Vedanta and the Science of Human Possibilities 18/07/2026

[00:00:55]Omah shanty shanty shant.

[00:01:23]So we were discussing in our previous class on Vanta as a science of human possibilities.

[00:01:32]A very important uh term in Shanskrit which is known as karma.

[00:01:37]Karma normally in Sanskrit would mean action any kind of action. But in a specific sense, in a specific way, it is also referred to the accumulated karma which we do willfully. See, we discussed in the previous class that actions can be done uh subconsciously or unconsciously [clears throat] as uh we do many actions instinctively.

[00:02:09]So that is one way of doing karma.

[00:02:11]Another is when we are fully aware, fully conscious, the ego is fully involved and also the willpower is comes into play. So we willfully that's why this we say a motiveless action is very rare. There should be some motive otherwise unconscious action doesn't result in any sort of serious karma. Those samscaras will be there some instinctively done karma which we do most of the time. That is why they say it swami vandanda compares our mind to the both the conscious and the unconscious or subconscious mind to an iceberg the tip of which is visible uh on the top of the surface but most of it n of that iceberg is hidden under the water under the sea. So we have to understand one thing that though the subconscious mind which is also known as karana sharira causal body is that part of our personality human personality according to vanta which stores all our karma. Karma means the fruits of our karma the actions that are willfully done. So it the actions that are not willfully done [clears throat] or unconsciously done like there are so many actions that we do the beating of the heart where our will is not involved. You don't have to use your willpower to do [clears throat] those instinctive actions which have become automatic. [clears throat] It has become part of our nervous system.

[00:03:54]So those actions are not termed as technically speaking karma. So what is karma? It [clears throat] in includes our sensory experiences when we are fully awake. I may be looking at many things but nothing may be registering in our mind. We saw that many times we call a person is absent-minded. He's hearing, he's even sometimes cursing [clears throat] others. But everything is a result of some unconscious force making him do those things. He doesn't do everything willfully. Whatever is willfully done.

[00:04:31]We call it it gets converted into what is known as samscaras. So that is our real karma that we accumulate over several lives. According to Vanta we are continuously accumulating such karma which uh includes all the willfully done actions. So whether it is with our body with our eyes and other ganrias the karmas knowingly intentionally or deliberately if we do those actions then that accumulates our karma. So the greater the interest or your involvement or our involvement in our work. If it is done with the intense awareness then the effect will be more. So if you have to do some good action if you do it instinctively it may not produce the necessary fruits to cancel the effects of our evil actions. So work has to be done willfully with full alertness with full concentration. So the word the role of willpower is very important. We saw all these things in our previous class.

[00:05:43]So now what happens to those forces which are accumulated as karma and which find their lodging in the subconscious mind which is 9/10 of our personality strictly speaking because most of those hidden memories and all the previous samscaras they are there they are in a potential form. They have not become active.

[00:06:08]So but their influence you cannot be denied because they constitute the majority of our samscaras.

[00:06:15][clears throat] The samscaras which are not on the surface they are deep within which are known as subtle forces of the mind. Of course, Sigman Freud, Freud and other people, they gave a lot of importance to this what is known as libido, the unconscious thoughts that uh a person is not aware of. And he explained all the diseases, the angularities in somebody's personality, all the different problems that a sick mind exhibits, everything is he has traced down to unconscious.

[00:06:51]There's some truth in that because uh according to Vanta also your samscaras are making you uh the accumulated samscaras old memories they are making you determine your tendencies your inclinations desires emotions including your willpower. How strong the will is will be determined by how many of your previous actions in the past have been done with some willful intention with full awareness with concentration. If you have done many actions instinctively without involving awareness or the willpower then those actions are not going to help so much. That's why they say whenever you meditate or whenever you repeat the holy name which is part of our sadhana which has to be done with full alertness and full awareness.

[00:07:48]They insist on being awakened. They say it is better to do 15 minutes of japa with full attention and focus rather than do it in a mechanical way.

[00:08:01]You are no doubt doing the repetition of the holy name. You're saying the prayers and all those things but you're not emotionally attached or involved fully.

[00:08:10]If that is the case, if if your whole mind is not involved, [clears throat] then its effect will be less. Not that it will not have effect, it will have effect. But the capacity of your present thoughts, present efforts, whether it is good karma to negate the influence of the unconscious samscaras and thoughts which are troubling you will depend on the intensity with which you do. That's why they say if you do spiritual practices or any prayer with full intensity even for a few minutes it it has more it will uh destroy a lot of old samscaras in a much better way than doing it unconsciously or with the mind scattered in different direction. We call it multitasking. We'll be doing something we'll be doing something else simultaneously. So the mind is actually according to page jali there is no such thing as multitasking our the time that is available to us in a split second in a maybe a fraction of a second the mind is going from one is uh shifting its awareness or attention from one thing to other. We think we are doing multitasking but the mind is going to one object then it's going to some other object then again we drag it back to the uh the original object then again it is dragged to some other object. So it appears that multitasking has become so natural with us that we manage so many things. But if you ask a spiritual practitioner especially Swami Viveandanda when he came to England he was very fond of pwick papers written by Charles Dickens.

