… we can detach ourselves, separate the being from its temporary becoming, observe it, control it, sanction or prevent its manifestation: we can, in this way, by an inner detachment, a mental or spiritual separateness, partially or even fundamentally liberate ourselves from the control of mind nature or vital nature over the being and assume the position of the witness, knower and ruler. Thus we have a double knowledge of the subjective movement: there is an intimate knowledge, by identity, of its stuff and its force of action, more intimate than we could have by any entirely separative and objective knowledge such as we get of things outside us, things that are to us altogether not-self; there is at the same time a knowledge by detached observation, detached but with a power of direct contact, which frees us from engrossment by the Nature energy and enables us to relate the movement to the rest of our own existence and world existence. If we are without this detachment, we lose our self of being and mastering knowledge in the nature self of becoming and movement and action and, though we know intimately the movement, we do not know it dominatingly and fully. This would not be the case if we carried into our identification with the movement our identity with the rest of our subjective existence,—if, that is to say, we could plunge wholly into the wave of becoming and at the same time be in the very absorption of the state or act the mental witness, observer, controller; but this we cannot easily do, because we live in a divided consciousness in which the vital part of us—our life nature of force and desire and passion and action—tends to control or swallow up the mind, and the mind has to avoid this subjection and control the vital, but can only succeed in the effort by keeping itself separate; for if it identifies itself, it is lost and hurried away in the life movement. Nevertheless a kind of balanced double identity by division is possible, though it is not easy to keep the balance; there is a self of thought which observes and permits the passion for the sake of the experience—or is obliged by some life-stress to permit it,—and there is a self of life which allows itself to be carried along in the movement of Nature.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/knowledge-by-identity-and-separative-knowledge#p3</ref>
=Why to Practice Detachment?=
To become indifferent to the attraction of outer objects is one of the first rules of Yoga, for this non-attachment liberates the inner being into peace and the true consciousness.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#</ref>
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To lead the spiritual life … the first point is to overcome, all the attachments, for all these are absolutely contrary to the spiritual life.
<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwm/13/conditions-for-admission</ref>
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Entire loss of all relations of friendship and affection and attachment to the world and its living beings would be regarded as a promising sign of advance towards liberation, Moksha
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/human-relations-and-the-spiritual-life#p8</ref>
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As for immortality, it cannot come if there is attachment to the body,—for it is only by living in the immortal part of oneself which is unidentified with the body and bringing down its consciousness and force into the cells that it can come. <ref>htttp://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/transformation-and-the-body#p29</ref>
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An attitude of perfect detachment and equality, a firm removal of the natural being's attraction to the objects of the senses and a radical freedom from the claims of that constant clamorous ego-sense, ego-idea, ego-motive which tyrannises over the normal man. There is no longer any clinging to the attachment and absorption of family and home. There is instead of these vital and animal movements an unattached will and sense and intelligence, a keen perception of the defective nature of the ordinary life of physical man with its aimless and painful subjection to birth and death and disease and age, a constant equalness to all pleasant or unpleasant happenings,—for the soul is seated within and impervious to the shocks of external events,—and a meditative mind turned towards solitude and away from the vain noise of crowds and the assemblies of men. Finally, there is a strong turn within towards the things that really matter, a philosophic perception of the true sense and large principles of existence, a tranquil continuity of inner spiritual knowledge and light, the Yoga of an unswerving devotion, love of God, the heart's deep and constant adoration of the universal and eternal Presence.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/19/the-field-and-its-knower#p7</ref>
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==For Understanding One’s Nature==
The initial advantage of this process of detachment is that one begins to understand one's own nature and all Nature. The detached Witness is able to see entirely without the least blinding by egoism the play of her modes of the Ignorance and to pursue it into all its ramifications, coverings and subtleties—for it is full of camouflage and disguise and snare and treachery and ruse.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-three-modes-of-nature#p12</ref>
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By this act of partial detachment we are able not only to experience ourselves dynamically in the becoming, in the process of movement of conscious-force itself, but to stand back, perceive and observe ourselves and, if the detachment is sufficient, to control our feeling and action, control to some extent our becoming. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/memory-ego-and-self-experience#p5</ref>
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Vital attachments and impulses be replaced by the spiritual motive. Bhakti, devotion to the Divine, and the spirit of service to the Divine are among the most powerful means for this change. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/work-and-yoga#p62</ref>
==For Peace==
The mind can become quiet only when you detach yourself from it and see the thoughts as things that pass. Then you don't think yourself but see thoughts passing through your mind
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/inner-detachment-and-the-witness-attitude#p23</ref>
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When one goes into the inner consciousness, it is felt as a calm, pure existence without any movement, but eternally tranquil, unmoved and separate from the outer nature. This comes as a result of detaching oneself from the movements, standing back from them and is a very important movement of the sadhana. The first result of it is an entire quietude, but afterwards that quietude begins (without the quietude ceasing) to fill with the psychic and other inner movements which create a true inner and spiritual life behind the outer life and nature. It is then easier to govern and change the latter.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/inner-detachment-and-the-witness-attitude#p8</ref>
==For Harmony==
Detachment is the ESSENTIAL condition for the establishment of true Harmony in the most material Matter—the most external, physical Matter
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/02/january-31-1961#p11</ref>
==For Progress==
Detachment, silence, inner peace are certainly indispensable for the spiritual progress—a quiet peace-filled detachment.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace-the-basis-of-the-sadhana#p28</ref>
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A calm, equal and detached mind can alone reflect the peace or base the action of the liberated spirit.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/purification-intelligence-and-will#p11</ref>
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Detachment gives at its highest a certain freedom from the compulsion of the soul by its mental nature. For ordinarily we are driven and carried along in the stream of our own and the universal active energy partly floundering in its waves, partly maintaining and seeming to guide or at least propel ourselves by a collected thought and an effort of the mental will muscle; but now there is a part of ourselves, nearest to the pure essence of self, which is free from the stream, can quietly observe and to a certain extent decide its immediate movement and course and to a greater extent its ultimate direction. The Purusha can at last act upon the Prakriti from half apart, from behind or from above her as a presiding person or presence, ''adhyakṣa'', by the power of sanction and control inherent in the spirit.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-divine-shakti#p8</ref>
=How to Practice Detachment?=