Vaasanaas

December 10, 2009

Vaasanas

All our actions and thoughts leave impressions in the mind. These impressions

are known as vaasanas in Vedanta. When a child is born, it has in its mind the

vaasanas accumulated in past births. There would be both good and bad vaasanas,

resulting from the good and bad actions and thoughts of past lives. The way a

person reacts to a particular situation depends on the nature of his vaasanas.

Swami Vidyaranya says in his work entitled â€˜Jivanmuktivivekaâ€™: vaasana is

the cause of mental modifications, such as anger, rising up all of a sudden and

without any thought of past happenings or future consequences.

In Yogavasishtha Sri Rama tells his preceptor Vasishtha-- " My Vaasanas (the

impressions of previous actions and thoughts) compel me to act in a particular

way. I am powerless to go against them " . Vasishtha replies- " Since you are

subject to your Vaasanas, your own initiative, combined with enthusiasm and

effort by thought, word and deed is essential to liberate you from such

dependence. Vaasanas are of two kinds: good and bad. If the good Vaasanas are

powerful, they will themselves lead you to the attainment of liberation. If the

evil Vaasanas are powerful, you have to exert yourself to conquer them. The mind

can be turned away, by the company of the good, from objects which are not

conducive to spiritual progress. The mind is like a child. It can be disciplined

by persuasion rather than by force. Control of breath (Pranaayaama) and

withdrawal of the mind from external objects (Pratyaahaara) are the two methods

of subduing the mind. By this method the mind

becomes calm soon. When good desires arise soon after the practice of Rajayoga,

it should be attributed to the practice of the yoga. One should continue with

such practice in accordance with the instruction of the teacher, scripture and

other valid evidence (Pramaana) until complete mastery over the mind is attained

and the identity of Brahman and Atman is realized. After that, when the

obstacles in the form of evil desires have vanished, even the good desires

should be given up. It is thus clear that all desires (including those arising

due to Praarabdha karma) can be got rid of through Yoga and so the possibility

of Jivanmukti cannot be disputed.

Swami Vidyaranya says in Jivanmuktiviveka: Impure vaasanaa is of three kinds:

desire for (unblemished reputation in) the world (loka vaasanaa), obsession with

learning (saastra vaasanaa) and undue attachment to the body (deha vaasanaa).

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 censure 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 (saastra vaasanaa) 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

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 vaasanaa 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 vaasanaa because it is

not the highest aim. The example for this is 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 Daasura

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 vaasanaa because it

results in the person continuing in the cycle of repeated birth and death.

Saastra vaasanaa is also impure for another reason, namely, that it is the cause

of vanity.

Deha vaasanaa 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 vaasanaas 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 vaasanaa.

All these three vaasanaas 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

vaasanaas 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.

S.N.Sastri

December 10, 2009

Hare Krishna Sastriji!

In our scriptures has any disciple asked this question " How did the vasanas

started at the first time (first birth)? "

This doubt has been with me for long and after hearing many answers and reading

many books my conclusion was that : For an advaitist this particular question is

an oxymoron - when there are no two things in the absolute level (Non-dual

Brahman) where is the beginning (1st birth) and end(last birth). It is only for

the comfort of jeevas who is in the relative platform (who see things separately

- themselves, world and the Lord)these explanations are given - to somehow make

them realize their true nature. In many cases the answer given was - It is all

Lord's Leela. Finally i thought that i will ask the Lord for the answer for

this question if i may meet Him one day and if i still have that doubt.

Thank you very much Sastriji!

Ajith

guruvayur , Nilakantan sastri <snsastri wrote:

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> Vaasanas

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> All our actions and thoughts leave impressions in the mind. These impressions