The steps towards detachment:

We all may not have kingdoms but in each and every house, people are busy with the matters pertaining to some issue or the other just like kings. We may not agree explicitly but politics are rampant in each and every house. Hence, the stories of the kings of yore are relevant even today. The same stories recur in our homes.

In the scriptures, all the kings, after attaining certain age used to go to forest for penance whether they get the kingship or not. Those who are busy in the worldly matters cannot travel towards God. Only if one reduces the interest on the worldly matters, it is possible to go into spirituality. In this way, after giving up all the worldly concerns, one must divert the love in the heart completely towards God alone. The first impediment in this path is the affection towards the relatives. We must give up that completely. In the days of yore, there used to be dedicated places for penance whereas now, there are ashramas (hermitages), ksetras (pilgrim centers) etc.

Despite leaving everything and joining the hermitages, the mind still recollects the older stories. To get rid of such hurdles, we must remind ourselves time and again that all the worldly aspects are trivial and transient. What is it that you ought to do then?

You must read holy books, approach Sadguru and reduce passion towards the worldly affairs. Even in old age, we struggle with TV, newspaper, telephone etc. The love that develops in the heart must be channeled only towards God and not on anything else. Only then, dispassion can be attained. Then, selfless sadhana (spiritual practice) is possible. That itself is nishkama karma (doing work without seeking for any fruits thereafter). With that, one can realize God. You all must achieve that detachment. This is very important.

In some houses, people say “I have no responsibilities”, “I am now retiring”, “I am now free from the tension of children because they can come up on their own”, “I have got their marriages done” and so on. They say so but they get entangled even more. They are busy with the marriages of the children, grandchildren. But, externally they say that once they are retired, they become free and they will live the rest of the life in a temple or in an ashrama approaching a Sadguru. They keep on saying so to everybody but such people are entangled more and more in the worldly affairs. Their responsibilities increase as they grow older because they are worried about their children, grandchildren, their VISAs, green cards etc. They only talk about them every time.

Such persons must get the experience that the children are grown up and that they are capable enough of taking care of themselves. You must realize that even the children will grow up just like you did. There is no use of your presence at God when your mind is entangled in all the trivial matters. Just because you attained detachment, you go to Kashi and there you are again busy with TV, cellular phones etc. How will you get detachment? You want to know all the worldly matters.

Hence, just like you are saying that you will go to an ashrama once you retire, likewise you must try to develop the love towards God.

Jai Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!