When we rise above attachments, when we perform our roles without bondage, we move closer to the essence of life: 

Freedom. Peace. Completion Is rising beyond attachments truly within our control? Before anything else, pause and ask yourself this essential question.

We often believe that we are the ones choosing who enters our lives, selecting some and rejecting others. Yet life, in its profound mystery, reveals a deeper truth: we choose no one. Souls come into our lives, stay for the time destined, and leave when their role is fulfilled.

We place great importance on selecting the “right” people and avoiding the “wrong” ones. However, life, shaped by the silent forces of karma, brings everyone into our journey at the perfect moment: 

some to bless us, 

some to challenge us, 

all to teach us.

This sacred law is beautifully expressed in an ancient Sanskrit verse. The ties of past actions weave connections between souls;

In the form of Rinanubandhan, they meet again and again.

Through countless lifetimes, we encounter familiar souls: parents, friends, adversaries, lovers. All are bound to us through the invisible threads of Rinanubandhan - karmic debt. And when the debt is settled, when the soul contract concludes, those people naturally drift away, leaving no visible trace - only lessons and growth.

Yet, in our innocence, we cling. 

We attach. 

We ache at the thought of losing them. 

We exhaust ourselves emotionally, fearing abandonment or feeling betrayal, without realising that life was always a play and we, merely actors.

I often reflect on this when I remember my school days at Sophia, studying Shakespeare. In my twelfth standard, I was deeply moved by his immortal words from As You Like It:

“All the world’s a stage, 

And all the men and women merely

players;

They have their exits and their entrances, 

And one man in his time plays many parts, 

His acts being seven ages.”

Shakespeare paints life as a grand theatre, each soul entering through birth and exiting through death, each playing roles of child, lover, warrior, judge and elder, adapting to the different acts and phases of existence. Shakespeare’s vision speaks of the outer drama of life.  The Vedic concept of Rinanubandhan speaks of the inner cause.

Life is not at all a chaos for you; is a designed tapestry. 

Each meeting and each separation is a karmic necessity. 

Every bond, whether it brings joy or sorrow, is a repayment of debts formed in earlier lives. 

Souls return again and again, tied by unseen promises, until liberation is earned.

Thus, both Shakespeare and the ancient sages whisper the same truth: Life is a divine play. 

Our task is not to cling, nor to lament the departures, but to live our part well - with dignity, awareness and gratitude.

When we rise above attachments, when we perform our roles without bondage, we move closer to the essence of life: 

Freedom. Peace. Completion.

So, is rising beyond attachments truly in our hands? Perhaps not entirely — for the pull of love, memory, and shared experience is strong. But awareness is in our hands. Awareness that reminds us we are not the owners of people, but co-travelers in this vast journey of souls.

Awareness that urges us to love deeply, yet let go gracefully. To rise above

attachment is not to renounce love — it is to love without clinging. To honour the presence of another without resisting their absence. It is to trust that what must stay will stay, and what must go has served its sacred purpose.

Let us therefore meet each soul with reverence — for they are reflections of our past selves and mirrors for our growth. Let us play our parts fully, but not be lost in the play. Let us bow in gratitude at every entrance and offer peace at every exit.

For in doing so, we do not just act — we awaken. And perhaps, in that awakening, we inch closer to the ultimate truth: We are  eternal beings remembering our wholeness.

— The author’s views are personal. The author is a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence and a spiritual speaker