[00:09:54]So he was absorbed. It was this trivial thing for him to read a book and he was having a nice time reading that book.

[00:10:03]And when he was reading that obviously the people who came to meet him thought perhaps he's not very serious it's not a very serious study that he is doing and they came he didn't even notice them he was so busy with that book Pquid papers and he was reading it intensely it's just a simple book that he was reading just to maybe to pass some time to spend some time and for a change he wanted perhaps a change. So, and it was so much absorbed in that book that the people who came thought he's deliberately neglecting them because they were standing very near and he was not even noticing them. That means whatever he did whether it's a trivial thing or it's a serious meditation he was giving full or he was fully aware and intensely aware his whole willpower was directed to that action even once or twice people have seen in his life when he was reading a newspaper. Normally we multitask when you read newspapers there are so many other things going on in our mind but a trained mind of a yogi or one who has practice mindfulness or awareness that's why Buddhists give gives so much importance that without mindfulness without 100% awareness we cannot succeed in any endeavor secular or spiritual so the subconscious mind which we can which is very often referred to especially if you ask segment Freud he will say it is a dungeon of dark forces forces that explain the abnormal behavior of so many people because he was dealing with sick minds naturally he thought all the forces in the subconscious mind or the unconscious mind they are a result of so many actions in of the past the trauma and all those things which are coming up and making them behave in the way they are doing. So they are all normally referred to as the dungeon of dark forces the instinct and [clears throat] of course therapies are based on that psychologists uh normally call it because if you make a study of only sick minds minds who are not trained minds that because no happy person or no normal person will go to a psychiatrist. So all the data that has been accumulated and they have based their theories is dealing with they have been dealing with sick minds. So naturally the uh remedy and the solution to those things also will be different.

[00:12:50]But if you deal with a healthy mind there will be a good mixture of good thoughts, positive thoughts, mindful thoughts, deliberate action with some purpose in mind. Nobody will like to lead a instinctive life. Animals of course they are forced to lead a instinctive life because they don't have that faculty of uh buddhi or uh the choice making ability to do or not to do to do the right thing avoid the wrong thing. All these uh discriminative or discernment as we call it. This discerning forces are peculiar to the human mind. A highly developed human mind. So judge if you judge from a moral standpoint our actions can be classified as dharma or a dharma righteous actions or unrighteous actions depending on how much of those actions are done willfully. If even if you do a good action unwillfully or unconsciously, it's not going to help much. Of course, when we do evil actions, sometimes that's why the intensity of people who do habitually do evil actions, they are very much determined. Their purpose is fixed. They want to destroy something, somebody or they want to create havoc. So naturally, they do all those actions willfully and that accumulates a lot of negative karma. So the fruits that we bear as a result of our karma if they are done good actions are done willfully it's better to do good actions willfully than uh do it unconsciously because the effects of evil actions which we have might have done lot of actions which we might have done ill willfully with evil intentions like negative forces like jealousy anger and all those things they are too wrong. So to counter that you have to do continuous good actions willfully and with full attention. That is why in the Buddhist uh meditation techniques you will find they first ask you as a first stage of meditation they ask you to be mindful just be mindful of what you're doing. We also it is also popularly known as vipashana means seeing properly that means uh there is a deliberate intention to focus on the thing or the work at hand. So we have been allotted a certain work. Say for example the monks are trained to do some gardening and the task the master who is training them he observes. He comes to know immediately if there is some uh lack of mindfulness the work suffers and he can observe it and then he will punish that monk for that. So if he's doing gardening he has to think of nothing beyond gardening and his whole mind attention uh his focus and his all his effort should be directed towards that particular action then that action becomes has the potential in it to accumulate good karma. So breaad I finished with this actually last time. So I'm just repeating it looks as if it is a very simple verse. What is so great about this verse?

[00:16:28]According as one acts willfully with when when they when the scripture says acts whatever actions that we do with deliberation or with a with a purposeful intention according as one behaves so does one become. So that's why Buddha used to say as you think so you become.

[00:16:59]So that willfulness or that capacity of the will to make the action a potential karma good or bad is there with the person who is thinking. So as you think as you train your will so you become that means your future will depend on what you think intentionally willfully the doer of become be becomes good and the doer of evil becomes evil. It's not that a person is born evil or born good.

[00:17:35]It's a result of all his past karma. Uh if he has accumulated lot of good karma then habitually he will do good things.

[00:17:43]and doer of evil.

[00:17:45]He further and by repeating those actions he becomes evil. So consequently [clears throat] the all the impressions the samscaras are divided under two distinct heads. We discussed this also in the previous class. One is puna and papu. Puna means merit. So all the actions that we done that are done uh with with good intentions they accumulate puna. Puna means merit and papa means demerit sins.

