Impure vAsanAs

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Impure vAsanAs.

 

svAmI vidyAraNya says in jIvanmuktiviveka that impure vAsanAs are of three

kinds: desire for unblemished reputation in the world (loka vAsanA),

obsession with learning (SAstra vAsanA) and undue attachment to the body

(deha vAsanA). The first one takes the form 'I want to be always praised by

everyone'. This is called impure because it is something impossible of

achievement. No one, however good, can always escape slander. Even

absolutely blemishless SItA was slandered. People speak ill of others merely

because of local peculiarities. The southern brahmanas censor the

northerners, well-versed in the vedas, as meat-eaters. The northern

brahmanas retaliate by ridiculing the southern custom of marrying the

daughter of a maternal uncle and for carrying earthenware during travel. A

pure man is looked upon as a devil, a clever man as presumptuous, a man of

forbearance as weak, a strong man as cruel, an absent-minded man as a thief,

and a handsome man as lewd. Thus nobody can please everyone. So the

scriptures advise us to treat censure and praise alike.

 

The obsession with learning (SAstra vAsanA) is of three kinds: addiction

to study, addiction to many scriptural texts and obsession with the

mechanical observance of injunctions with regard to the performance of

rituals. The first one is exemplified by sage bhAradvAja, who was not

satisfied with having devoted three successive lives to the study of the

vedas and continued the same in his fourth life also. This is also an impure

vAsanA because it is not possible of achievement. Indra cured him of this by

explaining to him the impossibility of his undertaking and initiated him

into the knowledge of the conditioned Brahman for the attainment of a higher

end.

 

Addiction to many scriptural texts is also an impure vAsanA because it is

not the highest aim. The example for this is sage durvAsA. Once he went with

a cart-load of scriptural works to Lord mahAdeva. nArada ridiculed him by

comparing him to a donkey carrying a huge load. durvAsa became angry and

threw away the books into the ocean. Lord mahAdeva then imparted to him the

knowledge of the Self which does not come from study alone.

 

Obsession with injunctions relating to the performance of rites is

exemplified by nidAgha, as described in vishNupurANa. Another example of

this is dAsura who, because of the intensity of his desire to adhere to the

injunctions, could not find any place in the whole world pure enough for the

performance of rites. This mad desire for performing karma is also an impure

vAsanA because it results in the person continuing in the cycle of repeated

birth and death. SAstra vAsanA is also impure for another reason, namely,

that it is the cause of vanity.

 

deha vAsanA is of three kinds-- looking upon the body as the Self, concern

about making the body attractive and desire to remove defects in the body.

The first two are clearly impure vAsanAs because they are obstacles to

spiritual progress. The third is impossible of achievement because the body

is essentially impure and so it is also an impure vAsanA.

 

All these three vAsanAs should therefore be given up by discriminating

people, since they obstruct the rise of knowledge in the seekers and affect

the permanence of the knowledge acquired by the knower. The impurity of the

vAsanAs arising from a demoniac nature, which take the form of hypocrisy,

vanity and the like, is well-known and so it goes without saying that this

has to be destroyed.

 

Just as the vAsanAs have to be obliterated, the mind has also to be

dissolved. The tArkikas hold that the mind is an eternal substance of atomic

dimension. In this view the mind can never be dissolved. This view is not

accepted by vedAntins. They hold that the mind is a substance with parts, is

not eternal and is capable of transforming itself into various forms. The

mind is defined thus in the br.up, 1.5.3--"Desire, will, doubt, belief,

disbelief, resoluteness, irresoluteness, shame, intelligence, fear, --- all

these make up the mind". These transformations are directly perceived by the

Witnessing Self. The sense organs cannot experience their objects without

the co-operation of the mind. This internal organ is called manas when it

performs the function of thinking and debating; it is called chitta when it

performs an act of perception. This chitta is of the nature of sattva, rajas

and tamas. When tamas predominates, demoniac qualities make their

appearance. The predominance of rajas gives rise to the three vAsanAs-- loka

vAsanA, SAstra vAsanA and deha vAsanA. When sattva gains mastery, divine

qualities become established. sattva is the principal material cause of the

mind; rajas and tamas are only accessories. Therefore sattva is the residual

native form of the mind of an enlightened person, since he has got rid of

rajas and tamas. Such a mind is one-pointed, being free from rajas which is

the cause of fickleness. It is also very subtle, being free from tamas which

is the cause of the gross forms assumed by the not-self. Such a mind is fit

to receive enlightenment.

 

Bondage is nothing but the bond of vAsanAs and liberation is the

obliteration of vAsanAs. One should first give up the three kinds of vAsanAs

relating to the world, learning and the body mentioned above, as well as the

desire for objects of enjoyment. Then one should set up a current of pure

vAsanAs such as friendship, compassion, contentment and indifference towards

happiness and sorrow, and other pairs of opposites. The hankering after

pleasures contaminates the mind. If a person is friendly towards those who

are happy and looks upon their happiness as his, hankering after pleasures

will vanish. Attaining mental equilibrium in this manner, one should remain

attached only to knowledge of the Reality. Ultimately even the desire for

knowledge should be given up, because it is also only something conceived by

the mind and the intellect.

 

The three vAsanAs described above, namely, loka vAsanA, SAstra vAsanA and

deha vAsanA are collectively called 'mental vAsanA'. There is another kind

of vAsanA known as vishaya vAsanA which relates to objects of enjoyment. By

objects are meant sound, touch, form, taste and smell. Mental vAsanA is that

impression which is born of the desire for these; vishaya vAsanAs are the

impressions born of actual enjoyment of desired things.

 

S.N.Sastri