Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 13

CHITTA (Contd…)

In the last post, we left with this cycle/ sequence, to be taken up in this post.

KARMA

The actions (karmas) are: seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, and thinking.  

Examples:  You go to the cinema to SEE a movie.  This particular action will also generally involve the action of HEARING. If you buy some popcorn and soft drinks, it will also involve the actions of touching, tasting, and smelling.  All of these actions take place with the conscious mind.  If the mind is unconscious, the movie will not be seen or heard, and you will not feel, smell, or taste the popcorn or soft drink. Neither will you think of the movie if you have never seen or heard (of) it.

SAMSKARA

Samkaras are subtle imprints (impressions) that are made in the mind-stuff (chitta) whenever we do actions (consciously).  Impressions are not memories.  Memories are formed from impressions just like a photograph is developed from a negative.  

Generally, we only retain memories from recent impressions.  Yet, we have countless impressions (samskaras) from many, many lives.  

Most of these impressions no longer have memories associated with them.  In other words, the impressions (samskaras) from many, many lifetimes are affecting us but we do not generally know how or why they affect us because we have no recollection of the actions that caused the impressions. 

SAMSKARA AND CHITTA

When you perceive an orange and taste for the first time, you get knowledge of an orange. You know its taste. You know the object, orange. An impression is formed in the subconscious mind chitta at once. These stored impressions in the sub conscious mind shapes the samskara.

At any time, this Samskara can generate a memory of the object, orange and knowledge of an orange.

The Samskaras (impressions) are embedded in the subconscious mind or Chitta. 

The subconscious mind is otherwise known as the unconscious mind. Subjective mind, subconscious mind, unconscious mind and Chitta are synonymous terms.

VASANA

The effect of a samskara is called a vasana.  Vasanas are tendencies. In other words, vasanas  are the inclinations formed from our impressions (samskaras).  

They are mental urges, desires, and feelings.  Unlike samskaras, the vasanas (tendencies) are readily identifiable. 

From the storage or from the memory bank Chita, revival of those memories is impression or samskara. 
With the impression revived, your develop a tendency or inclination which is related to the past experience, which left impression in the chitta, which has now been retrieved from the chitta as samskara and the revived memory has pushed you to develop a tendency or inclination. 

So chitta is the cause and samskara is the effect

Then, samskara is the cause and  vasana is the effect. 

VRITTI

Our tendencies (vasanas) create thought patterns (vrittis) in the mind. In other words, our thinking becomes motivated by our tendencies.  That is, we THINK to support our FEELINGS (desires, urges, etc.).  These thinking patterns form our attitudes and mental disposition.  

KARMA

Finally, our thinking patterns (vrittis) leads to action.  In other words, we act (KARMA) because our mind tells us (VRITTI) to act, because that is how we will satisfy our desire (VASANA) which arose from the impression (SAMSKARA) made in the mind from an earlier action.

  

I know that unless the above cycle is explained with a lucid example, it would be dry and difficult to understand.

• KARMA- A man develops an infatuation in his youth, in college days and with that infatuation, he does many acts.

• CHITTA-The acts done thus, leaves an impression in his sub-conscious mind.

• SAMSKARA- The impact of those impressions stored in the sub-conscious mind forms his samskara, which is in un-manifest state.

• VASANA and VRITTI- After many years, somehow, he happens to meet the same girl, who is  now a lady, married or un married and she happens to be now re-located to his own city/street.  So, now what happens? The unmanifest samskara now takes the form of manifest vasanas and his stored impressions for many years have now become manifest vasanas, i.e., thought patterns in the form of desires, Raga (attraction) towards the same lady.

• KARMA- The vasanas and the vritti results in his making advances to the lady again, resulting in further fresh actions.

• AGAIN CHITTA- The impact/impressions of these fresh actions  move, after the action is over, and gets stored afresh in the subconscious mind or the memory bank chitta.

And with this, the cycle continues, the cycle started with karma and now, it has again ended in karma and the cycle may start all over again as new impressions are formed out of new actions and are stored in the chitta.

In next few posts, we will learn about the entire flow of manas, chitta, buddhi, ahamkara and how actions are undertaken and how the actions take back impressions to chitta, with the help of a visual diagram.

Love.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

IS IT NOT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE MIND TO ATTAIN GOD?

Dear All,

We are now dealing with MIND and its functions in the blog posts.

When the blog was made open to all, it is clear that  the blog is for the world at large in the long run and  the need for the author to know who is accessing the blog is not there anymore, as the initial membership by invitation rule has been withdrawn.

However, Love flows incessantly for all of you and that is why this post.

Let us start with this Swami’s quote on Mind:

"Consider a cloth which has been made into a handkerchief. Its basis is cotton, which does not have any specific form. It may be considered as pure and unlimited. From this cotton, have come the threads. By joining the threads together a cloth has emerged. In the same way, from the pure and unlimited Atma the I-thought has emerged. From this, in turn, has come the mind. Therefore, your mind and the “I” have both originated from the pure, unlimited Divinity, the One Reality which is your true Self”. (Source -Peter trucker’s compilation of Swami’s sayings on mind and SELF - WWW.ATMAPRESS.COM).

So, Swami says Mind and SELF (our divinity) have originated from the same infinite/absolute divinity which you may call as God or Pure consciousness.

But, lo and behold, our mind does not seem to be all that divine as of now.

IS IT NOT THEN NECESSARY TO KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS MIND WHICH SWAMI SAYS, HAS ORIGINATED FROM GOD, BUT HAS GOT A LITTLE IMPURE AS WE PASSED THROUGH THE CYCLE OF BIRTH-DEATH-RE BIRTH??

Dear Ones, 

The present theme MANAS BUDDHI CHITA AHAMKARA is all about knowing this mind, which has to be ultimately exercised to reach God and merge with God.

Around 12 posts in this theme is already through and many more to follow.

We do not need to be scared about the above Sanskrit terms and instead, we just need to know the following initially, to get into the posts on the theme MIND.

·  We believe in the above Swami’s words that our MIND must have been initially pure and divine, as it has originated from divinity.

·  So, MIND by itself, left alone to itself, without influence of any other factor, has to be necessarily divine. Swami Says so and we believe each word off our SAI.

·  It follows then that there must be few other factors that influence our mind which then either sustains its divine nature or loses its divine nature.

·  The factors that influence our MIND, which are dealt in detail in the posts are:-

·   BUDDHI - Discriminative, Intellect.

·  AHAMKARA - the EGO which can be either pure ego (Aham, the pure I) or impure ego, (Ahamkara, the lower i). This Ahamkara again has 5 coloring which are dealt in detail.

·  CHITTA - mind Lake which stores various impressions of the past.

·  Now, these three factors can either singly influence our mind or they can join hands to influence our thoughts which go on to push our mind to act in a particular manner.

· With each action done, except for actions of realized masters or spiritual seekers at a very advanced stage, each actions of human beings result in fresh impressions getting stored in their mind lake which can also be easily referred to as MEMORY BANK.

So, the entire study of mind through the posts under the current theme in the blog is to understand the four functions of mind- MANAS, BUDDHI, CHITTA, AHAMKARA so that, with proper use of these 4 functions, with proper coordination of these 4 functions, with proper knowledge of DOs and Don’t DOs of these 4 functions of mind, we are able to restore, retrieve, re-trace the DIVINE NATURE OF OUR MIND and USE IT/ EXERCISE IT TO REACH OUR LORD, NEVER TO RETURN.

With Love, as Always,

Sathya