Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #24 – In Defense of Attachment

June 15th, 2026

During my Deity sevā this morning, along with the bhoga offering, I wanted to offer something more. I began to mentally offer a feast. So, I naturally imagined offering the best things out of devotion. Then a thought came:

 

If I didn’t enjoy or wasn’t attached to certain foods, then how could I value them? And if I didn’t highly value them, then how could I offer them with devotion?

 

Attachment and devotion side by side? Isn’t complete non-attachment one of the pillars of spiritual life?

 

Not in bhakti-yoga, according to the Bhāgavatam. Rather it is the faithful soul who is “neither disgusted with nor very much attached to material life” who can achieve perfection on the path of devotion. (A paraphrase of Bhāgavatam 11.20.8)

 

It’s easy to understand how one not excessively attached to material life achieves perfection on the path of devotion, but how do we understand how one not disgusted with material life moves forward?

 

As bhakti requires a heart capable of attachment, it is thus not favorable to overly cultivate detachment (to become disgusted with material life) as a goal. Rather it makes more sense to redirect and purify our attachment so that we can become fully attached to Krishna.

 

Cultivating attachment to Krishna therefore means awakening and intensifying the emotions of a soft heart easily moved to affection, longing, gratitude, compassion and loving exchanges. As these qualities can be weakened by the emotional hardness that comes from excessive renunciation (the path of jñāna), focusing on such detachment is thus not favorable on the path of devotion.

 

Let’s return to the initial inspiration for this text. We shouldn’t cultivate being disgusted with material life because we can offer those things we like with the most devotion. I will end this post with a relevant story that I think hits the point home.

 

When he was still in this world, Haridāsa Śāstrī was arguably the most learned Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scholar in Vrindavan. That was a little more than a decade ago. Some devotees who left ISKCON, seemingly considering themselves Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava traditionalists, asked him a pointed question to support their position: “Can we offer pizza to Krishna?” I am not sure they got the answer they were expecting.

 

“Whatever you like best, you can offer with the most devotion!”[1]

 


[1] It is important to note that although one in bhakti is not excessively averse to material life, one is not excessively attached either. Balanced detachment (yukta-vairāgya), gives scope to keep things, including our attachments, that can be used in Krishna’s service. It doesn’t give one a license to live lavishly and abandon the simple life of a spiritualist. Nor does it minimize the importance of seriously cultivating non-attachment even while using one’s material nature and proclivities in Krishna’s service.