articles on Samkhara (Samskara- Mental conditioning)

Articles on ‘Samkhara’ ( Samskara)

Samkhara in Pali language means Samskara in Sanskrit, It means mental formations that generates Karma.  In general, Samkhara has a much broader and deep meaning than above. It is defined as “things that have come into existence due to causes and conditions that are subject to continuous change”. It includes such factors as skillful and unskillful intentional actions, memory, habit formations set up in the past. All skillful and unskillful thoughts, words and actions are also included in this category.

However life’s purpose is to  learn various aspects of humanity in every birth and reach the final stage as  a perfect  human. So in every life the soul  learns  some aspects of humanity piece by piece. That is why, some persons are born with cruel ideas (Hitler) or with deep humanity (mother  Teresa). If a person has hated some cast or religion for his whole life, he would take birth in that religion to learn it better ways and perhaps suffer on account of the karma of past life. In addition, man is always given an intelligence to think what is right and wrong. However he always  gets carried away in pursuit of materialistic short term gains  and may become a killer, thief or a murderer. There  are cases that with the help of this free will, a murders can change the path and become a gentleman.

There are two types of major negative samkharas ,

1) in the past we suffered on account of somebody’s bad intension or efforts, by means  of loss of wealth, loved ones, health etc.  We have a strong desire to teach him/her a lesson  ( anger)

2) we forced someone to suffer either intentionally or unintentionally and we repent once the incidence took place. (pain & fear, repent )

I will try to decipher a few stories that we have been hearing from generations as  myths w.r.t. this new tool, Samkhara. When I started thinking of Samkhara after attending Vipassana, I found that it is true in our daily life.

1. Death of king Dashrath after the departure of Ram and links to curse given by Shravan’s parents
2. Why Ramdev baba’s fasting collapsed on 6th day, whereas Anna Hazare was comparitively comfirtable on the 5th day of fasting.
3. King Ashok was shaken after seeing the deaths of thousands of people in Kalinga. He accepted Buddhism, what changed his mind?
4. Yudhisthir’s Yagna and half gold Mongoose that could not be converted into full.
5. Krishna’s death in the hands of an animal hunter
6. Back pain of Sunny Deol
7. Stomach cancer of Steve Jobs
8. What is Pakistan  today  is because of deep Samkharas nurtured since 1947 ?
9. So now, it  is for you to think, what you are today is because of samkharas you nurtured for long. You can recall good and bad incidences of the past and recent. What about your life after 5 or 10 years? What Samkharas are you recording now?

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