The Samskāras - Impressions - We Bear
Samskāras, as expounded in Vedic wisdom texts, are impressions that we carry mentally and energetically which influence our experience of life. According to wisdom texts, we are born with a bundle of samskāras from previous lives, and we continue to accumulate them in the next life, until we begin on the path of release, and purification of the nervous system, energy field and mind, and move towards the state of enlightenment, which is beyond all samskāras.
We are 5, we have an ice-cream - an impression is made: ice-cream is good, I feel better when I have ice-cream. We get bitten by a dog - an impression in the system forms: dogs are dangerous. These are impressions, our mind and system starts to behave according to our bundle of impressions. You may find yourself thinking "I don't have enough time to get everything done", "I'll never be able to do that", or "I just want a moment of peace to myself", and you may even hear a faint echo of a parent who said the same thing. As children, energetic sponges, we begin the process of accumulating the impressions of those around us, mental and energetic pieces of dirt we pick up along the way and carry. We then start to identify ourselves as the impressions, the bundle of ideas we have accumulated, which have no bearing on truth - like a warrior who sees himself only as the scars he bears, rather than the warrior within. We start to walk around like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz - "If I only had a heart". Stored at the layer below conscious thought, they house hidden expectations ("I expect dogs to hurt me", "I expect to be overwhelmed by many tasks"), and here they have a residual potency which manifests into our experience. We are quantum beings in a quantum Universe, a Universe that is expectation driven. When we insert a proton probe into a vacuum of empty space, a proton appears. And so in our lives, these hidden expectations and impressions manifest into inner and outer experience.
These samkāras cloud our true essence. The light within, our innate bliss. A state of innocence, wonder and joy. They cannot be released at the level of the mind, the level at which they were created. We need to go much deeper, beyond all samskāras and allow the healing balm of the Self, the unified field of bliss and infinite creative potential which is simultaneously our source and our essence, pervading all of relativity. In the face of the direct sunlight of the Self, these scars start to soften, they start to fade. As this process unfolds, meditation by meditation, the purest essence of you shines forth, your nervous system is purified and begins to be a clear receptacle for the pure Self to shine forth, and for you to innately know, and experience yourself as that unbounded bliss.
Every time we meditate we bypass the samskāras, the ideas of who we are, into that field of bliss, of unbounded pure consciousness and create new impressions on the mind, the senses, the ego. I am the Universe, totality - aham brahm asmi - begins to dawn on us. This is the power of our practise. We don't engage the mind, swim around in and entertain our samskāras, we very simply transcend them.
The idea that we are more than those ideas begins to dawn, and we find ourselves responding in different ways. Perhaps we find we even like doing different things than we did when we were more stressed. Perhaps we enjoy the company of different people, or more solitude. Allow these new experiences to unfold. And as they create a new set of impressions - "I feel good after I meditate", "it feels good when I do less of that thing, and more of another", "I'm actually quite pretty" - notice that, and allow these new habits and ideas to settle in, give them the nourishment of your attention. They're the ideas that spring forth from establishment of Being, of the Self, in our awareness. They're closer to truth, and in alignment with the flow of evolution.
When we notice a mental impression bubble into our awareness - "I don't think I can do it" - we can simply ask ourselves, is this true? If I am also unbounded potential, and I have a thought to do something, or try something, does "I don't think I can do it" match up with that? In this way, we can slowly erode the power of these samskāras, who limit our potential and hold us back, while we continue to meditate and let that process of deep release and imprinting of Being, of Self at the deepest layer, beyond all samskāras, unfold.
“Lokah samastāh sukhino bhavantu" : May all beings everywhere be happy and free
- Sanksrit prayer/mantra
...and may the thoughts, actions and words of my own life contribute in some way to the happiness and freedom of all.
Free of all impressions, of all ignorance, of the cage the mind makes.
Love and Jai Guru Deva*
Georgia x
*victory of light over darkness
