Detach to Attach

Kapiladeva didn’t simply talk of detachment from material nature, but also explained the path of bhakti and attachment to Krishna as the natural complement to this. Desires cannot be extinguished, but simply redirected to their original and natural spiritual source, and one should therefore re-establish their loving connection with Krishna.

One who is attracted to matter and detached from Krishna is a materialist. Their philosophy is “eat, drink, be merry and enjoy” and they rarely contemplate anything else. When one is attracted to matter and attracted to Krishna, they are a mixed devotee (misra-bhakta). They know their higher goal, but find it difficult to detach themselves from the temporary pleasures around them. When one is detached from matter, and also detached from Krishna, they are known as impersonalists. They see the falsity of this world and have developed a disinterest in its allurements, but have failed to connect themselves to the positive source of happiness. Only the pure devotee, detached from matter and attached to Krishna, finds true happiness.

Thus, we see a dual presentation throughout the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Whether in the stories, the discourses, or Srila Prabhupada’s purports, there is a constant reminder of the futility of material enjoyment, along with inspirational narrations of the exquisiteness of pure spirituality. Only when we let go of the material can we fully grasp the spiritual, and this complete theme is seen in the teachings of Kapiladeva. Just as a university has admission criteria, the qualification for entering true bhakti is that one has no more faith in material desires. Practising spiritual life while harbouring material attachments is like rowing a boat with the anchor down – we’ll simply go around in circles and not make much progress at all.

Srila Prabhupada explains further: “The whole spiritual process leads to perfect knowledge of everything material and spiritual, and the results of such perfect knowledge are that one becomes detached from material affection and becomes attached to spiritual activities. Becoming detached from material things does not mean becoming inert altogether, as men with a poor fund of knowledge think” (SB 1.2.7)