There may be exceptions, but growing age accompanied with wisdom generally causes severance of material and emotional bondages. If one is not capable to respond to day to day requirement adequately due to physical reasons like old age or illness, then detachment to material and emotional impressions – good or bad - is desirable as one is limited to respond to such calls in the first place. Under such condition, growing spiritual attachment with the divinity is best suited. However, if one is capable to respond to material and emotional calls, then spirituality is best served when we live like a Karma Yogi with various manifestations of life in a manner which enhances spiritual realization.

Further, the meaning of attachment or detachment cannot be understood in isolation. An attachment to good things is equivalent to detachment to bad things. Clearly, they bear inverse relation. It is the context and perspective that needs to be examined before we evaluate the spiritual aspect of detachment. A lunatic detached from the responsibility is undesirable, but a disciplined attached to the responsibility is desirable. The bottom line is that one should know this much: whether an attachment or detachment is adding value to spiritual enrichment or not?