What is meant by detachment?

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பாச வைராக்யம் என்ட்ரால் என்ன?

Paasam means bondage, Bondage to what? Bondage to the world and worldliness. As long as one is interested in the world and worldliness he cannot be interested in his spirit or God. So one has to detach oneself from worldly things. This attitude of detachment is called 'Vairagya'. In tamil it is called Patru aruthal [பற்று அறுதல்] .

The great sage Thiruvalluvar says 'In order to get away from worldly things one has to catch hold of the devine feet of God.
[பற்றுக பற்று அற்றான் பற்றினை அப்பற்றை
பற்றுக பற்று விடற்கு ]

Worshipping the Lords feet is the way to salvation'.

The moment one is totally devoid of any interest in the world or its things one attains moktsha or salvation, says the Vaishnava saint Namaalvaar.

அற்றது பற்று எனில்
உற்றது வீடு

The state of detachment is normally explained by a simile.
One should live in the world like a leaf of lotus. Though it is always immersed in the water it is not stained by the water. In the same way though one lives in the world and experiences worldly things one should not be merged with them. One should always remember that he is not an innorganic, inert matter like them but a living soul, a spark of divinity. Always with this act of self-remembering one should do all his duties in the world.

Originally according to saiva siddhantha man was like a small atom in a dark room and that atom was not aware of its own condition of darkness, forgetting that he was a being of light, a spiritual being. Then God took pity upon him and he wanted to instruct him that he was a spiritual being.

How did he do it ? God's act of grace was done in 3 stages.
First, He gave the soul a small light of energy called 'Kalai'.
Kalai maeas 'Kria Shakthi' or the energy to perform an act.

Next God gave him another small light of 'Vidhya Shakthi' Vidhya means knowledge.
With that light of knowledge, the soul was able to see something that is, it understood it own condition.

Next God gave the soul, one more energy called 'Aragham' meaning 'Itcha Shakthi' or the power of desire.

Finally God created the outside world and gave this soul a body, a mind and the faculty of enjoying the world with them. Gods intention was to activate man's soul and by making him see the action he would understand his real condition, He thought.

This can be explained by another illustration. It is like washing a dirty linen with soap. Soap is also made up of dirty oil. With one dirt another dirt is removed. With one thorn you remove the thorn in your foot and throw away both of them. In the same way the stain in the attma which was called Aanava malaa must be removed by the blissful experience of the souls interaction with the world. The world and the human body were created by the maya shakthi of God. So Maya shakthi was originally an act of grace by God.

This interaction of the soul with the world is called Karma or action. Unfortunately the soul forgot to remember God's intention of its purification and instead got deeper and deeper into hte dirt of worldiness.

When one eats a sweet one tastes sweetness, it gives him happiness, but that happiness is short lived and also sometimes turns into unhappiness. This is a pointer to everlasting bliss that can be given only be God. Forgetting this higher form of happiness the soul like a buffalo enters into the dirty pond of worldiness and is satisfied with the worldly happiness. Here is born good and bad, Good karma could purify its soul to some extent but it is also bondage. Bad karma is adding to the already existing dirt. So the only remedy for this is to be totally detached from worldly things and be interested only in the self-actualization or atma siddhi and God realization or attainment of Godhead. This is done in various forms of Yoga. But the ultimate aim is to get away from worldly happiness and attain the bliss of aatman and God.

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