Intellect has a choice, (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 7)

Types of Gunas / Karmas / Intelligence.

Instinct based desires emerge and  form the basis of Karma. Intellect takes decisions on its intention and priority. In order to study the nature of intellect, let us see later how this is classified in different ways. The ways and means to achieve the conscious emotional balance are best explained in the eastern philosophy. Let us briefly go through these details.

Satwik (सात्विक), Rajasik (राजसिक) and Tamasik (तामसिक) are the 3 types of Gunas. These may result in Satwik, Rajasik and Tamasik karma respectively.

According to the choice of the journey of life chosen by a person, his karmas can be classified broadly in three kinds.

The Satvik karma, which is without attachment, selfless and for the benefit of others. The Rajasik karma, which is selfish where the focus is on gains for oneself. The Tamasik karma, which is undertaken without heed to consequences, and is supremely selfish and savage.

The decision of intellect to perform the karma is also based on the past Karma which is related to the degree of realization of an individual. We shall discuss the concepts of level of intellect, which are broadly 3 as follows: (details in a separate article to follow.)

Rational Intelligence.Emotional Intelligence.Spiritual intelligence.

Beyond these 3 is the concept of Un-attached action (निष्काम कर्म). (Recommended by Bhagwat Gita)

The Discipline of Unattached Action

According to the scriptures, the discipline of unattached action (निष्काम कर्म) leads to salvation of the soul. So they recommend that one should remain detached while carrying out his duties in life.

How can one be designed to have natural inclination of Satwik desires? Or inbuilt tendency to practice un-attached actions which Holy Gita terms as Nishkam Karmayoga (निष्काम कर्मयोग)?

To analyze this further, let us go through the two broad types of karmas. Namely Sreyas and Preyas.

Sreyas (श्रेयस) / Preyas (प्रेयस).

Types of the Karma. (Ref. Book, “Sreyas – Preyas” Published by: Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana).

In the journey of life, we often find ourselves standing at the junction of two paths, the good / noble (Sreyas) and pleasant (Preyas).

Preyas Karma :  Pleasant, Attractive, Tempting, May look very nice in the beginning but bring miseries later. Attractive objects give us pleasure temporarily and displeasure in the long run. Anything which pleases person’s ego may be Preyas.

Sreyas Karma : Good, Noble, Serves our highest purpose, it may not appear desirable in the beginning. May not appear so attractive in the beginning but in the long run it will realize our real welfare. It involves lot of efforts and perseverance.

The choice leads to the outcome.

The quality of our life depends upon what we chose between the two. We need to exercise this choice in our day to day life until we reach moksha, the ultimate freedom. Choice has to be made between good and pleasant. What appears pleasant in the beginning may not be good and vice versa.

Preyas is pleasant, which is attractive, tempting. Sreyas is good/noble, which serves our highest purpose. That which is wholesome may not appear desirable in the beginning. Preyas is opposite of Sreyas.  Preyas may look very nice in the beginning but may bring misery later. Preyas seems to make us happy temporarily but later on causes misery. To understand and comprehend this truth one requires some space, patience, and some leisurely time to contemplate.

Illustration: Men rush to objects like moths rush to the fatal attraction of the flame and destroy themselves. Objects first attract, bind and then destroy- may not be immediately like a flame destroys a moth but gradually. Indulgence is like slow death. Take the example of drug addicts. Initially one feels ecstatic but slowly when the person is hooked, he encounters untold misery till he is extinct.

Beware! What appears beautiful may not be so in reality! There are so many attractions in this world like power, position etc.  Attractive objects give us some pleasure temporarily then trap us. We get trapped like an addict. The drug gets into the chemistry of the body making a person helpless.

The mind and the Intellect gets trapped by the Preyas.

A weak mind opts for Preyas. Most of the people opt for Preyas.  All the sins in this world are committed due to attraction, Preyas. When one is possessed by lust, anger and greed then it is for sure that he had been following Preyas. Kama (lust), krodha (anger), dwesha (jealousy), these three vices is gateway to hell.  If there is something that pleases your ego then it is Preyas, not Sreyas.