[00:18:21]Sin is a word which it is used but sin is used in a as a word more often than because sin when you sin it's it's an action. So it's an evil action but here it means both evil action and the evil samscaras that is formed due to that action. So whatever favorable or unfavorable situation we find ourselves in is because of our samscaras because of our past actions. So you cannot blame any other person. That is why Swami Viveandanda says if people grumble and say uh the people around us are so bad and so we are in this miserable situation because of others. He says if you had good karma why would you find yourselves in a miserable situation. So Hinduism asks us to take the whole responsibility or Vanta says you have to take the responsibility on your own shoulders because if you find yourself in a difficult situation know it for certain it is because it's a retributive force that has accumulated because of our past actions. We may not have done anything in the immediate past to justify uh the fact that we are placed under those circumstances which are unfortunate if we think we are so unfortunate that these situations have made us behave in the way that we do. But these retributive forces have their source as I mentioned it's 9/10 of the our mind unconscious mind is full of these samscaras. It's like the tip of the iceberg which is seen but we ourselves do not know what is in store for us. Lot of things of the past which are in potential form they have a tendency to just come and disturb us when we least expect it. So whatever a person when wherever a person goes that is why they say even if you go to the most silent place and try to meditate you are carrying your nine tense of your instinctive mind is going with you. You may not have the I mean the things around you may not force you to think of evil things because it is so quiet so pleasant everything is fine but the unconscious mind which is 9/10 of a mind almost that uh the thoughts the potential thoughts or the potential disturbing thoughts they bubble up even in a quiet place. So we carry all our impressions wherever you go. So satsanga or a holy place or solitude or a peaceful place temporarily it will give us some respite but if you strong law that's why we find that in most of the uh places people are so restless they go they visit the shrine but if you ask them to sit for they will be they will become restless because they're carrying that restless mind with them what they had done before all of a sudden the mind cannot you cannot tell the mind to just keep quiet. It doesn't it's not automatic mind you. It is that is what he says that these impressions go with him. He cannot erase them and they will start bubbling up maybe temporarily because of the environment because of the peaceful solitude and other things. Uh he may not add further karma because there are no temptations, there are no disturbing influences at least for the time being. So his present he's taking care of his present but what about his past that Vanta says you have to carry there is no other way that baggage of old karma every one of us wherever we go we carry our actions time cannot erase them you see like uh the value of certain things for example we have cars and we have so many things there is something known as they lose over a period of time they lose value even if you want to sell it. Uh we cannot sell it for the same price. So everything uh decays in the material world everything decays its value becomes less and less but according to Vanta these samscaras not a single change will happen. They will remain as they are just waiting to pounce upon you. If there are good samscaras well they will help us wherever we go.

[00:23:12]Even if you go to the worst of places, if you have a very strong baggage of good karma, then you will sail through all the difficulties you can uh negotiate. So, favorable unfavorable circumstances are predominantly in the mind. Of course, there are external factors and we cannot change them. The world cannot be changed just because we don't want uh we are not happy with it. The world will run as according and that also Vanta says is according to your karma. If you are in a nice place, if you are in a place where you can have positive wholesome thought, it is because your good karma has brought you there. Or if you find yourself in a very miserable place full of negative people, negative thoughts, we then we can argue that it is our bad karma that has brought us there. So we have to find out how to negotiate these unconscious thoughts. That is very important in vanta that unlike all other uh object material objects which have a depreciation. We say depreciation. A car has depreciation. It will depreciate over a period of time. An unused car for example after so many years if it is not used the value will go down. But here he says time has no influence on these subtle thoughts. That is why we call it a subtle mind. Kalan Sharan Shar subtle mind is sukma shar. Sukma is the immediate pre present and those thoughts and those memories those experiences are all pushed down into the kalana shar. When the body dies the gross will will be burnt or will be disposed but the subtle will not be affected by time. Time cannot erase them. So with the same karnas you know one will take up a new body and then if one gets if one's karma is good he will get a good body or a good surrounding with which he can erase the old old karma but he cannot escape. So uh Vanta says I mean this verse of the breahat says time cannot erase them though we may wish that all the effects of our past karma evil karma especially not the good karma uh miraculously if they just are erased that is not possible that we'll have to of course counter it there is a hope that in the present And whatever we do, we can counter it with spiritual practices, repetition of the holy name, prayer, good karma, we can uh change it. But thinking most of the people commit suicide, they think the effects of their bad karma which has placed them in a particular situation.

[00:26:19]If they just get rid of the body, uh they feel that they'll avoid that karma.

[00:26:26]But unfortunately they cannot avoid it.

[00:26:29]Death cannot enlate the influence by doing good karma and spiritual practices. So our own actions can our own actions willfully done with full awareness, full attention, with full mindfulness that alone can eliminate either eliminate the effects of the bad action diminish them at least diminish them. So that holy mother shari used to say when somebody asked if our karma uh in our karma the accumulated karma for example we were distined to have a sword wound somebody with a sword would have killed us or hit us or a sword would have cut our finger. He says you can diminish it by avoiding that sword wound and get a pin prick. Some karma will be there.

[00:27:31]Maybe a pin will prick you because of the lot of japa that you do. Lot of repetition of the holy name. Spiritual practice. One of the functions is to get give you enlightenment. But another important function which it does is to destroy the old karma.

