Sanskaars and its kinds

You might have seen that siblings raised in the same family behave differently. Even twins don't have similar disposition. Different people have different temperament and different way of thinking from the childhood. Some are emotional, while others are sort of impassive; some are of serious kind while others are 'take it easy' attitude; some are radical while others are gullible; some are hard worker while others are lazy. This is because of their sanskaars, their way of thinking or mental tendencies. The sages of the east did analysis on the nature of these mental tendencies and broadly classified them into five kinds:

1. Sanskaars associated with previous birth or genetic inheritance: Spiritual people may assume it to be the impact of previous births and the radical class of people may assume it to be the genetic inheritance, but most of the people believe that a new born baby brings with him, his own temperament, his own nature. The impact on the thought process associated with the past lives falls into this category of sanskaars.

2. Sanskaars associated with the parents and family: The personality of a child is developed during the initial years of upbringing during which parents and family plays an important role. The belief system of the family, the culture, the religion, the atmosphere and the love provided by the family has a deep impact on the thought process of the growing child.

3. Sanskaars associated with the environment: The school, the relatives and the friends also impact the way of thinking and the personality of the being. The good habits, manners and wisdom gained from good association goes a long way in shaping the future of a growing child. At the same time, a bad or spoiled company may ruin the future.

4. Sanskaars associated with your present life decisions and wisdom: There is a saying that ‘As are your thoughts, so are your actions; as are your actions so are your habits; as are your habits so is your destiny.’ Your thought process, your decisions and your day to day experiences leave a long lasting impression on your mind, which eventually affect your way of thinking.

5. Your original sanskaars of consciousness: Each of the conscious living being have certain extent of originality that is deep rooted. This set of mental tendencies is associated with the original nature of our consciousness. Each one of us wants to live forever (eternal nature), seek knowledge (conscious nature) and wants to be happy (blissful nature). Deep inside, our core is eternal (never born, never dies), conscious, peaceful and blissful. No matter how dare the circumstances are, with time all our wounds are healed; we become peaceful again and our smile returns.

With the help of the wisdom of the Self, will power, company of the holy ones and meditation, the true seeker continue to work on strengthening and restoring the original sanskaars of the consciousness in his own life – namely, the sanskaars of peace, eternity, love, wisdom and blissfulness. In this manner, the true seeker is able to negate the affect of first three types of sanskaars and wake up in the realization of the original sanskaar of Sat-Chit-Anand (Eternal-Conscious-Blissful) Self. This is what seeking (saadhna) is all about.