Sreyas may not look so attractive in the beginning but later on it shows you are Sacchidananda (perfect bliss). In the beginning it is difficult. It involves a lot of tapas, control of sense-organs. A person who advises us not to be the slave of senses may look like an enemy, though he may be our own teacher.

Shreyas and Preyas sometimes come mixed up and may be difficult to separate one from the other. Preyas may come in the garb of Shreyas making us happy temporarily but real Shreyas is that which gives us everlasting happiness. People who give license to our fancies may appear very desirable but they are not. A person needs to see clearly what is proper and what is improper. Otherwise one has to suffer later on.

It is not only human beings who seek pleasure, all the creatures on this earth do. Even animals are pulled by the forces of ahara (food), nidra (sleep), bhaya (rage/fear) and maithuna (sexual intercourse). Food, Sleep, Fear and Sex these are the basic urges both in human beings and animals alike. Our thirst does not get quenched by satisfying these desires. It increases more and more. It is an unquenchable thirst.

A person following the path of Shreyas sees through and through this. Not that he develops a negative attitude towards the objects but he sees their limitation. Human being is gifted by nature to have the higher feelings to seek the pleasures than the above. If this capacity of compassion is not used then the human becomes alike animals.

Gita explains the fate of a person trapped in the storm of the selfish emotions.

As Lord Krishna said in the Bhagavat Gita:

"To the man thinking about the objects (preyas) creates attachment towards them; from attachment comes longing; and from longing crops up the anger. From anger comes delusion; and from delusion loss of memory; from loss of memory, the ruin of discrimination; and on the ruin of discrimination, he perishes". (Gita 2/62-63)

Intellect has a choice

We have seen from the above discussion that desired based actions throughout life result in the formation of the destiny of the last moment of the life.

There is always choice available between

Satwik, Rajasik and Tamasik.

Also

Sreyas and Preyas.

But as the materialistic, self-centered attitude of life-style is commonly seen prevailing, and also due to the predominance of the brain structure evolved earlier in the history of evolution, what would be the status of destiny?

देह बुद्धी व आत्म बुद्धी. (Materialistic and Spiritualistic Attitudes)

Any person would always protect the self-interest.  How one acts for this? It depends upon the person’s self-concept. It all depends on the answer to the question- Who am I”?

If one identifies self with the body then this is materialistic orientation. If the identification is beyond the material body in terms of non-material entity such as mind and soul then this can be considered as spiritual orientation. Both mind and soul are in the non-matter form. The difference is in the status of attachment. As we have seen, the mind has the influence of Trigunas. As the journey of the mind ascends from Tamasik to Satwik, the purity of the mind is improved. 

The next stage is to go beyond the Satwik, the stage of total detatchment. This is termed as Gunatit (गुणातीत).

Once this stage is attained, the mind reaches the stage of Soul. In short, the soul is the purest state of mind. Then the actions of such a Gunatit person can be termed as the yoga of desireless action.

(निष्काम कर्मयोग). We find detail discussion on this in Gita.

This orientation (answer to the question: “who am I?”) has significant implication towards the approach of a person towards the priorities and decisions during the activities of life. 

The concepts of Karma (कर्म), Akarma (अकर्म), and Vikarma (विकर्म) are worth understanding to see the Gita guidance to the humanity towards orientation of the life activities.  We shall see more about these concepts in the articles to follow.

Vijay R. Joshi.

Emotional balance is a conscious effort: (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 6)

                                        

Intellect has to be watched to improve the karma.

We are what our deep, driving desire is. As our deep, driving desire is, so is our will. As our will is, so is our deed. As our deed is, so is our destiny. — Upanishad.

As seen from the flow chart the intellect has the option to select only from the desires/emotions which emerge. In order to understand the natural emotions which normally emerge in a human mind let us discuss the evolution of the emotions in the journey of the evolution of life. Let us start with the working of brain. 

