vasana and samskara

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Dear Shri Ramasamy,

 

vAsanAs are the impressions of past actions and thoughts left in the mind.

The word samskAra is also used sometimes in this sense. SrI Sankara uses the

word vAsanA in his bhAshya. The word samskara has another meaning also. It

means the 40 sacraments prescribed in the Srutis and smRtis for the

twice-born such jAtakarma, nAmakarana, upanayana, etc.

 

brihadaranyaka upanishad, 4.4.2 says that when the subtle body leaves the

gross body on death the subtle body carries with it the impressions

(vAsanAs) of the person's karma, both physical and mental. The character of

the person in the next birth depends on these impressions or vAsanAs which

may be both good and bad. In his bhAshya on br. Up. 4.4.2 SrI Sankara refers

to child prodigies and says that their extraordinary ability in a certain

field is due to their having attained proficiency in that field in the past

birth or births. These are the vAsanAs coming from past births. All our

thoughts and actions prompted by desire for the fruit in this birth also

create new vAsanAs. Only actions performed as karmayoga, that is, without

desire for the fruit and as offering to God do not create new vAsanAs. In

jIvanmuktiviveka svAmi vidyAraNya says:

 

" vAsanA 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. The effacement of vAsanAs means the elimination of the scope

for the rise of anger and the like, even when causes for such anger and the

like exist " . This is with regard to bad vAsanAs. Good vAsanAs make a person

perform good deeds spontaneously.

 

In the dialogue between Vasishtha and Rama in YogavAsishtha Rama

says-- " My vAsanAs (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 vAsanAs, your own initiative,

combined with enthusiasm and effort by thought, word and deed is essential

to liberate you from such dependence. vAsanAs are of two kinds: good and

bad. If the good vAsanAs are powerful, they will themselves lead you to the

attainment of liberation. If the evil vAsanAs 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 " .

 

S.N.Sastri

 

 

 

> I would like to know the correct definition of

> Vaasana, Samskara and the difference between the

> two.

>

> Pranam.

> -ramasamy