[00:27:49]So it takes years and years. Some people when they start spiritual practices they find it is so easy to concentrate the moment they sit they get we we experience here so many people tell us it is very easy but some people say I've been doing repeating I'm trying to meditate for uh years and years I'm not able to concentrate because till the till the karma is exhausted by either good karma or by spiritual practices we cannot uh handle them. So that's why our own actions willfully done can eliminate, diminish or at least see that its effect do not shake us too much. Uh but again here there is a factor which is in Indian thought or in vanta is known as satsanga.

[00:28:46]So satsanga means maybe that is also due to our past karma. We can get help from the vibrations of others good thoughts.

[00:28:56]That is the psychology behind all the temples and the holy places. Even if our karma is bad, if we frequent those places, it is possible that the vibrations and the good thoughts and all the accumulated good uh thoughts that are in the air in a particular place that can destroy some of the impressions of our bad karma. So uh Vanta says when a person leaves the gross body the solar uh he doesn't leave the subtle body at least a majority of it but the kalana shar is left intact no matter which body he takes up after how many years he takes up a new body according to the law of karma that karana shar which he had in the previous body has to be carried over there's no diminishing or there's no enhancement in that interim period. It's a very interesting uh chapter which Swami Satprakas Shanji has written. How is a man reborn? So there he discusses all the aspects of Vanta or Hindu theology which explains this fact. It's a very scientific fact that all the good karma or the bad karma has you have to bear the fruit. It's like cause and effect. It is like Newton's law. As the cause, I mean, if there is a force, there will be a reaction, equal and opposite reaction.

[00:30:29]It's it's a natural law. There's nothing religious about it. So, the law of karma is nothing but a law of cause and effect. That is why that part which determines our future [clears throat] cause of our birth in a good or a bad environment is decided by our causal body. Not our parents. Parents may just give us the biological characteristics that we inherit from them but the mental characteristics.

[00:31:01]Otherwise Jesus and Buddha they were born of ordinary parents. But how did they become great uh people? The reason is they have inherited they have come with their own causal body, own subtle body which irrespective of the parents to whom they are born they still continue their onward journey good or bad. So whatever an individual I mean he the subtle body and the taranasira where the impressions of karma are deposited it's the ja or the individual's course of life is determined by the samscaras that he is taking to the next birth just like we are carrying our baggage from one city to another we have to carry that whole baggage the baggage of our past karma we have to carry and then maybe exhaust it. If you want we can exhaust it. Maybe we can make our journey lighter by disposing certain things. But we have to carry that. So the individual's course of life uh all jas is determined by the nature of samscaras that he has accumulated in the previous and all the lives before past present and what he will do in future will be determined by his past and present. So [clears throat] they say that is why Bhagan say Krishna and the Bhagawat Gita this is a very famous question that Arjuna asks because we are all used to the material world and we know that no matter how much we accumulate how many how much property that we have at when we die everything becomes useless at least to us it is left behind. Now what happens to that we do not know. It may be stolen. It may be grabbed by somebody who is not deserving. It may not go to the right person or whatever it is we have no control over it. So naturally Arjuna in his mind he was arguing that see if this happens with our physically acquired wealth then what will happen to our mental uh papa or puna. Papa means the sins that we commit and or all the wonderful merit you are he's asking Krishna see I am doing sadena and I'm doing uh according to you if I practice karma yoga and different yogas I will obviously gain lot of merit but say I don't reach the goal of life and I die before I reach the goal of life what will happen will it simply vanish like the cars and the buildings and other things I have to leave behind. So will I leave behind all my karma? If that is the case, if the subtle uh samscaras are left behind, then what's the use? I may accumulate lot of wealth, spiritual wealth. I'm not talking of the physical wealth which has to be left behind. But the lot of good karma that I have done with so much of effort, will it all go waste? He's using the example just as a cloud is dispersed a cloud a dark cloud when a wind comes the wind disperses the whole cloud and then there is no rain so will all my effort will be like that wasted like that so Krishna says no it doesn't the law of karma uh is such that in the subtle whatever is stored in the subtle you will inherit in your next birth you will either be born in a family of yogis. That means a family where you are uh you have the necessary support either in a wealthy family because you don't have to worry about earning money otherwise your attention will be focused on that you already inherit lot of wealth you have lot of spare time so he says maybe you will be born in a rich family like Buddha was born or you may be born in a family of yogis though it may be they may be poor.

[00:35:12]So your samscaras are already there. You begin your journey from where you left in the previous birth. So the impressions the karma here I'm using karma in the sense of karma fala. What impressions we have stored the impressions or karma dwell within us in the manifest and in the unmanifest state that is potential state. The kalanasar that is to say in the conscious and also equally so in the subconscious plane most of the unmanifest impressions lie dormant that is the problem. Now we are only aware of our present situation the present samscara's present tendance and we are very happy with that because obviously there's no problem but it's only when this government impressions God knows from where they come they are our own karma but when they come to this conscious plane then the problem starts so most of the unmanifest impressions lie dormant that is the problem they they are as it were covered I gave that example of the attic in a house. All the dirty things we just dump into the attic and close the door. For that reason, those things will not disappear. They will be there. Maybe rotting or maybe uh creating a nuisance if you open but still you have closed the door. So apparently they are dormant. They are not giving you trouble. Maybe there are rats and so many things have uh accumulated there. I mean have infested by rats and other things but the moment you open you will find that they have not gone anywhere. Similarly with our bad thoughts as well as good thoughts.

