Dear Chitra Ma'm: For the last few days I have been thinking a lot about karma and karma theory for some reason and was looking up the net for writings on this. I just finished reading about yoga, karma yoga, how meditation can help reduce your karma, etc and now I get to read this wonderful article. Thank you so much for dwelling on the subject. Just before I go, am I right in saying samskaras and vasanas are the same? Sindhu
Dear Chithra Please , when you find time, can you elaborate some more this line (vasanas) They must be first purified and exhausted through appropriate actions Thanks.
Dear Madhu, Thanks for the FB. No, I am not kidding ! Another post follows as a reply to AC - please read that also. Love, Chithra.
Dear Sindhu, Welcome to this thread. As far as I know, samskaras & vasanas are different. Samskaras are the duties for a Hindu precribed by the scriptures. It goes on to 16 no:s, ending in anthyeshti. Vasanas are the imprints of the past in our mind. Continue with us & you will understand as we proceed. Thankyou, Sindhu. Love, Chithra.
Dear AC, More on vasanas, on your query. Vasanas, though insubstantial, go to make up the substantial human form.It is upto us to burn the negative or bad vasanas in the fire of knowledge. Desire & action emanate from vasanas like the projection ofvideo from a CD. A tiger has the vasanas of ferociousness & cannot become meek. A cow is docile by nature and cannot be destructive. Thus, an animal can only fulfill its vasanas in the realm of activities into which it is born. In contrast, a human being enjoys freedom of action and has a choice. He can be harmful or sacrificial to society at large. That is, he can consciously exhaust his vasanas and improve upon himself. This is decided by the unique faculty of his self-effort. This is what I referred to as self-will. This gives him freedom of action independent of vasanas.. Though our present vasanas set the pattern of our life, self-effort can improve and modify the same. Only a human being enjoys this prerogative. If you are interested, I can elaborate a little more. But I do not want to bore you ! Love, Chithra.
Dear C On a constructive note, as human beings we can eliminate the bad vasanas with self will, and on the other hand, with self will we could also supress good vasanas thereby not reaching our fullest potential. Can you please clarify if this understanding is right or not? -Gayathri.
Dear Gayathri, I do not think we will suppress our good vasanas at all ! It will never happen.This is because rhyming with vasanas helps one progress & evolve in life.We should avoid committing the mistake of choosing an alien fied of activity from our basic interest, to the extent possible. We muct consciously choose a field compatible to our nature. This will help us execute the right actions in life. We must make sure that we will not allow our emotional feelings take over our life. Our intellect should guide our likes and dislikes in every action.We should not allow our emotional impulse to overrule our intellectual judgement. Love, Chithra.
Dear Chithra Thanks for the explanation. my doubt is clear now. Thank you again Waiting for the next thread..
Dear Sundari Thanks for posting that information article about Vasanas from Chinmaya..Very informative . Thank You.
Dear Chithra sorry to bother but have ONE more question? Does one get credit for trying to eliminate the vasanas intellectually? I dont think I framed the question right! I am trying to find out what is the use for eliminating the vasanas? why not just live with it? IS it for greater spiritual progress?