Samskaras

[Poeticus]

But someone *did* mentions samosas, right?

Yeah, it was me!

 

[En'me]

I thought the dude meant samosas. As in: fry samosas.

Finally, someone who gets it. All of you people need to try some of 'em samosas, you'll forget you ever even knew what self-realization meant.

All joking aside..

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?

I'm quite positive you have gotten the gist of what I meant, but to avoid any unncessary confusion and not to be rude, I meant the impressions residing in the unconscious (or subconscious as you have put it ). Thank you for inquiring into the meaning of my question.

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.

Our mind is like an ocean or lake (Chitta/Manas), with various levels of awareness and currents...like whirlpools of neurons firing and our thought processes arising from within it.

Each thought, is like a wave or ripple on this ocean. These are called Vrittis.

Vrittis arise like a wave, due to subtle undercurrents in our subconscious or conscious mind. Sometimes, these waves just rise and fall of their own accord...other times, you will find yourself 'surfing' on those waves, or watching them crash into the shore of your mind...eroding your 'mental landscape' piece by piece.

These kinds of thoughts which result in action being taken, often leading to habitual actions or even more habitual thought processes are called Samskaras.

To 'root out' these Samskaras, meditation is required to dissect thoughts, behaviours and actions at the level of meditative awareness.

Om Namah Shivay

What is meditative awareness? Awareness in the meditative state of mind?
How do you dissect thoughts?

Well that's still not "frying it" as the OP put it. But more like you removing yourself from being attached to the memory.

But I see what your are saying. You need to drop the baggage you are carrying to move on, besides yyou can't take your emotional baggage with you.

Some sites have used "fry" as a substitute word for erase, delete. It was probably intended for the reader to get a strong impression that the samskaras should be absolutely erased, or, "fried". However, erased and deleted are probably more suited words.

Ofcourse, it could also mean that you are removing yourself from being attached to the memory, I am not trying to negate your opinion.

It's usually positive. The thing that comes to mind is the Prakrit word "sanskār" (notice the "m" has turned in an "n").

"This boy/girl has wonderful sanskār; his/her sanskriti (not to be confused with Sanskrit) is honorable and admirable."

"John is a sanskāri boy; Maya is a sanskāri lady."

"Hello Uncle! I just ran into Rajbhaiyya and what a wonderful sanskāri man he has turned into!"

It denotes a person with good traditional values, respect, of admirable character, of dharmic quality, a refined person.

And, I like samosas, btw.

Quite interesting. I was under the impression that samskaras fuel both fears and desires and that positive impressions do not necessarily out-do negative ones. For example, wouldn't a person in adulthood be left with mainly negative samskaras if he had experienced bad parenting when he was a child?

To fry them

Meditation, meditation and meditation!

I LOVE samosas!

Maya

I appriciate your input. Could you please elaborate on what do you mean by "meditation" (pratyahara, dharana, mantram, pranayama, yoga nidra, uncoloring vrittis, etc).

Thank you all for your answers. ^_^

 

[Vinayaka]

Thanks for coming back and clarifying.

I don't believe it is necessary to totally erase negative samskaras, but it is necessary to detach from them. There are many spiritual tools for doing this.

One is to understand them. For example, if you did something really stupid or committed a crime, and you're still reacting with guilt, it's helpful to undertand yourself as you were at that time, but with the newer more mature perspective.

Another is ,yes, to fry them through intense yoga or sadhana.

Another is bhakti, dump them at the feet of the Lord, and let him take care of it.

Another is to write them down and burn them, releasing the emotion as you watch the paper burn.


So yes, we do have techniques for this.

 

[Maya3]

I appriciate your input. Could you please elaborate on what do you mean by "meditation" (pratyahara, dharana, mantram, pranayama, yoga nidra, uncoloring vrittis, etc).

Thank you all for your answers. ^_^

I think that if you meditate and reach Samadhi. If you realize who you truly are, then you will not feel attached and bound by your previous karmas and impressions. You will realize that they got stuck, if you will, during those many lifetimes when you thought you were the body.

I personally mean silent meditation focusing on AUM, but there are many ways to meditate.

Maya

 

[Kalicharan Tuvij]

I personally mean silent meditation focusing on AUM, but there are many ways to meditate.

Like, meditating on AUM-BHUR-BHUVAH-SWAH.

 

[Maya3]

Like, meditating on AUM-BHUR-BHUVAH-SWAH.

Sure.

Maya

 

[ratikala]

namaskaram en'me ji:namaste

I'm quite positive you have gotten the gist of what I meant, but to avoid any unncessary confusion and not to be rude, I meant the impressions residing in the unconscious (or subconscious as you have put it ). Thank you for inquiring into the meaning of my question.

as far as I was taught Samskara is an act of purification , which leaves an imprint , a positive imprint , as school leaves a positive imprint on the mind of a child by accustoming it to training , to dicipline , to order , the un ordered mind is conditioned by maya these random un ordered impressions are not nececarily 'samskara' more they are 'asamskara' , un purified , samskaras are a dilliberate ordered method of purification .

Some sites have used "fry" as a substitute word for erase, delete. It was probably intended for the reader to get a strong impression that the samskaras should be absolutely erased, or, "fried". However, erased and deleted are probably more suited words.

burn

Quite interesting. I was under the impression that samskaras fuel both fears and desires and that positive impressions do not necessarily out-do negative ones. For example, wouldn't a person in adulthood be left with mainly negative samskaras if he had experienced bad parenting when he was a child?

simply a lack due to parenting of the performance of samskara's is a lack of orderly direction . it is akin to not being given dicipline through a good education , it is a lack of guidance through and observance of purifacatory rituals which sadly means the child is not given the best start , however the natural state of a child before the performance of the samskaras is not the childs fault and the child does not nececarily have negative impressions it simply lacks the positive ones .

you are right to say that the performance of samskara's do not neccarily ''out do negative ...'' habitual patterns but a direction is set and blessings received by performance , but there must also be a respect of other regulations otherwise samskaras alone are of little use .....like bathing an elephant that then bathes in mud

(...but that is what elephants do and that is not bad for elephants )