148 - Samskaras Determine Our Level of Shraddha | Swami Tattwamayananda

Bhagavad Gita | The Essence of Vedanta

Shraddha cannot be properly translated in English. Shraddha refers to a sense of sanctity and sacredness that helps us preserve higher values. It can also mean faith in scriptures, God, teacher, and a sense of integrity. One of the verses says: “A man is only as much as the shraddha he has.”
2nd verse: “The shraddha of human beings is three-fold – Sattvika, Rajasika and Tamasika. It is born out of their own swabhava – their own natural tendencies. “
Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo guna
manifests itself as laziness and delusion.
Gunas are not visible and cannot be physically verified. We can infer which guna is predominant in a person by observing his external temperament.
If a person has wealth and power, but he is humble, has self-control and does not make a show of it – he is endowed with sattva guna. Sattva guna indicates higher transcendental wisdom in a person. If a person is very active and makes a show of his wealth and power, he is endowed with rajo guna. If a person is lazy, ignorant, confused and does not want to earn higher qualities, he is endowed with tamo guna.
Shraddha is based on our inherent natural tendencies, our swabhava, which is based on our samskaras. Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara. Samskaras express through our determination to act in a certain manner, called Sankalpa. Sankalpa leads to further actions. This wheel continues, and it shapes our Swabhava.
In Patanajali Yoga Sutra, Vyasa says: “The river of the human mind flows in two directions. One takes us towards higher spiritual fulfillment. The other is of a negative nature and takes us away from our cherished aspirations.” The mind may not act as our friend when it is not ready. For example, when we want to meditate (positive flow of the river), the mind may procrastinate (negative flow of the river).
Vyasa also says: “We can never refine samskaras and turn the mind into a friend without a refining process. The refining process starts with doing some noble, unselfish deeds. Such deeds increase the store house of positive samskaras and negate the negative samskaras.
The mind then begins to evolve.”
The 1st sutra of sadhana pada in Patanjali Yoga Sutra says: “tap ah-svadhyaya-isvara-pranidhanani kriya-yoga” Kriya yoga refers to any kind of noble, unselfish activity. Such actions help us climb the ladder of three types of shraddhas – from tamasika, to rajasika to sattvika.
One of the commentators on this verse says: “This shraddha is inherent but not inflexible. If inflexible, everything will degenerate into blind fatalism. We have the freedom to ascend to higher levels of shraddha by applying our own resources. This will strengthen the river of mind and help it flow in the positive direction.”
3rd verse: “The shraddha of every individual is according to his/her natural disposition. Every individual and his level of shraddha are identified as one.”
Brahma Sutras discuss the dynamics of leaving the world and the dynamics of returning to the world. We are born with the baggage of past samskaras (tendencies) – we cannot disown them. We collect these tendencies in our Antahkarana (mind, intellect, memory system, ego sense) through actions involving the senses and the mind. When the body is cremated, the physical senses are gone, but the Antahkarana is retained. It accompanies the soul when it takes a new body.
These samskaras in the Antahkarana decide what level of shraddha each person possesses.
In the next few verses, Lord Krishna describes how we can infer the level of shraddha by analyzing a person’s actions and behaviors, such as whom he worships and what kind of food he eats.
4th verse: “Those endowed with sattvika shraddha worship divine, angelic deities. Those with rajasika shraddha worship a god idea that gives them material comforts such as wealth and power. Those with tamasika shraddha worship supernatural and black magic concepts of god.”
The God idea that we worship is dependent on our level of spiritual evolution. As we evolve, our idea of God also evolves.
In spiritual life, we are never late and nothing is lost. Every moment can be used as the beginning of a new journey.