आसक्ति
Asakti
āsakti
In simple words
Asakti is attachment: a clinging that makes us depend on things staying a certain way. The Gita says attachment, not action itself, is what binds.
What is it?
Attachment (asakti, sanga) arises from dwelling on objects and grows into desire, frustration and anger. The Gita's remedy is not to abandon the world but to act without attachment (anasakti), which frees action from bondage. Sadhak Sanjivani describes attachment as a relationship we ourselves assume with the changing, and says it can be dropped by recognising that. Buddhist thought analyses the same phenomenon as clinging (upadana), fed by craving.
Scholar’s note
Gita 2.62–63 gives a causal chain from contemplation of objects to attachment, desire, anger, delusion and ruin. Yoga Sutra 2.7 defines raga (attachment) as following pleasure, one of five kleshas. In Buddhist dependent origination, craving (tanha) conditions clinging (upadana). Gandhi titled his Gita translation Anasakti Yoga.How its meaning differs
Attachment to the non-Self is born of ignorance and binds; action without attachment purifies and frees.
Attachment (raga), which follows pleasure, is one of the five afflictions that disturb the mind.
Craving leads to clinging, a link in dependent origination; ending clinging ends suffering.
Attachment and aversion are the passions that cause karmic matter to bind to the soul.
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारSwamiji defines attachment as the pull towards inert things that are alien to our own nature (3.19). It arises from believing 'I am the body' and 'the body is mine', which stamps the importance of perishable things onto the mind (3.19). It is attachment that causes the fall, not action (3.19). Dwelling on objects gives rise to attachment; from attachment comes desire, from blocked desire comes anger, then delusion, loss of memory, loss of discernment and downfall (2.62–63). If one clings to the action or its result, one cannot stay untouched, so Krishna says: act having given up attachment (2.48). Attachment to the gunas is the cause of birth in higher and lower wombs (13.21).
स्वामीजी बताते हैं कि अपने स्वरूपसे विजातीय जड़ पदार्थोंके प्रति आकर्षणको आसक्ति कहते हैं (३।१९)। 'मैं शरीर हूँ' और 'शरीर मेरा है' — ऐसा माननेसे नाशवान् पदार्थोंका महत्त्व अन्त:करणमें बैठ जाता है और उनमें आसक्ति हो जाती है (३।१९)। आसक्ति ही पतन करनेवाली है, कर्म नहीं (३।१९)। विषयोंके चिन्तनसे आसक्ति, आसक्तिसे कामना, कामनामें बाधा लगनेसे क्रोध, फिर मोह, स्मृतिभ्रंश, बुद्धिनाश और पतन होता है (२।६२–६३)। कर्म या फलमें चिपकनेसे निर्लिप्तता नहीं रहती, इसलिये भगवान् कहते हैं — संग छोड़कर कर्म कर (२।४८)। गुणोंका संग ही ऊँच-नीच योनियोंमें जन्मका कारण है (१३।२१)।
‘मैं शरीर हूँ’ और ‘शरीर मेरा है’—ऐसा माननेसे शरीरादि नाशवान् पदार्थोंका महत्त्व अन्त:करणमें अंकित हो जाता है। इसी कारण उन पदार्थोंमें आसक्ति हो जाती है। आसक्ति ही पतन करनेवाली है, कर्म नहीं।Where it appears in the Gita
Your right is to the action — never to its fruit
कर्ममें ही अधिकार है, फलमें कभी नहीं
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
You are free in doing your duty, never in its fruit; do not become the cause of the fruit, nor be attached to inaction.
कर्तव्य-कर्म करनेमें ही तेरा अधिकार है, फलमें कभी नहीं; तू कर्मफलका हेतु मत बन और कर्म न करनेमें भी तेरी आसक्ति न हो।
2.48Evenness itself is Yoga
समत्व ही योग है
योगस्थ: कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय।
Giving up attachment, staying even in success and failure, established in Yoga, do your work — for evenness is called Yoga.
आसक्तिका त्याग करके, सिद्धि-असिद्धिमें सम होकर, योगमें स्थित हुआ कर्म कर; क्योंकि समत्व ही योग कहा जाता है।
2.62The chain of fall begins in thought
पतनकी सीढ़ी चिन्तनसे शुरू होती है
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते।
Dwelling on objects breeds attachment; attachment breeds desire; and when desire is obstructed, anger arises.
विषयोंका चिन्तन करनेसे उनमें आसक्ति, आसक्तिसे कामना और कामनामें बाधा लगनेपर क्रोध पैदा होता है।
3.19Do your duty, always unattached
निरन्तर आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्तव्य कर
तस्मादसक्त: सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर।
Therefore, constantly free of attachment, do well the work that is your duty — by acting without attachment a person attains the Supreme.
इसलिये निरन्तर आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्तव्य-कर्मका भलीभाँति आचरण कर; आसक्तिरहित होकर कर्म करनेवाला मनुष्य परमात्माको प्राप्त हो जाता है।
4.20त्यक्त्वा कर्मफलासङ्गं नित्यतृप्तो निराश्रय:।
(जो) कर्म और फलकी आसक्तिका त्याग करके आश्रयसे रहित (और) सदा तृप्त है, वह कर्मोंमें अच्छी तरह लगा हुआ भी (वास्तवमें) कुछ भी नहीं करता।
13.21Attachment to the gunas drives rebirth
गुणोंका संग ही जन्मका कारण
पुरुष: प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुङ्क्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान्।
Only the self identified with the body becomes the enjoyer of the gunas, and attachment to them causes birth in higher and lower wombs.
प्रकृतिस्थ पुरुष ही गुणोंका भोक्ता बनता है और गुणोंका संग ही ऊँच-नीच योनियोंमें जन्मका कारण है।
18.9कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेऽर्जुन।
हे अर्जुन! ‘केवल कर्तव्यमात्र करना है’— ऐसा (समझकर) जो शास्त्रविहित कर्म आसक्ति और फलेच्छाका त्याग करके किया जाता है, वही सात्त्विक त्याग माना गया है।
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 2.62The chain from dwelling on objects to attachment and desire.
- 2Gita verseBhagavad Gita 3.19Acting without attachment.
- 3Gita verseBhagavad Gita 13.21Attachment to the gunas as the cause of rebirth.
- 4Conceptवैराग्यVairagya — dispassionThe remedy: dispassion.
- 5ConceptदुःखDukkha — suffering, unsatisfactorinessCompare the Buddhist link between clinging and suffering.
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