Western research throws ample light on the working of brain though there are still many unexplored areas.

Brain composition

All human beings are born with brains divided into three parts –

Cortex                   (The cerebral hemispheres)

Limbic system     (the hippocampus, the amygdalae and the hypothalamus)

Reptilian brain    (The brain stem and cerebellum)

The cortex- It handles learning, abstract thoughts and imagination. This comes into the practical use in most children after they are seven years old. Before that age, children do not have the mental tools to make intellectual assessment. The cortex is where logic resides and where we do the higher level reasoning that separate us from all other animals.

The Limbic system – It deals with emotions. Emotions are never simple. In fact, they are often surrounded with contradictions. The limbic brain is structured between birth and age five. It depends largely on a child’s relationship with mother from whom child receives warmth, love and a strong sense of connection. It is very rare to experience that with father. Because of this relationship with mother, the limbic has a strong feminine side. It is human find that in struggle between intelligence and emotions, the limbic part often comes on top as we are much more likely to allow our heart to guide us than the reason.

Reptilian brain – The undisputed champion of three brains is the reptilian brain. The name comes from this regions similarity to the brains of reptiles, which are believed to be relatively unchanged from the brains their predecessors has 200 million years ago. Our reptilian brain programs us for two major things – survival and reproduction. These are, of course, our most fundamental instincts. If we could not survive and reproduce, our species would end. The reptile brain is, thus, more influential than the rest of two brains. Physical attraction for instance, has a strong reptilian dimension. Because survival is more fundamental to our existence than 'feeling good' or ‘making sense', the reptilian brain always rules the day. In a battle between logic, emotions and instinct, the reptilian brain always wins. This is true when one is dealing with personal welfare, human relationship, purchasing decisions and even the choice of a leader. Like individuals, cultures have a very strong reptilian dimension.

We do the overwhelming majority of our learning when we are children. By the time, we are seven, most of our mental highways have been constructed. But emotions continue to provide us with new imprints throughout our lives. Thus in the path of evolution and also in the path of growth in life naturally the survival instinct comes first followed by likings (self-centered emotions and thoughts) and final consideration goes to logic or conscious sense.

The emotional Brain

It’s the most common experience that feelings prevail over most of our decisions and actions more than thoughts. Pure rational behaviour, measured by Intelligence Quotient (IQ), is often stressed upon but seldom comes to the fore; translated into action. Emotional brain indeed gets the better half of thoughts. It happens in fractions of seconds much before we understand. Later on, rational mind, which has comprehended all in the meanwhile, presents facts. We may jump with joy or burst into tears in certain situations, that’s emotional reaction. After some time, rational mind may make us realize that it was a bit of an ‘overreaction’.

The hippocampus and amygdale were the two key parts of the primitive brain, which gave a rise to the 'cortex' and then the 'neo cortex'. The amygdale deals with emotions. It acts as a storehouse of emotional memory and thus life without amygdale, is a life stripped of personal meanings. All passions depend on it. Joseph Le Doux, USA, was the first to discover the key role of amygdale in the emotional brain. His research explains how the amygdale can take control over what we do even as the thinking brain, the neo cortex, is still coming to decision.

That’s why we act first and wonder later how we could act like this. The amygdale makes us spring to action while neo cortex, though little slowly, unfolds its more refined plan for reaction. Other research has shown that in the first few mille seconds of our perceiving something, we not only unconsciously comprehend what it is, but decide whether we like it or not, the 'cognitive unconscious' presents our awareness with not just the identity of what we see but an opinion about it. Our emotions have mind of their own, one which can hold views quite independently of our rational mind.

In short, the brain has two memory systems, one for simple facts and other for emotional charged ones. A special system for emotional memories makes an excellent sense in evolution, of course, ensuring that animals would have particularly vivid memories of what threatens or pleases them.

