“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached.”
Simone Weil
Kabir – The couplet
जब लग भक्ति सकामता, तब लग निर्फळ सेव ।
कहै कबीर वह क्यों मिलै, निष्कामी निज देव ||
Transliterated:
Jab Lag Bhakthi Sakaamta, Tab Lag Nirphal Sev |
Kahai Kabir Vah Kyon Milai, Nishkaami Nij Dev ||
Translation:
When devotion is born from desire, the results do not bear fruit|
While bound by attachment, how can one get (realize) that which is always detached? ||
My understanding:
Once we have imbibed the teachings of the physical world around us and accepted our place in society, we have firmly become prisoners of our mind. Being prisoners, we do not turn around to question the mind that is the master, or inspect what drives the mind. But, if we take a step back, we see that this mind is driven by the input received from the physical senses – sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. What pre-shapes the input received from the senses and conditions the way the input is perceived? A close inspection says that this is the work of desire.
All of this line of thinking helps us begin to grasp an understanding of how our desires color our perception and alter our view of the reality around us. Which is why we often are faced with statements or thoughts like “But I did not say that” or “You cannot be meaning that!”
To close the door on desire, we have to comprehend that what we get is often not what we want or expect. Every package, no matter how it is perceived, brings with it its own unwanted baggage. For example, I may want all the gold in the world, but I do not want the weight, volume or the heartache of storage and safekeeping. Reality is, I want the value of the gold, not the gold itself. But this clarity of thought is often missing when thinking happens clouded in the haze of desire. Absent the cloud, I perceive that the want does not match my real need. To get that value, there is a cost I have to pay – and that cost is in reality more than I can afford (time, energy, motivation, and the results do not allow me to realize the value I expected).
Once I develop this clarity of thought and vision, I can practice devotion in the only way that gives satisfaction – being devoted because I can, not because I want something in return. Then devotion will figure out exactly what I need and give it to me, and there will be no bargaining or horse-trading involved. That is the ideal to strive for!