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Convert your attachment into Love

A spiritual discourse on the paths of attachment (rāga) and detachment (vairāgya), based on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

"Where there's rāga, there's disappointment. Where there's rāga, there's pain. Where there's rāga, there's anger."

"But where vairāgya is, there is love. There is understanding. There is beauty. There is no sign of disappointment."

A spiritual teacher explains the fundamental opposition between worldly attachment and spiritual detachment. He uses the analogy of universal love for any infant as pure vairāgya, contrasted with a detailed parable about two brothers whose unity is shattered when one shows subtle favoritism toward his own son. The talk examines how attachment (rāga) is the root of selfishness, duality, and all mental afflictions, while true detachment, cultivated through satsang, is the essential gate to spiritual realization. He concludes by urging self-reflection on one's attachments and the remembrance of the soul's temporary journey.

Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar

Patañjali speaks of different kinds of vṛttis—the fluctuations of the mind. There are many vṛttis: kliṣṭa and akliṣṭa vṛttis, good vṛttis and bad vṛttis. The good vṛttis are the thoughts that inspire us to walk comfortably on our spiritual path. We support that which helps, guides, protects, and strengthens our Vairāgya. Without Vairāgya, you cannot come through. And Vairāgya cannot be realized without satsaṅg. Mahāprabhujī said in one of the bhajans, "Vairāgya nahi hove lāl binā satsaṅg." Oh my dear, you cannot realize Vairāgya without satsaṅg. Vairāgya means detachment. Vairāg and Rāga are two opposites. Vairāg is detachment, and Rāga is attachment. When we see a small baby—it doesn't matter from whom, human, pig, dog, cat, donkey, horse, cow, any—immediately we have a feeling of love, and we say, "Oh, how beautiful this baby is." It is true; that is pure love. That pure love is on the Vairāgya side. But then comes attachment, and how attachment influences your selfishness is a small story. There were two brothers who loved each other very much. Of course, brothers are brothers; they wouldn't eat without seeing each other. The youngest brother told the elderly brother, "Everything is yours, brother, I don't need anything." The elderly one said, "No, no, all is yours, I don't need anything." No fighting for property. And now, you know, when brothers grow, one even tells the parents, "Write all property in my name." Just now, it happened twenty days ago: one man who was working in the army came home, and his father was also working in the army, retired now, and he had one brother also. So the young man who came from the army took the gun and said to his father, "Write all property in my name, not onto my second, not half. Otherwise, I will be a fatherless son." See, the bullet is inside. The son says to the father. The father said, "Well, I have another bullet too. I will be a sonless father." What do you think? Is this a relation of father and son? No. That is something terrible. If brothers, like God Rāma and his brother Bharat, are ready to give everything to the brother, or to the sister—of course, the rules are like this: the sister's gate already more than half of properties, you know, gold and this, and when married they get so much, but now even he gets at the time of marriage more, still she has a right to share the ancestor's property. So these two brothers, they were loving each other so much, living together, one kitchen. Living together means one kitchen: his family and the other brother's family living together, eating all together, sharing everything. One kitchen means they are sharing all together. One day, the youngest brother was sitting on the roof of his house. Both of them had one-one child, one-one son. Now, the elderly brother went to the market; on the way, he saw a nice, beautiful, big mango. You can say a nice apple, or you can say some nice peach, but mango is known as the king of fruits; lotus is the king of flowers; peacock, the king of the world. So he had in both hands one mango; one mango was a little bigger, the other one was a little smaller, but both were mangoes. He came from the market, having mangoes in his hands, and both children, his son and the son of his brother, they ran and said, one said, "Father, father, mango," and there was, "Uncle, uncle, beautiful mango." And he loved the children very much also. So in the right hand he had a big mango; in the left hand he had a smaller one. The children came towards him. The right side was the son of his brother; on the left side was his own son. Now, the big mango is on the side of his brother's son. So he said, "Yes, my children, come, come, here you are." The other brother was sitting up and got tears