A deeper exploration of consciousness as the unchanging witness, free from attributes, unaffected by the mind, and ever-present as one’s own nature.
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Conditioned Mind (Vasana) remains a challenge to discovering ones true Self
Ingrained Habitual (vasana) of body-mind, leads to automatic “reactive” behavior to stimulus and events of the environment. It requires constant “alertness” to watching thought patterns and actions at every moment to break/stop the habitual responses, leading to free, spontaneous living. Vasana Kshaya Confusion – Swami Dayananda Saraswati There is a concept that Atma has become the Jiva due to vasanas, past impressions. The vasanas, often equated to karma phala results of actions, like punya and papa, are assumed to have been gathered by the Jiva who has no beginning. The exhaustion of vasanas through any of the four yoga amounts to self-realization. The self-realized person who has no more vasanas to perpetuate his life may continue to exist as a free person, jivanmukta, due to others vasanas. The problems caused by this modern prakriya are numerous. If vasanas cause the Atma to become a Jiva, vasanas become a parallel reality to Atma. Then Atma ceases to be non-dual and anyone who takes it as non-dual will suffer from an error. If vasanas are not an independent reality, then they are mithya, depending as they do for their existence upon Atma. What is mithya has to be understood as mithya. Mithya does not cause any problem if it is understood as such and therefore exhaustion of vasanas is not necessary. Nor is it possible for anyone in a given birth to exhaust all the vasanas collected in an infinite number of births. In fact, they can be exhausted only in an infinite number of incarnations. So vasana-exhaustion itself is a dream. Even if the impossible vasana-exhaustion were achieved, the possibility of a jivanmukta is nil. When all the vasanas are exhausted the Jiva ceases to be. What is left out is Atma who is asanga, who is unaffected by and unconnected to anything. There is no way the asanga Atma will attract anything from samasti prarabdha. If a nucleus Jiva exists then there are vasanas to exhaust. The Shastra mentions vasana exhaustion, but it is purely with reference to the preparedness of the mind, antahkarana shuddhi. The vasanas that the later acharyas talk about are 1)vishaya-vasana, 2) deha-vasana, and 3) Shastra-vasana. The fascination for an object, vishaya, thinking that it can give you security and happiness, is a superimposition called shobhana adhyasa. By vichara, analysis, you need to remove the superimposition to become the adhikari for self-knowledge. So too, ‘I am this body’, deha vasana has to be removed by inquiry and contemplation. The craving for the study of Shastras other than Vedanta, shastra-vasana, can divert you in the pursuit of self knowledge. You have to tackle this craving by commitment to vedanta-vichara. This three-fold vasana is not presented by acharya as a cause for the Atma to become a Jiva. The truth to be emphasized here is that Atma has never become a Jiva. Jivatva, the notion of individuality, is a superimposition upon Atma due to ignorance. The pursuit is, therefore, to understand that the swaroop of Atma is free from jivatva. Excerpt From The Teaching Tradition of Advaita Can the Mind Be Free of Conditioning? Curated by THE FOUNDATION STAFF SELF-KNOWLEDGE, or the learning about yourself every day, brings about a new mind. You have denied the old mind. Through self-knowledge, you have denied your conditioning totally. The conditioning of the mind can be denied only when the mind is aware of its operations, how it works, what it thinks, what it says, its motives. There is another factor involved. We think it is a gradual process, that it will take time to free the mind from conditioning. We think that it will take days or years to uncondition our conditioned mind, gradually, day after day. This implies acquiring knowledge in order to dissipate conditioning, which means you are not learning but acquiring. A mind that is acquiring is not learning. A mind that uses knowledge to achieve a sense of liberation must have time. Such a mind thinks it must have time to free itself from its conditioning, which means it is going to acquire knowledge, and as the knowledge expands, it will become freer and freer. This is utterly false. Through time, through the multiplication of many tomorrows, there is no liberation. There is freedom only in the denial of the thing seen immediately [see it as mithya] Freeing the mind from conditioning is the ending of sorrow. So the mind is conditioned right through—there is no part of the mind not conditioned. Can such a mind free itself? And who is the entity that can free it? The mind is the total consciousness, with all its different layers of knowledge, acquisition, tradition, racial instincts, memory. Can such a mind free itself, or can the mind be free only when it sees that it is conditioned and that any movement from this conditioning is still another form of conditioning? The mind is completely conditioned. This is an obvious fact if you come to think about it. It is not my invention; it is a fact. We belong to a society; we were brought up according to an ideology, with dogmas and traditions. The vast influence of culture and society is continually conditioning the mind. How can such a mind be free, since any movement of the mind to be free is the result of its conditioning and must bring about further conditioning? There is only one answer. The mind can be free only when it is completely still. Though it has problems, innumerable urges, conflicts and ambitions, if—through self-knowledge, through watching itself without acceptance or condemnation—the mind is choicelessly aware of its own process, then out of that awareness comes an astonishing silence, a quietness of the mind in which there is no movement of any kind. It is only then that the mind is free. It is no longer desiring anything, no longer seeking, no longer pursuing a goal or ideal—which are all the projections of a conditioned mind. If you ever come to that understanding, in which there can be no self-deception, you will find that there is a possibility of the coming into being of that extraordinary thing called creativity. Then only can the mind realise that which is measureless, which may be called God or truth. You may be socially prosperous, you may have possessions, cars, houses, superficial peace, but unless that which is measureless comes into being, there will always be sorrow. Freeing the mind from conditioning is the ending of sorrow.
“Life” functions naturally (without a mind), and the Special Human Mind
Basic “Life” even at the minute Microbe level, can function without a “Mind” organ, and has some capacity of understanding “presence, learning and adapting” to environment. The further evolution and development of the Human Mind / brain organ gives rise to infinite possibilities. However, while Mind is “Ignorant” (avidya), it constraints life to habitual (vasana) behavior and remain limited in transaction level “samsara”. With the glimpse of awareness of the spiritual being, the human Mind becomes a witness to activities of mind and body and the “Awakening” happens leading to enquiring into the unchanging “Self” and then desire to be totally free/”moksha”. It is mentioned that Swami Dayananda said that the “world of microcosm is more wonderous than macrocosm”. Spend time to contemplate on that. My wonder and amazement continues to grow at this amazing Ishvara’s creation, in which the “universal intelligence” permeates and manifests in the minutest of organic “life forms” that have NO “MINDs” but display a sense of “presence, learning and adaptation”!! It is a wonder of interdependence of life forms worth contemplating on. Microbes, often invisible to the naked eye, are remarkable living beings that play crucial roles in the balance of ecosystems. These tiny organisms, which include bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa (protists) and virsuses, thrive in almost every habitat on Earth—from the depths of the oceans to the human body. Despite their small size, microbes are incredibly diverse and adaptable, capable of surviving extreme conditions like high temperatures, acidity, and pressure. While some microbes are responsible for diseases, the vast majority are beneficial. They are vital for processes such as decomposing organic matter, cycling nutrients , and even producing oxygen (50% of our needs!). In the human body, microbes contribute to digestion, immunity, and overall health. Their ability to interact with and transform their environment makes microbes fundamental to life as we know it. Humans have studied and applied Microbes in many ways (and more to come). They are used in food production, such as fermentation of yogurt, cheese, and bread. In biotechnology, microbes are employed to produce pharmaceuticals (e.g penicillin, DNA analysis), biofuels, and other valuable compounds. Furthermore, they are utilized in environmental remediation to clean up pollution and in the development of new diagnostic tools and therapies for human diseases (e.g. targeting cancer cells). If curious and amazed, see this document for more info. However, due to AVIDYA (not knowing about the “Self” ). The Veiling (“Awarna”) power of Maya leading to deluded Projections (“Vikshepa”) power that lead to insecurity and entrapment in the world of Names and Forms. Humans have been blessed with a “powerful” mind capable of many specialized tasks for interactions and transactions. AND also, to just be “silent” and “reflect” like a clean mirror, the “Light of Awareness” within. This is key to spiritual development and Discovery of the Self. This quality of the human mind distinguishes itself from all other life forms known in creation. For the purpose of Transactions and Samsara the mind functions are very essential and all can be fine tuned to facilitate better transactions. All the above (and more) skills developed positively can help in ‘Samsara/interactions of worldly transactions”. However, on the spiritual journey of Self-discovery (and Human minds have the unique property), to WITNESS oneself that, I am NOT the MIND (and I AM not the BODY), I AM (beyond the Body-Mind), a spiritual being as the center/ ground, embodied in a body-mind complex. For that understanding, many of ” transactional capabilities” of mind become a hinderance as well as stumbling blocks or even total obstacles that some cannot get over! The means/sadhana to discover the above Truth requires the Mind to have the following steps as described in the Sadhana Chatustaya
All living beings have DNA code. However, Viruses which can have either DNA or RNA codes are not accepted as Living, because they need a Host cell to execute their functions of metabolism and duplication.
Then the Body and Mind’s presence and activity become major obstacles to spiritual growth. Assumptions such as:
a) Memory capacity and quickness – short and long term memory of “names and forms”
b) Intellect helps learn accumulated knowledge of fact, figures, events that have occurred in the past. it also helps in discernment/Viveka between facts.
c) Emotions substantiates “knowledge” with “feelings” to helps deeper “experiencing” of knowledge and events.
d) Observation and Recollections helps analyze the repeated/habitual actions of the body and thoughts in the mind for “improvement” of interactions and relationships.
e) Commitment and Goal pursuing keeps focus and passion towards improvement.
f) Confidence in Self worth (image) to remain confident in easy and difficult situations.
For spiritual progress we need to discover and abide in, I AM –