Evolution of the mind through emotions:

Though the emotions have evolved with time, basic instincts like fear are something we are born with and they are part of the reptile brain. Anger was developed and carried forward in the next step of progress of the limbic system.  The growth of the cortex and especially neo-cortex gifted humans with wisdom, courage and peace. The development of the brain throughout the life also follows the same pattern from pre-natal stage to the fully grown-up stage. Though it all depends on conditioning and training mind right from preconception stage, it’s because of instincts like fear and self-defense, some so called ‘negative’ emotions may ride over whereas positive emotions are earned over with deliberation as they were evolved and not something, we were already born with.

The survival instinct was very predominant in primitive men. Perhaps, this might have led on to procreation to carry forward the legacy. The Sex (Kama) was the next instinct. With direct threat to survival, instinct of fear emerged. Out of this developed anger, (Krodha). Kama and Krodha are the emotions for the survival and existence. They were basic instincts of stone-age men and to some extent, they are also the essential requirements for the modern man.

Primitive man created defense mechanisms like attacks or weapons for self-protection. Realization of victory is what could have taken to greed (Lobha). A streak of success and supremacy was most likely grown into self-superiority (Mada). During this process of evolution, which must have continued for thousands years, the brain developed the limbic cortex over the initial reptile brain. With domination, what emerged could have been envy and affection, (Matsar, Maya). The process of thinking is associated with the emergence of cortex portion in the brain. The refinement of the emotions, both, good and bad, continued and so were feelings evolved. This was possible as the brain added layers of Neo- cortex to the cortex. Evolution from instincts to emotions is somewhat simultaneous to development of human brain. 

Emotional balance is a conscious effort: Ashtang Yoga by Patanjali shows the way. 

A human being is equipped with a brain with a phenomenal capacity to pursue both, good and bad things. We have seen that certain negative reactions or emotions could be impulsive because of fear and survival instincts. Nevertheless, rest of the emotions and feelings, from anger to envy are to do with human progress. In advanced form, they are cultivated and not something we were born with.

This is where proper conditioning and mental discipline come into play. Capacities of brain still largely remain unexplored.  The neurologists and the psychologists hold distinctly different views. With researches, new abilities and specialties of the human brain are being discovered.

         

Instinct based desires as above emerge and can form the basis of Karma. Intellect takes decisions on its intention and priority. In order to study the nature of intellect, let us see later how this is classified in different ways. The ways and means to achieve the conscious emotional balance are best explained in the eastern philosophy. Let us briefly go through these details in the articles to follow.

Vijay R. Joshi.

Progress from Fear to No-Fear (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 5)

Progress from desiring mind to the desire-less soul.

Four basic emotions can be termed as: Fear (भय). Anger (क्रोध), courage (धैर्य), Peace (शांती).

Normally we observe that anybody acquires fear and Anger in life naturally. You don't need any training / guidance to be equipped with these emotions. To have the virtues of Courage and Peace, normally, one has to do deliberate efforts. There are very few individuals who have the virtues of Courage and/or peace in-born.

Why?

In order to know the answer we have to turn to the process of evolution as explained by S. V. (also refer to EARLIER ARTICLES ON EVOLUTION  click here for the first article)

We shall see the views expressed by Swami Vijnananand when he guided the young seekers of Manashakti in 1990 on the desired direction of the research needed to find the truth behind the process of evolution. The book in Marathi “आपण असे का वागतो” (Why we behave like this?) gives his message. Here are some excerpts from chapter four of this book.

We have fear and anger engraved.

Why did fear and anger are engraved in human mind? How are they related to evolution? Basically, why should we have a desire to have this body (to take birth, to come to the stage of being)?

In the course of evolution, we came to this stage (human body) after wearing a variety of bodies (starting from amoeba to chimpanzee and several past human incarnations) in the past. We progressed to the human body by the route of evolution.

Sex is the original emotion. But fear and anger are also parts of human nature. Unless they were having a contribution in the evolution, fear and anger would have never come trekking along with the living being. They survived only because they were basically needed. Even rage is a tool of evolution.