in his eyes. How did these differences appear in my brother's consciousness? He made the differences between both children. Well, the next day, the younger brother tells the elder one, "Brother, don't you think that we should have a separate flat?" And the elder one says, "What do you think? How could you think such things? Separate? We are always together. Everything is yours. What do you want more? But I want to know, how did these thoughts come in your mind to separate?" He said, "Brother, my thoughts came in my mind since your hands were turned over." "What do you mean? My hands turned over?" Look, even he was not aware about that, and he doesn't remember. He said, "Brother, I was sitting on the roof of the house yesterday when you came. Now both children came to you, my son and your son. And you had mangoes in hand." He said, "Yes." "And they asked you to give them mangoes." He said, "Yes." "Now my son was on the right side." He said, "Yes." "And next to him was your son." He said, "Yes." "You had a bigger mango in the right hand; then why did you make hands like this?" My brother, he couldn't look into his eyes; he looked down. "Yes, brother, it was my selfishness, my attachment." That is the biggest rock on our path; that means the discrimination when I say, "It's mine." Now, who are they? Duality. We must have non-duality; we should have a love like immediately our love awakes in the heart for a small baby of any creature or our human baby. That is a universal love; that's pure love. Attachment is that where you say, "It's mine." You give the big portion to yours. And these big portions, because it's your attachment, Moha. Moha is the cause of all troubles, and Moha is the biggest obstacle on your spiritual path, on your journey towards the universe. Yes, the blood is thicker than water. Blood relation has more nearness, but a wise one who realizes will say, without water there is no blood, and there is the wisdom. Therefore, renounce. Holy Gurujī, our Satgurū Dev, the Dharmasamrāṭ Swāmī Mādhavānandajī, used to say, "Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice." What did you sacrifice in your life? Without vairāgya, you cannot. So, rāga and vairāgya. Rāga is attachment. Where there's rāga, there's disappointment. Where there's rāga, there's pain. Where there's rāga, there's anger. Where there's rāga, there's hate. Where there's rāga, there's jealousy. Where there is rāga, there is greediness. Where there is rāga, there is cruelty. Where there is rāga, there is separation. But where vairāgya is, there is love. There is understanding. There is beauty. There is no sign of disappointment. There is no fear. But where rāga is, there is fear. That rāga, attachment, is so deep in our heart. Who dares to say something to my child? Who dares to say something to my wife, to my husband, to my parents, to my property? This is it. How long are you here? This is your hotel. You have to check out. If you take something from the hotel, you have to pay. So, this bird—we are a bird sitting temporarily for one night on the tree. Ren Basera. Ren Vesera means one night's rest. Morning dawn will come and the bird will fly. Similarly, the dawn of the astral world will appear, and this body will remain—this body is the tree—and the soul, the bird, will fly. What did you gain from here? What did you take with you from here? Only one thing: your karma, your good deeds. You took the good things with you. The bad, you took the bad. The name of God, your mantra, your spiritual work—that will create a beautiful destiny, and you will be welcomed somewhere. Or, with bad things, you will be welcomed by different ones. So, Patañjali is talking about vṛttis. Patañjali researched from the body, mind, emotion, intellect, memory, thoughts, the soul, consciousness, ātmā and paramātmā. How is this individual linked to the cosmic, and which is the safe way to come through? That is why we call it yoga. So, take over what I said. How much attachment do you have? Can you convert your attachment into love, or are you not able to do it? That depends on you. That's not my subject. That's your problem, not my problem. So, I wouldn't say problem—the subject. Some people used to say, "It's your coffee, not my coffee." So, drink your coffee, okay? So, attachment, detachment. So, which kind of quality would you like to have for the attainment to come to the Supreme? Therefore, Patañjali said, "Tadā draṣṭā svarūpe 'vasthānam." That draṣṭā—you are the draṣṭā—has a vṛtti: "Who am I?" Fix yourself on that ātmā, then automatically all vṛttis will merge and become one strength for you to go towards the ātmā. For today, it's enough. I wish you all the best. See you tomorrow. God bless you. Ādī Oṃ. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt, what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

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