Thought 124: Vedaanta helps you to purify your Vaasanas

Man has freedom of action. He could be positive and be beneficial to the society around him or he can also be negative and harmful and destructive to the society around him. Man can consciously exhaust his Vaasanas and rise up. He could also reinforce his Vaasanas and sink down to the depths of degradation.

Vaasanas are impurities, which obscure the divine nature in man. When you wipe out Vaasanas, you realize yourself - which is Moksha (liberation from Karma and Janma). Man minus Vaasanas is God. Vedaanta teaches you how to neutralize the effects of your Vaasanas.

Man has choice of action – unlike other living creatures. You do not expect a tiger to be kind and considerate. It must pounce and kill – and that is all what it knows. A cow on the other hand is gentle, meek and mild – and it can never be cruel like a tiger. Thus, all animals tread a beaten path. These animals fulfill their Vaasanas in the realm of activities, which indicates their nature. They lead a choice less pattern of life. Man, however, has choice of action. Through self-effort, man can change the pattern of his life; he can change his Vaasanas and even his Praarabdha. Self-effort gives you freedom regardless of the nature of the Vaasanas. (Swami Tejomayananda)

When not manifest, Vaasanas remain dormant in your potential nature. They are in that state when you are in deep sleep. During the wakeful state, they begin to manifest as thoughts in your intellect (thoughts in your intellect are always dictated by your Vaasanas). In the second stage of manifestation, they express themselves as desires in the mind. In the final stage, they (the desires) express themselves as actions.

Thus, as long as Vaasanas exist in you, thoughts, desires and actions will constantly flow out of you. The state of Vaasanlessnes is the state of thoughtlessness or the state of desirelessness or the state of actionlessness – which is called Moksha.

You cannot abstain from action while the Vaasanas are still present in you. People practice self-denial externally – not realizing that Vaasanas, thoughts and desires are still present internally, which putrefy the internal personality. Such practices lead to suppression rather than sublimation of the personality.

The next thought is about Mind is a powerful instrument