How is rage related for the survival of the fittest? The one who was mighty, survived. Nature itself has the rule - might is right. Then to be powerful than others, rage is required.  We started to get revolutionized because of fear, to overcome the instinct of fear.

What is evolution?

The transformation which took place in the living organisms is the evolution. Darwin has stated that the meeting with Nature is proved by fight. The minute scripts or the portions of evolution should be understood well. They should be studied in deep.

Desire leads to Efforts. Efforts in turn lead to Victory or Defeat – this is the way the chain of development takes shape. So-called evolution is depending on desire.

In that chain, we used fear and anger as protective armors in the beginning. But they become harmful later as other feelings and shades of nature got mixed in.

How anger got associated with evolution.

The perspective in evolution being ‘survival of the fittest’, human beings had to struggle for living. This meant that they had to fight. In fear and anger, in both the places a fight - latent and evident- was the only difference...

There is basically a paradox (in life). It is there in laughter and tears, in fear and anger, in functionary and sensory organs, and in the inborn nature and in the one born out of experience… Though all of these are getting integrated, still, if you try to find the root of all this, you will have to go only to the process of evolution.

If you try to explore to the minutest then it can be seen that as your forms of mind went on playing with matter in the course of evolution, you went on taking one incarnation after another – you will also find the root of that manifestation of your nature, hidden somewhere in evolution. If that would be found in evolution, then the question that you will have in mind is, - has that been proved so far? We shall try to establish that link.

As you are all the time surrounded by some emotion, you are doing some or the other action using motion at every moment – you either utilize it in the right manner or the wrong one. If utilized properly, then it gives good results, at least in the material form. We call that as progress. When it has an ill effect we call that as downfall. But do the effects of this motion linger on in our personality, our body, our mind? You will have a question whether such a process really exists in reality. Then yes, there is indeed such a process.

It has not only happened in the present stage of the evolution but you have accumulated various experiences in your entire journey of evolution. Utilizing these experiences cumulatively, you were born. It is a truth that your nature was carved out of this. At the same time to prove this truth, you have to prove one more truth -- that, such a process exists in your life, it is in your anatomy, and we will have to arrive at it again.

This way the thread which leads us to evolution will be woven correctly, joining the contemporary with the past history.

Emotions acquired later in journey of evolution. 

  

The advanced emotions of Courage and Peace were acquired much later in the process of evolution. The primitive brain is the reptile brain.  As the brain developed its structure, it later acquired a limbic brain with a variety of advanced emotions. The brain also developed in to a thinking brain to take decision from available options in a given situation. The Neo-Cortex, which is relatively the most recent development in the brain evolution, has the capacity of apperception (the capacity to think on your own thoughts in terms of its merit).

In the journey of evolution, the emotion also evolved. The emotions of Courage and Peace are the relatively recent advancements. And that is why they are not engraved in our mind in the deepest manner as the original emotions of Fear and Anger are deep rooted.  The same cycle of brain development follows in the human life starting from one-cell conception prenatal stage to the fully grown brain by the stage of youth.

If at the moment of death if the mind is perfectly at peace, then it may travel to the destination of Bliss. If it is not at peace and is rest-less surrounded by some or the other desires, then logically it ought to opt for rebirth to fulfill the left-over desires.

Comments: The process of Epigenetics says that the behaviour at any moment in the life is the cumulative effect of nature and nurture. The process starts at the stage of conception but even the period of pre-conception can't be ruled out. Swami Vijnananand states that the process started from the moment life started on the earth when mind got associated with matter.

The desire to associate of course is the property of mind.

The progress from ‘fear’ to ‘no-fear’ (peace) stage is the progress from desiring mind to the desire-less soul. And acquiring that state of mind should be the objective of the human life. To the extent the life purpose is elevated, this objective can be achieved.

The intellect is the vital tool behind the purpose for the decisions taken at each moment. Let us see the working of intellect in more details later.

Vijay R. Joshi.

