Sharing my knowledge about Vedanta – Vasanas are residues of past actions

Loka Vasana

Vasanas are powerful residual tendencies of past thoughts and actions from past lives and/or the present life. As long as negative vasanas and doer-enjoyer thinking prevail in one, the bondage cannot be broken. Bondage is the cause of the cycle of birth and death.

Vedantic texts classify the vasanas (which obstruct self-knowledge) into three types. These three are collectively called vasana traya.

loka vasana
sastra vasana
Deha Vasana

The desire, yearning or tendency to live in a society as a norm established by the community in order to gain its appreciation by limiting itself to false values ​​with undesirable habits is called loka vasana.

The human birth is rare indeed with the ability to think, resort to thoughts, reflect, question existence and choose the path of spirituality. The texts say that simply living a life without intelligence, imitating others regarding sensual pleasures, without an inquiring mind (to know the purpose of life) is a waste of one’s life.

The tendency to please others and expect recognition from others is a sure sign of loka-vasana. A wonderful example is the story of an old man and his grandson walking with a donkey. People around you will say many things, but you need to choose your own path and please yourself.

sastra vasana

This is reveling in the thoughts of the scriptures without actually living it, it is called sastra-vasana. No amount of attachment to the sastras will give one an experience of the ‘Self’. The sastras are only pointers. Just reading the scriptures, discussing or arguing and mere intellectual understanding will not help the seeker in any way.

Deha Vasana

The body is an important instrument in the process of purging our potatoes (sins). It should be considered as a vehicle. Proper maintenance (diet, exercise, and fitness) is necessary, and one should not be too indulgent to please the body. Both the body and the mind need to be channeled towards the experience of Self-knowledge.

Attachment clinging to the body and passion for sensual pleasures should be recognized as Deha-vasana.

The two effects of aĵâna

Aĵâna/ignorance is the cause of bondage and has two effects:

or Anatmani-atma-Buddhi
or Jagati-satya-Buddhi

Anátmani-atma-Buddhi: (The notion of the Self in the not-self)

This is the misunderstanding of the nature of the Self. The self is always pure, immutable, indestructible, always present, akanda and anithya (permanent). It has no connection with the body, mind and intellect, except that they exist with the power of the Self. The self is different from sthula, suksma and karana sarira. The self is the mother witness of these three states.

Saying ‘I am young/old or disabled’ is due to identification with the gross body. Saying, ‘I am happy/sad/angry’ is due to identification with the subtle body and saying ‘I slept very well’ is identification with the causal body.

When you say, ‘my hand’, ‘I am happy’, ‘I slept’, who is ‘me’? ‘who is happy? Who slept? Keep asking until you find the answer.
The Witness, the Self, is ever present and alone among them all. The nature of the Self must be experienced as a witness and is only possible when the mind is still. Being constantly aware of the Self will eventually develop detachment from the not-self.

Jagati-satya-Buddhi: (notion of reality in the world)

An individual’s ignorance behind the world of objects is jagati-satya buddhi. He thinks that the world is real, all forms and names are real. This creates the thoughts, the attachments to worldly objects, the desire for worldly things, the emotions like anger and frustration when not possessed, which leads to the cycle of birth and death. This is very much like the spider’s web in that the spider gets caught up in it and cannot get out of it.

Just as only light can remove darkness, only knowledge of the ‘Self’ can remove ajana/ignorance.

We should be able to see One appearing in many forms and names. Unless we get out of this duality of the world with our likes and dislikes, we are stuck in this samsara. Simply existing without the perception of a doer or an enjoyer and realizing that Paramatman (Brahman) is ONE present in everything and absolutely no duality in this universe, he is the ultimate saram/rasam (essence) of life. Mere intellectual understanding by reading the scriptures will not help one. One must practice thinking and experience it for oneself.

Let’s look at the role of the Scriptures in the spiritual quest and how spiritual study becomes an obstacle to spiritual progress.

The scriptures, from my personal experience are addictions. When one is directed by the vasana, one enjoys it and intellectually recognizes that Paramatman is the ONE and that HE alone exists in all. There is no duality at all. It is easier to understand, but practicing this philosophy is difficult, although not impossible.

One must use the scriptures as an indicator. One needs to move from the pointer to the direction it points. Simply reading, discussing, talking about it and preaching will not get one to their destination. One must start practicing what he has learned from the scriptures in order to reach the destination of self-realization. Self-realization can only be experienced and cannot be taught.

It requires constant practice of detaching from the sense of leadership and results of action. This does not mean indifference to one’s own responsibilities. It simply means fulfilling one’s responsibilities without being attached to the results or taking credit for what has been done. I (Ego) am not the doer. I am just an instrument to carry out the tasks with the support of the power of Paramatman. Without the power of Brahman, I am poojyam!! Zero!! Dead meat!!

Have you ever heard the statement, ‘man proposes and God disposes’? Once arrogance (the ego) takes control, the person stagnates.

Let’s now look at the ‘Cycle of Ignorance’ and how it compares to the ‘Cycle of Progress’

The cycle of ignorance has three tendencies and on three different planes.

• Vasana – (trends) on the causal plane
• Ribbon – (desires and restless thoughts) on the plane of the subtle body
• Karya (action) in the plane of the large body

There is a cyclical relationship between these three. With the increased amount of vasana, there is a proportional increase in thoughts (desire, anger, greed, etc.) resulting in an increase in actions. When actions increase, thoughts also multiply and vasanas multiply proportionally.

Take the example of an alcoholic person.

If a person is an alcoholic, he will have vasanas to drink. These vasanas in the causal body will create desires in your subtle body. These desires will cause him to act on the dense body to fulfill the desire. This causal relationship is linear but it does not stop there.

With every occasion you drink, your corresponding vasana will also increase; this increase in vasana will increase desires, which will intensify your actions. Caught in this cycle, one is in the cycle of birth and death to purge vasanas.

Aggravated by vasanas, (tendencies), one is led to thoughts and desires that lead to actions. Having fallen into karya (action), he now accumulates more vasana, which in turn activates his ribbon (thought) and karya again. This cycle is called anartha-paramapara in Vedanta.

The cycle of progress is just the opposite of the cycle of ignorance. In the cycle of ignorance, we have seen that it is totally up to us to create the cycle. If so, it is also in our hands to create the cycle of progress. Let’s see it now.

Once a particular life ends, the physical body merges with five elements, the subtle body, along with the residual vasanas of the subtle body (both from the recent present life and past lives), ordains a new physical body which look for the continuation to continue. fulfill one’s vasanas). This cycle of birth and death seemingly never ends, powered by vasana, tape, and karya.

This cycle seems to be perpetual and the seeker has no way out of it and is lost in samsara.

Whereas once we focus on our actions by avoiding unwanted areas and doing the actions spiritually directed, therefore the vasanas belong to the spiritual path. We cannot suppress the actions of our dense body; it needs to be sublimated by a proper understanding by a logical explanation and avoiding wrong actions.

Once the bad deeds/karya are avoided, the bad desires are reduced; Negative tendencies (vasanas) are thereby reduced. As long as vasanas, tape and karya are not conquered and controlled, there is no way to attack ignorance.

Sankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani pours 45 emphasizes that one must act by all means to secure one’s own good.