"Attachment: The Absolute Necessity" by Dr. Meghna Choudhury H.G. Mathura Vasi Devi Dasi

Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects two entities. We are all attached to someone or something. Aren't we? It could be our immediate family like our husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, sister or maybe a cousin, a friend. Often we develop attachments towards our home, car, bike, clothes etc. Sometimes, we also nurture amicable deep bonds for animals like a pet dog, cat, fish, birds etc. Often, people tend to get attached to their hometown, locality, district, region etc. Each and every one of us nurtures deep affinity for these things with varying degrees of such attachment for all these elements. Why do we get attached to all these? We become attached to people and things because under the influence of illusion we believe it succours a perceived need which, we think, if attained will give us happiness, it will make our lives complete. 

Root Cause

It is clearly and very rightly stated in our Vedic texts that attachment for one thing is the cause of bondage in conditioned life, and the same attachment, when applied to something else, opens the door of liberation. Attachment cannot be killed; it has simply to be transferred. Attachment for material things is called material consciousness, and attachment for God or or His devotee is called spirituality. Consciousness, therefore, is the platform of attachment. When we simply purify the consciousness from material consciousness to God consciousness, we attain liberation. Despite the common statement that one should give up attachment, 'desire-less-ness' is not possible for a living entity. A living entity, by constitution, has the propensity to be attached to something. We see that if someone has no object of attachment, if he has no children or someone to care for, he transfers his attachment to cats and dogs. This indicates that the propensity for attachment cannot be stopped; rather, it must be utilized for the best purpose.  

We should be wise to understand that all these are nothing but temporary objects of sense gratification. They do not belong to us. They never have belonged to us. Not in just in this lifetime but over millions of lives that we have undergone living in the false notion that this object is 'ours'. Nothing in this material world belongs to us. They are all creations of the Lord and are His property. I have personally witnessed people crying at the death of a pet dog. What was the cause of this pain? Attachment. Rather than attaching our minds and emotions to such things which do not belong to us, we must dovetail this attachment towards our Creator, the Supreme Lord, by praying to Him, "Help me develop attachment towards You, Your divine qualities, Your loving service...". 

Therefore, we infer that attachment is an absolute necessity but where we repose this attachment will determine the quality of our present lives and eventually determine our fate at the time of death. Our attachment for material things perpetuates our conditional state, but the same attachment, when transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His pure devotee, is the source of liberation and eternal peace and happiness.