ABUNDANCE WITHOUT ATTACHMENT!

Good article in the Sunday NY Times HERE, entitled "ABUNDANCE WITHOUT ATTACHMENT."

This is a conundrum for many seekers of a higher state of consciousness - how to enjoy prosperity, even great material wealth, without becoming attached to and ultimately burdened by things and outer circumstances.

The author of the article, Arthur C. Brooks, who interviewed a swami in India, named Gnanmunidas, on the subject, proposes 3 practices:

First, collect experiences, not things. Material things appear to be permanent, while experiences seem evanescent and likely to be forgotten. Should you take a second honeymoon with your spouse, or get a new couch? The week away sounds great, but hey — the couch is something you’ll have forever, right? Wrong. Thirty years from now, when you are sitting in rocking chairs on the porch, you’ll remember your second honeymoon in great detail. But are you likely to say to one another, “Remember that awesome couch?” Of course not. It will be gone and forgotten.

Second, steer clear of excessive usefulness. Our daily lives often consist of a dogged pursuit of practicality and usefulness at all costs. This is a sure path toward the attachment we need to avoid. Countless studies show that doing things for their own sake — as opposed to things that are merely a means to achieve something else — makes for mindfulness and joy.

And finally, get to the center of the wheel. Worldly things occupy the wheel’s rim. These objects of attachment spin ceaselessly and mercilessly. Fixed at the center was the focal point of faith, the lodestar for transcending health, wealth, power, pleasure and fame — for moving beyond mortal abundance. The least practical thing in life was thus the most important and enduring.