[00:36:58]You see this dormant nature of the subconscious mind is not only applicable to the bad thoughts but also the good thoughts. So we should that's why Swami G says never lose hope. Even the worst sinner can one day become a great saint which happened in the case of Walmiki Tulidas. You'll find in each of their lives there came a turning point when that robber suddenly changed and became a great saint. So that means there were lot of dormant good samscaras there.

[00:37:29]They say they they cannot influence the conscious mind or behavior as long as they remain dormant. For instance, even a ferocious animal, it has got all the latent dormant samscaras of attacking anyone it sees.

[00:37:46]But if it is asleep or if it is drugged or if it is just feeling lazy, those samscaras will not be manifest. You can even go near a lion or a tiger when it is asleep because they are lying dormant. The instincts are not manifest.

[00:38:01]Some impressions however they rise to the conscious plane from the subconscious and then they are the ones which give rise to our thoughts, feelings, desires, tendencies, memories, capabilities and all those things which we experience. They just don't come from nowhere and nor neither they are. Maybe the environment will help to uh bring those dormant thoughts to the surface that that the environment can do. If there is a good environment, obviously all your good thoughts even if they are hidden and not used by you, they will come up. That's why they say we need some kind of uh we need to go to places which have holy associations and also holy people so that whatever little samscaras of the past in fact we are there in the first place because of our holy uh tendencies, holy desires, all those accumulated good karma only you will be inclined to go instinctively something will drag you there and then those samscaras samscaras get a chance to reptify and help you in your onward journey. So all this may not be you see that is so it is so scientific that all these good samscaras or bad samscaras if they are dormant no matter how much of external stimuli you give you cannot see them manifest whenever you want it that's why we see many of the parents forcing the children to become good you see Their samscaras are hidden. They are dormant. They may be good in after a certain stage when their bad karma is over. They will automatically take to these goods uh uh good attitudes, good things. But you cannot force them. If you even if you say the Vanta says that no matter how much external stimuli you stimulus you give to this uh mind there is no guarantee that the unconscious mind or the causal body or the causal part [clears throat] of the personality will allow this dormant tendencies to come to the surface. they will come at their own sweet time with or without outside portion. So that is why Swami Viveandanda said very nicely that when you are educating a child you can give water, you can give the manure but you can't pull the sprout and force it to grow. You can't make it grow faster than what it can naturally do. It depends on the quality of the seed, the quality of the original plant from which the seed has come. So all those things factors are there. At the most you can give proper nutrition, proper water, create an environment and hope for the best that his or her samscaras of the child will allow the child to grow the way you want. Of course we cannot dictate because the child has come because of its own karma.

[00:41:28]It will follow its own course of life.

[00:41:30]No matter how much we can give facilities, we can give all the uh environmental I mean the environment is under our control. As much as it is in our control, we can do it. But beyond that even environment will not help. So it may or may not be.

[00:41:49]Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it definitely helps. If you uh give say for example a bad environment, a disturbing environment, then there are chances that the dormant subsc.

[00:42:05]Uh there will be lack of concentration and all those things. But [clears throat] it is usually our own old karma which will decide what we will do. So [clears throat] a safe proportion would be 50/50. So if you say 50% of a child's or anybody's growth is its own nature, 50 of course will may depend on nurture.

[00:42:32]How the child is nurtured, what are the circumstances in which it grows. Of course from a ultimate standpoint even that environment that the child gets is because of the past conditions. If it was distined by its good karma that it will be born in a family where he will get all the proper environment for its uh enhancement all the good samscaras then he has deserved it that's why he in that place but sometimes the opposite also happens deliberately the child or the person is born under very difficult circumstances and a difficult environment but still because of the inherent goodness there is a sudden or sometimes there are drastic transformations we have we have known St. Paul for example, he was Saul. He was tyrannizing over all the because he had a very unpleasant duty of collecting taxes and he used to ride on horses and Saul used to collect tax even at I mean threatening them threatening to kill the people. So the people were afraid of him that was his nature. But that same Saul when he had that wonderful vision light blinding light where he had a vision of Christ that same Saul became St. Paul one of the greatest apostles of Jesus Christ. So we do not know there is no hard and fast rule. We do not know whether there is there is some external stimula stimulus or not. How much of stimulus will uh raise those dormant tendencies to the subconscious level and then his life may change but usually it is our own karma or our own samscaras that motivate our active life. Now there is [clears throat] another factor to understand some impressions most of the impressions or some impressions at least they somehow remain overpowered by the external circumstances.

