THE NAVHIND TIMES 23 DEC 2007
By Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Detachment anything. Whether it is your family or work or life you will have some experience of
this only if you are deeply involved with it.
T
here is a lot of talk about detachment these days because somewhere there See, detachment is a philosophy for those who have misunderstood life com-
is a fear about involvement with life. Actually, the fear is not about in- pletely. And it is because of these people that others develop an aversion towards
volvement, the fear is about entanglement.,Because you do not know the anything spiritual. People have come to the conclusion that spirituality is for people
difference between involvement and entanglement you talk about detach- who are not interested in life. They assume that if you are spiritual you should not
ment. If you know how to be absolutely involved with life and yet get entangled you eat properly, you should not dress properly, you should not live properly. You must
would not be talking about detachment. The fear of entanglement has started this be suffocated or at least you must look suffocated. If you smile, laugh and enjoy
whole philosophy of detachment. Entanglement arises not because there is some- your life, then you are not spiritual. If you have a goat-like face, which has never
thing wrong with life but because you are handling life improperly. If there were no smiled, then you are spiritual.
involvement with life you would not know life. So if you are talking about detach- But being spiritual really means your interest in life has gone so deep that you
ment, you are talking about avoiding life. The best way to avoid life is want to know everything about life not just the physical dimension
to fall dead. Why do you want to exist here and avoid life?
Question: Sadhguru, should of life, you want to know all of life. There is no chance for a person
There are too many people who are not fully alive. Partially alive trying to avoid life to be spiritual because spirituality needs absolute,
people are a crime against life. You have come here to live, to ex- one detach oneself from ev- total involvement.
perience life. Your life should be full of exuberance, but the fear of erything in order to pursue It is not the life process, which is entangling you. It is the ignorance
entanglement makes you weave such philosophies. If you are abso- the spiritual path? with which you are handling life, which entangles you. You get iden-
lutely and totally involved with everything that you are in touch with tified with things that are not you, so you get entangled. Right now I
right now, you will see that there is no entanglement. The problem am speaking through this microphone. Now if I start believing that
with you is that you choose to be involved only with a particular person and you I am the microphone, then there is going to be lot of trouble. I would not be able
want to ignore the rest of the humanity or the rest of the life around you, so you to move without this. This has happened to you in many ways. You have identified
get entangled. If you are involved with everything that you are in touch, the very air yourselves with a million things that are not you, starting from your physical body,
that you breath, the atmosphere around you, life around you, if you are constantly your thoughts, your opinion, your ideas, your emotions, your clothes, your jewel-
and actively involved with everything then there is no question of entanglement. lery, your family, and your work. This distorts your entire life. If you do not have
Entanglement has come because of the discriminatory involvement. a proper perspective of who you are, then you get entangled. So if entanglement
When you show involvement with everything around you in that moment you should not happen, you must maintain awareness as to what you are and what you
will know life. Even if you are in heaven, without involvement it does not mean are not. If this distinction is constantly kept, there is no question of entanglement.