Loka -vasana
Vasanas are powerful residual tendencies of past actions of thoughts & actions of either the past lives and/or the present life. As long as the negative vasanas and the thought of doership and enjoyership prevail in one, the bondage cannot be broken. Bondage is the cause of the cycle of birth & death.
Vedantic texts classify the vasanas (which obstruct the Self knowledge) into three types. These three are collectively called vasana traya.
Loka-vasana
Sastra-vasana
Deha-vasana
The desire, wish or the tendency to live in a society as the standard set by the community to earn their appreciation by limiting to false values with undesirable habit is called loka vasana.
Human birth is rare indeed with an ability to think, recourse the thoughts, reflect, question the existence and choose the path of spirituality. The texts says just living an unintelligent life, imitating others with regards to sensual pleasures, without an enquiry 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 elderly man and his grandson walking with a donkey. People around will say many things but one need to choose one’s own path and please oneself.
Sastra-vasana
This is reveling in the thoughts of scriptures without actually living it is called sastra-vasana. No amount of clinging to sastras will give one an experience of the ‘Self’. 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 papas (sins). It should be considered as a vehicle. Proper maintenance is necessary (food, exercise and fitness) and one should not overly indulgent to please the body. Both the body & the mind need to be channeled towards experiencing Self-knowledge.
The clinging attachment to the body and being passionate for sensual pleasures is to be recognized as Deha-vasana.
The two fold effects of aĵâna
Aĵâna /ignorance is the cause of bondage and has two fold effects:
o Anátmani-atma-Buddhi
o Jagati-satya-Buddhi
Anátmani-atma-Buddhi: (The notion of the Self in the non-self)
This is the misunderstanding of the nature of the Self. Self is ever pure, immutable, indestructible, ever present, akanda and anithya (permanent). It has no connection with the body, mind and intellect, except that they exist with the power of Self. Self is different from the sthula, suksma and karana sarira. Self is the mere witness of these three states.
Saying ‘I am young/old or disabled’ is because of the identification with the gross body. Saying, ‘I am happy/sad/angry’ is because of the identification with the subtle body and saying ‘ I slept very well’ is the 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 your find the answer.
Witness, the Self, is ever present and stands alone from all these. The nature of the Self should be experienced as a witness and is possible only when the mind is in quietude. Being constantly aware of the Self will eventually develop detachment to the non-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 the world is real, all forms & names are real. This creates the thoughts, attachments to the worldly objects, desire for worldly things, emotions like anger & frustration when not possessed leading to the cycle of birth & death. This is very much like the cobweb the spider being engulfed into it and unable to get out of it.
Just like the light alone can remove darkness knowledge of ‘Self’ alone can remove the ajana/ignorance.
We should be able to see One appearing in many forms & names. Unless we come out of this duality of world with our likes & dislikes, we are stuck in this samsara. Just existing without the perception of a doer or the enjoyer and realizing the Paramatman (Brahman) is ONE present in all and absolutely no duality in this universe, is the ultimate saram/rasam (gist) of life. Mere intellectual understanding by reading the scriptures will not help one. One must practice the thought and experience it oneself.
Let us see the role of the Scriptures in spiritual pursuit and how spiritual study becomes a hindrance to spiritual progress.
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 HE alone exists in all. There is no duality at all. It is easier to understand but practicing this philosophy is hard, though not impossible.
One should use the scriptures as a pointer. One needs to move from the pointer to the direction it points. Merely reading, discussing, talking about it, and preaching will not take one to the destination. One should start practicing what one has learned from the scriptures to reach the destination of Self-realization. Self realization can only be experienced and cannot be taught.
It takes constant practice of detaching from the sense of doership & results of the action. This does not mean indifference to one’s responsibilities. It just means perform one’s responsibilities without attachment to results or taking credit for what was performed. I (Ego) am not the doer. I am only an instrument to carry out the tasks with the support of the power of Paramatman. Without the power of the Brahman, I am poojyam!! Zero!! Dead meat!!
Have you ever heard the statement, ‘man proposes and God disposes”? Once the arrogance (ego) takes over then the person is at stagnation.
Let us now see the ‘Cycle of ignorance’ and how it compares with the ‘Cycle of Progress’
The cycle of ignorance has three tendencies and at three different planes.
• Vasana – (tendencies) at the causal plane
• Cinta – (desires & thought agitations) at the subtle body plane
• Karya (action) at the gross body plane
A cyclical relationship exists between these three. With the higher quantity of vasana, there is a proportionate increase in thoughts (desire, anger, greed etc) resulting in increasing actions. When the actions increase, thoughts too multiply and the vasanas multiply proportionately.
Take an example of an alcoholic person.
If a person is alcoholic, he will have vasanas to drink. These vasanas in the causal body will create desires in his subtle body. These desires will have him act in the gross body to fulfill the desire. This causal relationship is linear but does not stop there.
With every occasion that he drinks, his corresponding vasana will also increase; this increase in vasana will increase the desires, which will escalate his actions. Caught up in this cycle, one is in the cycle of birth and death to purge vasanas.
Aggravated by vasanas, (tendencies), one is taken to the thoughts & desires which further leads him to actions. Having fallen into karya (action), he now accumulates more vasana, which in turn triggers his cinta (thought) and karya again. This cycle is called as anartha-paramapara in Vedanta.
Cycle of progress is just the opposite of Cycle of ignorance. In the cycle of ignorance, we have seen that it is entirely up to us to create the cycle. If that is so, then creating the cycle of progress is also in our hands. Let us look at it now.
Once a particular life is over, 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 & the past lives, orders a new physical body seeking continuation in order to fulfill one’s vasanas). This cycle of birth & death goes on seemingly never ending, prompted by vasana, cinta and karya.
This cycle seems to be perpetual with the seeker having no way to get out of it and is lost in samsara.
Whereas once we focus on our actions by avoiding unwanted areas and doing the spiritually directed actions, thereby the vasanas are pertaining to spiritual path. We cannot suppress actions of our gross body; it needs to be sublimated by proper understanding by logical explanation and avoid wrong actions.
Once the wrong actions/karya is avoided, wrong desires reduce; thereby the negative tendencies (vasanas) are reduced. As long as vasanas, cinta and karya are not conquered & controlled, there is no way of attacking the ignorance.
Sankaracharya’s Vivekachudamani verse 45, emphasizes that one should act by all means to secure one’s own good.