[00:44:48]For example, a child is very much uh is going to the best school where there is so much of discipline, discipline at home, discipline at the school, everywhere, good family uh association, good relatives, everything is fine. So the samscaras are of that child till it is in that protected environment is good because the overwhelming influence uh is overpowering the bad samscaras which it inherently has but because of so much of you may say the they are overpowered samscar samscar is not allowed to come out and the child appears to be or the person who is growing appears to be uh such a well behaved and everything is fine. But the moment that props are removed or moment that overpowering samscaras are removed from his life and he is left on his own then he may go become he may degenerate that person same person because that dormant samscaras will then come out and there will be no overpowering influence for for instance we say uh good association social laws family situation some people have under in a country where their social laws are followed. All countries are not so lucky. There are so many bad social laws or uncontrollable social laws which are being pursued in different countries, different parts of the world.

[00:46:32]Though the people may be good, they are unfortunately born there where the social laws are not followed. There's no rule of law. So many of these uh samscaras though that they have very good samscaras unfortunately their evil propensities they get a chance to flower in where there is no rule of law no social laws are followed and they will find these very little he may have very much lot of good samscaras but the very few bad samscaras will make him follow a path from which he cannot revert back to his uh he cannot make good use of his good impressions till he finds himself in a situation where the outside influence helps him to nurture them. So that is why we have to see both we we have to uh train the child or train ourselves. Vanta tells us since we don't know what is in store for us, it's always good to surround ourselves with good influences, good thoughts, good books. So that whatever may be the content of our samscaras even if they are bad they will slowly uh they can be slowly transformed into good samscaras. So these overpowered impressions which we get from the surroundings they often affect our conscious mind. So that is one positive benefit that if there is a even if it is forced some kind of discipline which is inherent in his environment the child or the person the personality slowly is forced to change all his old habits. So even if a very sort of indisiplined mind and indisciplined personality is forced to go sometimes it has its effect. That's why discipline when it was when it is forced the people don't like it especially people who just want to be free they don't want too much of discipline. But very often in late life they realized that in most of the disciplined hostiles you will find in our educational institutions most of them hated their wardens hated their teachers because there was so much of discipline whereas their friends in other private schools or other places they seem to be enjoying life but because of this restraint because of this forced discipline this overpowering influence they somehow Now those dormant samscaras are also slowly getting destroyed provided he's a willing participant. In the beginning he may detest he may hate that why am I here every time there is this kind of somebody watching me so much of discipline but if if that same person takes it positively that all these things all these difficulties are for my good that is why one of the main uh elements or uh of old education in the Vic age was to leave the home, the loving care of the parents as early as possible. Often it could be 6 to 8. As I said, the duty of the father would end when he gave the gaitri mantra uh a tool for his spiritual development along with his secular development, along with his profession and sent to a gurul where he will not only learn professional values which will help him to earn a living but also the samscaras and it is in these gurugulas.

[00:50:28]You see for example Sri Krishna went to Sandepi and his classmate was a very very poor boy Sudhama but they were very good friends and they that friendship even after many years when Sudhama went to the kingdom of Daraka of Sri Krishna he recognized his friend. So no matter which background you belong to poor family or aristocratic family you are trained by the same teacher Krishna was also made to do the same manual work not because his parents are rich or he's a privileged boy he will get more facilities that unfortunately that element is missing now so what happens is when this vanta according to vanta the training this overpowering influences of discipline mostly have a good effect on the children. Not always mind you. If the samscaras are very bad, then the moment he comes out of that hostel or that gurugula, all his tendencies which were overpowered, they come out. Otherwise, how can you explain? The same guru taught pandawas and the kowuravas. The same guru who taught Bishma uh Bhima taught Duryodhana also. In fact Duryodhana was more skilled than Bimma they say according to Mahabharata. So they were he was an expert in fighting but at the same time you see what Duryodhana did with his skill.

[00:52:02]So the same guru the same student or the same same school and the same learning.

[00:52:09]In fact the learning was better in one in Duryodhana's case he was more stronger and more uh talented than even Bhimma that's what Mahabharata says tells us but you see because of those samscaras no matter how much restraint was there he absorbed all the skills but not the buddhi or the wisdom that is supposed to be imparted in this gurucas so Everybody will not absorb everything uh that is given to him. It is because the Vedanta says it is because of the causal body, the causal mind, the samscaras, he will take what suits him even in that disciplined environment. So that is why they say that [clears throat] beyond a certain uh limit the solitude and all the peaceful environment that we seek many of them seek when they are troubled. So they just want to go away but they don't realize that they are taking their troubled mind wherever they do. So unless they unless people learn to live or deal with their own minds with their own samscaras which are have a tendency to prop up now and then the solitude may help but will not be enough sufficient that is what they say. So now another technique vanta tells us a faster technique one is retreating and not doing evil actions or you know having the company of evil people is one way it will slowly prevent further samscaras to be accumulated that is one side but what about existing samscaras so uh there is in uh Patangjali's yoga sutras us uh Patanjali is telling us how to deal exactly deal with this situation. He says pratipaka bhavana bhavana means feeling emotion the willpower which is directed towards an action. Pratipaka means opposite feeling. So you have feeling of fear then you have to counter it. Uh it can be countered if you just allow it to gradually go away. It may take lot of time. So they call it pratipakshaba bhavana. The other impressions they are weakened quickly by cultivation of the opposite virtues. So if you find somebody always fearful then you have to push him till he can I mean if he can manage into a situation where he becomes fearless again and again whenever we see some weakness you have to give the opposite thought. give him thoughts of strength for him to uh forget his fears or at least handle his fears and say a child is afraid to go in the dark when a very important uh incident I remember is in Mahatma Gandhi's life when Mahatma Gandhi for some reason you know so many ghost stories and uh these things are so common and just to keep the children quiet people tell all sorts of rubbish so he was perhaps Some of his relatives must have told him ghost stories. So whenever it was dark and people think normally in the dark you will either have robbers or ghosts.

