up the attachment to family or social or political life just at the age of fifty years, if not earlier, and the training in the vanaprastha and sannyasa-asramas is given for preparation of the next life
- One should give up all desires of family attachment. One must have a chance for better desires; otherwise there is no chance of giving up such morbid desires
S
- Sannyasi mean sat nyasi, one who has given up attachment for this false material world. That is the philosophy of Sankaracarya. He says, brahma satyam jagan mithya. He is advising that, you have got attachment for this material world. This is false
- Self-controlled persons who are attached to the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna can all of a sudden give up the world of material attachment, including the gross body and subtle mind, and go away to attain the highest perfection of the renounced order of life
- Srimati Radharani continued, "Being completely freed from the contamination of material attachment, one gives up attachment for this material world, including family, home, wife, children and everything else materially dear to every person"
T
- That (by the grace of the Lord, Maharaja Pariksit was able to give up all connections with material attachment) is the position of a pure devotee
- The Bhagavad-gita teaches that one should give up everything and be done with this world of material attachment
- The body may perish at any moment, but the soul is eternal. If one gives up attachment for the body and increases his attachment for the spirit soul, his life is successful. It is merely a matter of deliberation
- The misguided man accepts the material condition as everlasting. One must give up his faith in material things and give up attachment for them. Then one will be sober and peaceful
- The question is how to give up material attachment and become attached to Krsna. The process is sadhu-sanga (CC Madhya 22.83), association with a sadhu
- The word mahodayodayat indicates that by the blessings of a great soul one becomes materially opulent, but when one gives up attachment to material wealth, that should be considered an even greater blessing from the great souls
- There are two kinds of principles: attachment and detachment. So mam ekam saranam vraja. So this material attachment and detachment one should give up. He should surrender to Krsna. This is bhakta's principle
- Thereupon, the flute said angrily to Me, 'Give up Your shame, fear and religion and come drink the lips of Krsna. On that condition, I shall give up my attachment for them'
- Those in human society who are intelligent should give up the original cause of lamentation, illusion, fear, anger, attachment, poverty and unnecessary labor. The original cause of all of these is the desire for unnecessary prestige and money
- Those who are attached to the means of bhakti-yoga are factually self-controlled and can all of a sudden give up their homely or bodily attachment for the service of the Lord. This is called the paramahaṁsa stage
- Those who are unintelligent, who are like animals, seek happiness in the desert of the material world. This false attachment has to be given up by the process of bhakti-yoga. This must be taken up very seriously, not artificially
- To become a servant of servant of servant of servant of Krsna. This is parampara system. In that way one can give up the deep attachment for all these, our creation, our developing attachments, grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittaih