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My understanding is that you negate samskaras by living Dharmically. Obviously this doesn't "fry" the old (past life) samskaras, but it prevents you from accruing more. I am sure there is some way of negating old samskaras but I am not advanced enough to know. Hopefully someone else can chime in.
:camp:
And the instructions on how to fry them. I have no clue. Anyone?
What do you mean by samskaras? Do you mean the 'obligatory' 16 samskaras Hindus do, like first feeding, name-giving, or do you mean it in the general sense of impressions on the subconscious?
Aren't they patterns of thought and behavior, reinforced through repetition?
Similar to neuroplasticity?
No. There are two definitions, neither of which is the above.
The first is here: The 16 Hindu Samskaras
meaning rituals traditional Hindus take.
.. and the second definition is an experience that leaves an impression, or any strong experience that is tough to get out of one's memory. It can be positive, or negative. So the first definition would be a subset of this one.
What you're talking about sounds like habit.
I did not even know about the second definition . That sounds similar to things like trauma. Not that they are all bad, like you said some are positive. But the idea is similar one profound moment that will forever change you.
.. and the second definition is an experience that leaves an impression, or any strong experience that is tough to get out of one's memory.
I dislike samosas, for what its worth, and that ain't much. To me, they're like 'curry powder', whatever that is.
You got it, and indeed you could say you underwent quite the samskara.
Which brings to light a question I wabt t pose.
Why get rid of them? Sure the "negative" moments hurt, hurt doesn't mean bad. What's the purpose of pain in the human body? To let us kniw something is not right and needs to be changed. Sure pain sucks but I see it like this. It in NECESSARY to strive for moksha. Who wants to be liberated from life when life is fun? I guess pain creates as I would call it "soul weariness" or "homesickness" a wanting to end the cycles of karma to feturn "home."
You need to get 'rid' of them because they interrupt self-inquiry. You don't actually need to get rid of the memory, just the reaction to the memory. It's called affectionate detachment in my sampradaya's terminology. So if every time this memory comes up, you have an overly emotional reaction that hinders worship, hinders concentration, or hinders your ability to keep a job, etc., it's considered spiritually unhealthy. We want to move on somehow, not live in the past, progress along the path. So it's not a question or erasing memory, but erasing reaction.
This is generally done via the light (or fire) of understanding. Of course, it's far easier said than done, but there are techniques.
Of course, bhakti never hurts.
How I see it, how I understand it, is that to 'root out' samskaras, one must do introspection and 'self study' to see the cause/root of those samskaras.