[00:55:47]So this poor boy was not able to to cross any any part of the house when it was not fully lit he was afraid to cross. So the grandmother or his own mother I think uh she hit upon an idea.

[00:56:05]She said whenever you approach a dark zone of the house you remember along with the ghost there is a way to handle this ghost you have to repeat in those days they used to say when you repeat Ramna Ramna means the name of the lord.

[00:56:22]So every time you repeat Ram nama the ghosts don't approach you. No doubt there were no ghosts nor there where there was any danger but it's a imagination. So that samscara that samscara which led to the imagination of an ghost which never existed was countered by another imag not imagination a technique which is known as pratipaksha bhavana. So he was told again and again that whenever you go whenever you encounter that don't worry don't panic just repeat this name and that boy got so much of confidence then as Mahatma Gandhi when he grew up he says this habit this counter countering this contrary virtue or the contrary feeling pratipaka bhana which my grandmother taught me I was ignorant and I just just as I believed the people who used to tell me ghost stories I also believed in this grandma who told me that repeating Ramnam will drive away the ghost. So I was fully confident though nothing happened. There were no ghost. There was no ghost. But the idea that this repetition so that became a habit. So sound education and similarly with other uh other virtues bad virtues for example fear, selfishness, anger.

[00:57:54]So these can be countered with forgiveness.

[00:57:58]The covered is by the practice of courage. So sound education and right association with these positive values that that is the reason why all these stories though they are uh they are myths. Most of these myths they have no reality perhaps they may not have any reality but these myths have a wonderful influence on the psyche of the people in general especially smaller children. So what happens is these myths if they are repeated again and again in the form of music in India there's a huge uh collection of myths every every of course every culture has every the Greeks have their myths but if you take the positive aspects of those myths how people in the past though they may be stories which may not have really happened they may not be historical but still it has immense value because you know these myths were created to counter or to uh enable the cultivation of contrary virtues to destroy the already existing negative virtues in us. So that is how uh the mind and its ways this is what we are discussing now the different aspects of the mind how uh we can psychologically or According to yoga psychology, we can handle the vast uh I mean you can say vast amount of samscaras, unknown samscaras. Let me repeat it again and again. He says we are not aware of 9/10 of our mind. We are aware only of the one oneth that is on the surface. When these unconscious thoughts come to the surface, we get an idea what is in store for us. So it is better to get prepared and by so many techniques. One is of course very powerful technique is repetition of the holy name and because they have the intrinsic power to destroy the samscaras before they come up to the surface.

[01:00:16]Otherwise you can easily handle them by practicing the opposite virtue as Patanjali says pratipaksha. So if there are some questions also so we'll give some time any question >> one question.

[01:00:38]>> Yeah >> the way we are talking about counter thoughts.

[01:00:43]>> Yes.

[01:00:44]to tell a children it's easy comes naturally if I see myself getting a thought of uh jealousy or insecurity the sometime not sometime or most of the time we know that that thought is coming I'm feeling jealous of it comes because of uh wanting to have something I don't have So what's the best way to counteract that as adults? I just do we just ja or busy?

[01:01:22]>> Yeah, one is the best way. The question is uh it is easy. Of course it is easy but it is not very effective. It's easy to tell but uh very difficult for even the child or anybody whom you tell to grasp it because unless they themselves realize the benefits of pratipakshaba or contrary thoughts then you will not be forced to you should know that the technique works it works it worked in the past and Patangeli has uh given written some sutras commentators have said that it really works so we have to First believe and then start practicing.

[01:02:02]That's the maximum we can do because it's easy to tell them. But unless he's convinced, the child is convinced. But when it comes to our own subjective experience, now we don't have to go too much deep into trying to find out say for example the question of jealousy. So jealousy is naturally a tendency when we feel that we don't have something which the other person has. That's the reason for jealousy isn't it? Which we cherish. Of course if he has something which we don't like then we don't care because oh let him have it or even if there's some trouble oh at least uh I don't have that. There's another aspect of jealousy where you sometimes you know some people get joy if they see other people suffering. The reason they get joy is that that suffering which that other person is having. Fortunately by God's grace I don't have. So that is also a jealousy. It's a kind of jealousy but the opposite uh I mean it comes in a different form. Whereas when there is when you see happiness in others they are getting what we don't get then there is jealousy because you feel I should also get the same thing. So to handle that there are two ways the easier way is of course repeat the holy name because that is found to be the most effective and uh more useful than trying to counter every jealous thought every because it is so difficult. One has to be very intelligent. One has to develop what is known as vive buddhi. Of course japa the very idea of gaitri mantra was to youat that is develop my buddhi. Let me just think for a while. Why am I so upset if somebody else has more? Is he really happy? If you go deeper you'll find that even the person who has what you are cherishing is not happy with the things that he has. So it's not always true that what you think is happiness and you see somebody else having that does not always uh mean that uh you'll be jealous sometimes you know that it's relative value you just tend to ignore.

