[Advaita-l] Vasanas

[Ramesh Badisa]

Dear respected members. Namaste.

>An important point in the central core of the Hindu teaching is the 
>transmigratory career of man's soul.

Badisa: Transmigration of soul is referred in Vedas as well as in 
Upanishads. The Hindu religion started about 5000 years or less. It did not 
exist at the time of Dwapara yug, while Vedas and Upanishads are present 
since the time of creation. In that case, where is the question that the 
transmigration is the central point of Hinduism?  It would rather 
appropriate to say that it is the central point of sanatana dharma of Bharat 
Varsh. Right?

>Man's soul travels from body to body in its journey of evolution. Though 
>man is essentially divine,

Badisa: Is it man or soul it is referred here? I believe you are referring 
to soul when you are saying that man is essentially divine. Right?

>Vasana means smell.

Badisa: Vasana does not mean smell please. It can be called tendencies or 
samskaras.

>If you bring in, along with your birth, inherent tendencies that are bad, 
>you have to contend with them and fight them yourself. This is the 
>obligation implied in karma theory.

Badisa: Karma is not theory please. It is the absolute truth, and thus all 
holy scriptures, like Bhagawad Gita (4/5), Uddav Gita, Upanishads etc reveal 
about karma. When the scriptures reveal something, it should be taken or 
understood as based on the direct experience, but not be understood as mere 
theory.

>It is the receptacle of thoughts and imprints of Vasanas and continues to 
>exist after death, serving as the vehicle of transmigration.

Badisa: Please see Bhagawad Gita, 15/8 for this.

>A human individual enters this world with a bundle of Vasanas in the form 
>of his mind.

Badisa: Vasanas won’t come in the form of mind please. In the beginning of 
your answer you have indicated that the vasanas cling to the mind. Here, how 
come you say that vasanas form the mind? Vasanas and mind are two different 
things. A divine experienced (self-realized) person will not have any 
vasanas. Right? But he will still have the mind. But, in this case, this 
person will have total control over his mind and buddhi, and thus these two 
things cannot influence him. The mind only dissolves in divine at the time 
of attainment of absolute salvation. Thus, we have Upanishads (Prasna Up. 
6.5), where it is said that all 16 parts of witness, including mind, are 
dissolved in divine at the time of absolute salvation for the qualified 
soul.

>In man's eternal journey to perfection, the ultimate aim is to shed off all 
>the vasanas of the mind, so that the mind in its pristine, unloaded, 
>crystalline purity may reflect the presence of Divinity

Badisa: Divine won’t be reflected in mind please. One has to cross mind and 
buddhi, to have divine experience (self-realization). The following is the 
order one has to proceed to have divine experience.
World, karma indriyas, gjyana indriyas, mind, buddhi and paramatma (Gita 
3/42). Vast majority of people end at the level of mind and buddhi. Very few 
people, after having control over mind, will experience divine. Thus in 
Bhagawd Gita (2/25), Lord Krishna says that this soul is invisible to senses 
and inconceivable by the mind. Then, where is the question of reflection of 
divine or self in the mind?

>which, the vedas assure us, is there in every one of us. And that is what 
>we mean by the 'release' of the soul. In fact it is just the regaining, by 
>the soul, of its own natural state.

Badisa: Then what happens to this soul after the death of the physical body?

Namaste
Badisa

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