devotion and bhakti
Is it considered wrong to be attached to God or a deity in Hindu devotional traditions?
Two kinds of attachment
Hindu thought talks a lot about the dangers of attachment. But devotional traditions draw a clear line between two very different things. One is ordinary attachment, called asakti, the clinging to people, possessions, and outcomes that the tradition says causes suffering. The other is love for God, called bhakti or prema. These are not treated as the same thing at all. Worldly attachment pulls a person deeper into the cycle of craving and loss. Love for God is seen as moving in the opposite direction entirely.
What the devotional traditions say
In the Narada Bhakti Sutras, a text central to bhakti philosophy, the highest form of devotion, called para-bhakti, is described as pure love for God with no other motive. It is not seen as a form of bondage. It is seen as the end of bondage. The teaching of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which shaped the Vaishnava traditions of Bengal and beyond, goes even further. Attachment to Krishna, in this view, is not something to overcome. It is itself liberation. The soul's deepest nature is to love God, and finding that love is coming home, not getting lost.
Why the distinction matters
The difference comes down to what the attachment does to you. Clinging to things that change brings fear and grief because those things can always be lost. God, in these traditions, is seen as unchanging and always present. So love directed there does not feed anxiety the way worldly craving does. It calms it. Many devotees describe their relationship with their deity, whether Krishna, Rama, the Goddess, or another form, as the one relationship that does not leave them empty.
Where the confusion comes from
The confusion is understandable. Texts like the Gita do warn strongly against attachment, and those teachings are widely known. But the Gita is also full of devotional feeling. Scholars and practitioners have long discussed how these two strands sit together. Most devotional traditions resolve it by saying the Gita's warnings are about selfish clinging, not about love for God. Some more philosophical paths do ask the devotee to eventually go beyond even devotion into pure awareness. But within bhakti traditions themselves, deep love for a deity is not a problem to be solved. It is the whole point.