[01:04:25]So but that discernment that va buddhi which is very difficult taking each one of our thoughts of course it has to be practiced side by side but that practice is done that same effect can be attained by focusing on something which is more powerful and goes to the root of our subconscious mind and jealous is also only because of the past experiences isn't it? We are jealous because we have seen how people who are having those things are enjoying whereas we are suffering because we don't have it. Say money for example or good cars.

[01:05:03]Jealous is only because of we think this would give us more happiness. But if you try to analyze then there is no end to it. It it may be a very good method to find out does it really give happiness?

[01:05:16]The person who has a bigger car is he really happy? If you go and analyze then you'll find it slowly that jealousy will go away. But a better method according to vdanta that is why this bi idea of bi was introduced that you fill your mind with the thought of god as much as possible during the day that you don't get a chance give a chance to the unconscious mind to prop up those jealous thoughts. So that is a positive way of dealing with it. Whereas dealing one after another it may be like Patanjali for example if you don't have faith in the holy name unfortunately for many people it may be they're very rational they just don't believe fortunately for Mahatma Gandhi as I said he just believed his grandmother that you repeat the Ram nama and the ghosts will run away both were untrue there was no ghost there was and Ram nama may or may not even if there were ghosts the capacity of Ram but He believed that child believed and his problem was solved. That is because he had faith and that faith continued till the end of his life. He used to say that for me prayer is the best way to deal with all my problems. But it may not be true for others. For others like for those following the path of yoga, they are very scientific. They'll say okay I'll follow what Patanjali says. It's a slower process or maybe it can be fast for some people who are always thinking always for them the path of discrimination is also good. So we can use whatever we like but easiest way is to repeat the holy name.

[01:06:58]>> Yes. Yeah.

[01:07:04]How can we >> work?

[01:07:06]>> Work >> without going >> without >> without a big ego.

[01:07:12]>> Ego. Oh, ego has nothing to do with this.

[01:07:17]>> Yeah.

[01:07:18]>> But we are the child.

[01:07:20]>> Yes. Yes. So the question is pratipaka bhavana will not work if one has a very strong ego. Because a person with a strong ego, he will never accept the fact that he's wrong. Even if the whole world tells him he's wrong, he will say for example, Duryodhana, he was told by everybody, his own mother that you just give up this, don't be uh so adamant. He knew the consequences, but the ego was so strong that he could not have the counterought. So it doesn't work. As you said the question is if we have a strong ego how can we deal with our uh practice pratipaka bhavana that is contrary it is very difficult because the contrary thought the idea that the contrary thought should be cultivated will come only to a person who has no ego he's humble enough to accept his mistake but if he says my mistake is normal what I'm doing is fine I have a right to think in the way I too. So if that is there, if the ego is there, then the problem becomes difficult. So rather than following this path, the question which has been asked online is can we think that we are a child of God? Yes, that is exactly the reason why Ram Krishna believed. He says for me that is the most simplest attitude. The child has no problems. Child has no ego. That is why he's known as a child. The problem starts when the child grows and the adults teach him. The peers, the school, everywhere he is taught that your ego has to be strengthened. And then he becomes a very miserable person as he grows because his ego has been pampered first by his parents, unconsciously they don't want to do it. But unconsciously the ego is pampered. You have to stand first always and then you make him compete and then he will have that ego that I am the first in the class. Maybe he will succeed but how long he has to face the whole world. That ego is not will not take him far. Someday or the other somebody more intelligent than him can and he'll receive the shock of his life.

[01:09:35]So people with ego it is difficult to practice this pipaka.

[01:09:42]according to Patanjali. So first thing is they have this what is known as aidya asita. Asmita is that ego. So they say asita has to be reduced. It cannot be removed. As Sam Krishna said it is like a banyan tree. Your ego you go on cutting the whole tree still from the root a shoot will come sprout will shoot. It will shoot another banyan tree will grow slowly. So the ego cannot be totally destroyed. But as as the person who has asked this question uh it it can be made easier to handle. I you can easily handle it if as Sam Krishna said I consider God as my mother and I am the child. So the child depends child has no ego. It is uh not afraid or not ashamed to delegate all the things all the good and bad things to the mother. He knows the mother will guide me properly.

[01:10:46]So that is why this bhava of matri bhava they call it considering god as the mother who is our uh ultimate refuge who is the ultimate guide who can guide us in all situations that can help in reducing the ego. Yes. Okay.

[01:11:06]anymore go shanty shanty shantakrishna Uh for