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detachment (aasakti-anaasakti) model of mental health. Every person carries feelings of attachment for things and persons. There is individual difference in respect of the magnitude or degree of attachment. Attachment and detachment are the two extreme points on the same continuum. Someone may be very high in attachment and someone else may have a greater feeling of detachment. The first type of person will be high in ego involvement, possessiveness, anxiety and fear. They are likely to suffer psychophysical imbalances. So if we wish to reduce stress, neuroticism and aggression and get rid of psychophysical ailments, we must reduce the degree of attachment (asakti) and this we can achieve through the practice of yoga. Kriya yoga practices help to reduce attachment and promote a feeling of detachment resulting in mental peace, tranquility, equipoise, compassion, and ultimately egolessness.
Another equivalent term for asakti is moha which means narrowing the area of consciousness. Involvement in one's own self and near relations is moha or asakti and this is the root cause of our many botherations and worries. Yoga psychology provides a method to widen the area of love and consciousness and to enjoy a life of happiness. When our consciousness expands, when our sense of belonging encompasses a wider area, we stop thinking in terms of our own personal possessions and relationships and we gradually develop a universal perspective. We stop thinking in terms of 'give and take' and start enjoying the process of giving to others without carrying an expectation of return.
Finally, I would like to conclude with a small narrative. Recently, on 27 September 1993, I had the good luck and privilege of meeting His Holiness Paramahamsa Satyananda, at Rikhia, where I received counsel from him. He said, "My family astrologer had made a few predictions which were absolutely true. One of the things he had said was that I would be · the destroyer of the family line. This came out true, since I didn't marry. But I met my great guru, and with his inspiration and grace the family (of disciples) that came about has become so big!"
This is a living example of what detachment is. We tie ourselves within narrow limits. We love our own child, and hate, other children. If this hate is transformed, then it is true love. All other love is purely business-like, to satisfy some selfish
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