Being Attached to the Body Keeps the Soul in Anxiety and Birth
Attachment to the body keeps the living being bound to fear, anxiety, and repeated birth. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the body is temporary, but the soul is eternal and meant for service to Kṛṣṇa. When the soul identifies with the body, it becomes absorbed in comfort, family, possessions, and survival. Kṛṣṇa consciousness frees the living being by transferring attachment from the temporary body to the eternal Lord.
Bodily Attachment Means Clinging to the Temporary
The material body is temporary, yet the conditioned soul clings to it as if it were permanent. This false grip on the temporary is called asad-graha, the acceptance of something that cannot last. Because the body must change, decay, and die, attachment to it can never give real security. Spiritual intelligence begins when one recognizes that the self is different from the perishable body.
- Asat means which will not stay, nonpermanent, for the time. Just like we have accepted this body. This is asad-graha. This body will not stay. Everyone knows, but still, I am too much attached to this body. This is called asad-graha.
- Due to long association with a particular type of material body and also due to the grace of Kalakanya and her maya, one becomes overly attached to a material body, although it is the abode of pain.
- The living being has attachment for the present body and does not want to enter another, and thus in the interim he remains a ghost.
- This body is a gift of the material nature, and one who is too much attached to the bodily consciousness is called mandan, or a lazy person without understanding of spirit soul.
Attachment to the Body Produces Anxiety
So long as one identifies with the body, anxiety is unavoidable. The body is vulnerable to disease, aging, death, and countless disturbances, so the attached mind becomes full of fear. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the whole world is anxious because it is absorbed in bodily consciousness without self-realization. The more one seeks security in the body, the more fear appears when that body is threatened.
- Except for a few persons in Krsna consciousness, the entire world is full of such envious persons, who are perpetually full of anxieties because they are attached to the material body and are without self-realization.
- Materialists are generally very attached to their present bodily comforts and to the bodily comforts they expect in the future. Therefore they are always absorbed in thoughts of their wives, children and wealth and are afraid of giving up their bodies.
- So long we are attached to this nonpermanent body, there should be anxiety. Prahlada Maharaja says, asad-grahat, sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat (SB 7.5.5). Because we have accepted this temporary body, therefore we are full of anxiety.
Bodily Identification Creates False Relationships
When the self is mistaken for the body, all bodily relationships appear absolute. One becomes attached to husband, wife, children, wealth, and social identity because these seem connected to the body. Yet these relationships are temporary unless they are connected to Kṛṣṇa. Real understanding does not make one cruel; it teaches one to see the soul and use relationships for spiritual progress.
- Indeed, his (the living entity's) whole conception of the material universe arises from this false identification with the body, for he becomes attached to the body and its by-products.
- One is regarded as a husband or son because of bodily attachment. These illusory relationships are caused by misunderstanding.
- They (the living entities) please only because they bring pleasure to the self. For this reason, one is self-centered and is attached to his body and self more than he is to relatives like wife, children and friends.
- Persons devoid of atma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.
Bodily Attachment Blocks Spiritual Knowledge
A person absorbed in the body finds it difficult to understand the eternal soul and transcendental body. Modern education often increases bodily attachment instead of teaching the difference between the self and the body. This is why materialistic people may be expert in bodily care yet ignorant of their spiritual identity. The real education is ātma-tattva, knowledge of the self beyond the body.
- Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable and eternally blissful.
- I am not this (body). This is most essential education. Unfortunately, the so-called scientists are making more and more attached to this body.
- One who does not understand the constitutional position of the body and the soul (atma) becomes too attached to the bodily concept of life - SB 10.4.20.
- The most essential education is that which enables one to become free from the bodily concept of life, but unfortunately scientists, philosophers, politicians, and other so-called leaders are misleading people so that they become more attached to the body.
Devotional Service Transfers Attachment to Kṛṣṇa
The solution is not hatred of the body but redirection of attachment. The body can be maintained as an instrument for serving Kṛṣṇa, while the heart becomes attached to the Lord rather than bodily comfort. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the perfection of yoga is to give up bodily attachment and transfer attachment to Kṛṣṇa. This is the practical freedom given by devotional service.
- The perfection of yoga consists of giving up attachment for this body and bodily relationships and transferring that attachment to Krsna.
- We should not be too much attached to this body. But because with this body we have to execute Krsna consciousness, therefore we should keep it fit also. That is called yukta-vairagya.
- When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Krsna, he can understand that he isn't the body but part and parcel of Krsna. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to body and everything related to it.
- We are all infected by Your illusory energy; therefore we are very attached to the body, which is full of stool and urine, and to anything related with the body. Except for devotional service, there is no way to give up this attachment.
Devotees Are Not Absorbed in Bodily Trouble
A devotee does not give excessive importance to bodily pains because he knows he is not the body. This does not mean negligence; rather, the devotee sees bodily conditions as temporary and uses the body in Kṛṣṇa's service. Devotional hearing, chanting, and glorification lift consciousness beyond bodily absorption. Thus the devotee lives in the body without making the body the center of life.
- A devotee does not attach much importance to the pains and trouble pertaining to the body because he knows perfectly well that he is not the material body.
- A special advantage in devotional service is that devotees not only enjoy the transcendental pastimes of the Lord by hearing and chanting and glorifying them, but also are not very much attached to their bodies, unlike the yogis.
- Devotees engaged in devotional service are not very much attached to their bodies, unlike the yogis, who are too attached to the body and who think that by performing bodily gymnastic exercises they will advance in spiritual consciousness.
- Those who are attached to the means of bhakti-yoga are factually self-controlled and can all of a sudden give up their homely or bodily attachment for the service of the Lord. This is called the paramahaṁsa stage.
Conclusion
Being attached to the body keeps the soul in anxiety and birth because the body cannot provide permanent shelter. It is temporary, painful, and destined to perish, yet the conditioned soul clings to it and its by-products as if they were eternal. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that freedom begins when one understands the self as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and transfers attachment to Him. By devotional service, the body becomes an instrument, the soul becomes awakened, and repeated bodily bondage can be ended.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Attached to the Body. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.