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…
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