Question: The quote below is from Ramji’s book ‘ Meditation: Enquiry into the Self’ page 43 in my eBook Imagine this situation:
“On the first day of creation, a mountain shaped like a perfect cone thrust out of the earth, and the first drop of rain struck the mountain’s very tip. What path would the drop take? Since no precedent exists, each potential path is as likely as any other. Let’s say it flipped a coin to determine its course and slid down the south side, leaving an imperceptible little trail.”
I think under the perfect condition on the first day of creation, the first drop of rain (should also be assumed to be perfect, as being the first day of creation there cannot be any carry over of causal state) will move thinly, uniformly and downwards on all sides of the mountain. If this be the case, how do tendencies traces or trails) arise?
Sundari: It is not correct that there is no precedent because vasanas are not personal and not ‘in time’. You missed the point that the analogy of the first raindrop on the first mountain is making, which is about how the vasanas form. There is no ‘first’ of anything, firstly because the blueprint for the creation (Maya) is eternal, it exists out of time, though it is not always manifest. Therefore, it is not real because the creation is not always present and always changing. So keep in mind that we are talking about mithya, not satya. From the mithya perspective, it is impossible to say which comes first, vasanas or karma, because they are inseparable. It’s the chicken and the egg story. Vasanas produce karma and karma produces vasanas. Vasanas are the seeds—the knowledge—that drives creation. Nothing can move in the creation, the apparent reality without a vasana driving it, whether it is a once-off thing or an often-repeated pattern of behaviour. Standing, walking, talking, breathing, eating, sleeping, etc. are all vasanas and all create karma. No life is possible without vasanas.
The vasanas arise from the three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas which are what make up Maya—the dharmafield or the creation. The gunas give rise to the jiva, the vasanas, and their results (karma). Vasanas are not inherently good or bad. They are the seeds—the knowledge—that drives Creation. Isvara invented them. Nothing stirs in the creation or apparent reality without a vasana driving it, whether it is a once-off thing or an often-repeated pattern of behaviour. A vasana becomes a good one when it drives you into pleasant circumstances and it becomes a bad one when it drives you into an unpleasant situation. A vasana is the momentum from a past action, the tendency to repeat it. It is purely a technical term.
But vasanas can also sprout without any previously known tendency or desire because the seeds for all vasanas are Isvara and therefore exist in potentia in the Causal Body. We can say that the terms ‘Causal Body’, Isvara, and ‘vasanas’ are interchangeable.
It may seem like ‘our’ vasanas are personal and original, but they are not. All vasanas are eternal because they originate in the Causal body. Isvara churns them out over and over because there is really only one eternal Jiva or Subtle body, appearing as many seemingly unique individuals with seemingly unique ‘issues’. They are not unique (although the ego likes to think they are) but generic and timeless. It is impossible to put a timeline to this logic because as principles the Gunas, the Jiva, and the Vasanas cannot be separated as they exist ‘out of time’, in infinite potential within the Causal Body, which is infinite because it exists in Consciousness.
The jiva or Subtle body is really just a walking talking vasana/karma bundle. Not all vasanas are bad and karma is not inherently good or bad either—meaning, not conducive to freedom. It all depends on the desire or motivation behind both. Certain habits are good and certain habits are not, depending on what you are trying to achieve. As discriminating inquirers, we are interested in the psychology behind our behaviour, not the behaviors themselves, although certain behaviors are completely off limits, such as those that violate universal norms, like injury, deceit, theft, etc. The basic psychology operating behind most of our unhelpful behaviors is fear, a sense of lack. A vasana for food is natural. It is Isvara maintaining the body. I eat to live.
But when I feel emotionally upset for any reason and use food to calm me, the vasana becomes a problem because it masks my real motivation. I am now living to eat. If my mind is clear, I can understand that I am using food to solve a problem not solvable by food (or anything else) and I can look for the solution elsewhere. However, if my mind is not clear and food works, which it does temporarily, I will repeatedly use food to manage my emotions.
A vasana becomes a good one when it drives you into pleasant circumstances and it becomes a bad one when it drives you into an unpleasant situation. For instance, alcohol is a very nice vasana for certain people. It is a very painful vasana for others. A binding vasana for sex causes suffering but dharmic non-binding sex is a healthy vasana. A commitment to self-inquiry is a very good binding vasana to have, as through it, Self-knowledge can obtain in the mind. A binding vasana for a healthy lifestyle is good, as is a binding vasana for living according to dharma.
Om,
Sundari