WE MAKE OUR OWN DESTINY (KNOW YOUR DEATH - 4)

The Karma-Chakra is created by our own decisions.

For Understanding the actions of mind through brain (creation of the Karma-Chakra), following two links are important. We shall try to examine the role of mind in the life.

Mind, a storehouse of emotions, is a key factor, like an owner of a vehicle, which can have control over the driver and vehicle. However, brain just like a driver, though an employed driver of mind, has a direct control only on the vehicle. The body is just like a vehicle, a medium. Though the impact of emotion equally affects the body and the mind, its effects on the mind are not always visible. To an extent, the brain could be called a connecting link between the two as it physically carries out mind functions.

Inside the brain, emotions, (processed / un-processed by thoughts), can light up the action. The emotion associated with limbic brain (emotional brain) is many times so strong that it does not allow the cortex (thinking brain) to process it. But in normal case the emotional signal gets processed before the action is initiated. The action at each moment taken in the life has the origin in the emotional instinct and thinking rationale.

We create our own destiny.

If you feel you are destined to be unfortunate / fortunate, never forget it’s up to you how to shape your destiny. It’s necessary for us to own up everything. If we take the onus for something wrong, we can always set it right. As this famous saying goes:

Watch your emotions / desires, as one of it becomes your action.

Watch your actions, they become habits;

Watch your habits, they become character; (This is the process of forming sub-conscious mind based on the individual behaviour each moment.)

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

 Mind: Storehouse of thoughts, desires, emotions. Thoughts are shaped here based on desires and intellect.

Intellect: Decides the course of action owing to thoughts

Body: Carries out action as per the diktats of intellect

Habits: Repeated actions form habits.

Character: Accumulated habits reflect character.

Destiny: - The cumulative effect of the behaviour.

Our mind gets emotions. Where from they arise? Can you tell what will be the wishes you will feel in next 10 minutes? There is a famous sentence. “If I wish I can smoke a cigar, but I can’t wish to wish!” (In the earlier blog we have seen that past karma is the basis of your desires/emotions)

Out of several wishes lingering at any moment, we pick up one and go for action to fulfill it. 

Who guides this selection? And what is the underlying motives? Our intellect does this selection and mostly it is the motive of self-interest is the influencing factor. This selection results in an action. Repeated actions form habits. The bunch of habits acquired over time form the character. This process at each moment and each step creates imprints in brain/body cells. These accumulated imprints form the subconscious mind which again has influence on our decision making. Thus the accumulated behaviour based on the character results in the destiny at any given moment. And you get wishes as destined.

So for good destiny the bearing directly lies with the “intellect”; (which is accountable for the karma of each moment, please see the chart above). A good decision by an intellect will be helpful for good action, and subsequently for forming habit, character and destiny in that order. The reverse is the result in case of the bad decision. So the formation of the destiny (we may say the Karmic Account) is dependent on the Intellect which decides the Karma.

Training and conditioning of intellect is of the utmost importance as everything depends on this. This is the real knowledge also should be the purpose of education. Once it’s ensured, the rest is assured.

At each and every moment as the desires crop-up in mind, the intellect decides which desires to be preferred for action. This is a vital step as it later goes on to shape the destiny. The intellect has to take a good decision to shape the destiny properly. The intellect has to be nurtured based on knowledge right from the early stage of life. This should be the basis of education.

The theory of karma harps on the Newtonian principle that every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Normally a person acts for pleasure which results in the opposite act of dis-pleasure. Every time we think or do something, we create a cause, which in time will bear its corresponding effects. It is the intellect of a human being with its positive and negative actions - that causes karma. As the process of doing karma goes on and on with the journey of life the karma Chakra is designed resulting in creation of the available options (i.e. the desires) for the future. (For details refer to my book “Learn to Mind your Mind” published by M.R.C.)

Let us tress the evolution of the basic desires and the instincts behind them as human being evolved from the one-cell amoeba. (Thus the instinct behind the desires which crop-up in the mind which is the basis of the karma Chakra).

Vijay R. Joshi.