Notes for Study Circle Participants

Composition of Man

(1) What does man want?

He wants happiness. Therefore there is a desire in him all the time. Desire-in some
form or other –is the real motivating force behind man’s every action, emotion and
thought. There is nothing man does without some desire behind it. And that desire,
whatever its form, is to obtain and enjoy.

(2) Through what means does man experience anything?

There are the objects of the world and he can perceive, or experience the stimuli from
the material world only through his five senses. The organs of perception through
which he receives the stimuli from the objects as sensations (seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, and touching) are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the skin. Thus man
can experience the objects of the world only through the five senses and in this search
for happiness he gratifies his sensual desires as much as he can. Thus man is deluded
into thinking that happiness which he experiences by gratification of the five senses is
real and much to be desired. But alas! the happiness he enjoys by gratifying the senses
is transient.

(3) Why is this so?

Let us, first of all, see what happens to any stimulus which man receives; the objects
of the world, which is material, “falls on” the appropriate organ of perception which
in its turn conveys the stimulus to the mind. The mind is also matter but it is more
subtle than the body. The mind passes on the stimulus to the intellect.

The intellect is more subtle than the mind. The intellect has the power of
discrimination (or reasoning) and this faculty is present only in man, and this intellect
is what makes man superior to animals.Discrimination is the ability to distinguish
between good and bad, right and wrong etc.
The stimulus is received by the intellect which then makes the decision, passes it on to
the mind which, in its turn, conveys it to the body. The body carries out the necessary
action.

(4) Before going any further, could any one know what the “life force” is?

Let us first take electricity as an example. Electricity is the same energy which,
passed through apparatuses like the cooker, refrigerator, fan, radio, TV, air
conditioner and iron, produces heat, cold, current of air, sound, pictures etc, But the
electricity is one. It is only the apparatus which is different. Electricity then manifests
differently through the different apparatus.
Similarly, there is the one “Life Force” flowing through plants, animals and man. It is
only the apparatus which is different.. Similarly also this life force can manifest only
when permitted to flow through any given apparatus.

(5) We know the difference between plants, animals and man. We also realise
that man has a body, mind and intellect. If all human beings have these same

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Notes for Study Circle Participants

three vehicles of experience and the same “life force” flowing through them, why
is it that no two persons react to the same stimulus in the same manner?

This is a logical and a vital question. It is true that reactions of people to the same
stimuli are different. We can think of any number of examples. (Eye witnesses to an
incident or an accident the descriptions of the incident or accident given in court are
never the same.
The answer lies in the fact that every person reacts to each stimulus only according to
his past experience. The memory of the past experiences or memories form the
inherent tendencies in the individual. This conditions the individual to react to a
particular stimulus only in a particular manner. These experiences or tendencies are in
Vedanta, called “ vasanas”.

Thus it is the vasanas which are responsible for the individuality of each person and
hence the different reactions of people to the same stimulus.
The Vasanas are a bundle of tendencies or desires which drive man to think, feel and
act according to the nature of the vasanas. Thus it would be perfectly right to say that
a man is what he is because of his vasanas.

Let us consider where the body, mind and intellect find their fields or sources of
stimuli or experiences. The body contains the organs of perception and hence it is the
perceiver: the mind feels and it is the feeler: the intellect thinks and it is the thinker.
Thus man comes to believe that he is the perceiver-feeler-thinker. This gives him the
experience of “I perceive’, I feel, I think,” This Perceiver-I, Feeler I- , Thinker-I,
together form what is called the ego, the sense of individuality, the entity in the
person.

The perceiver can gather his stimulus only from the field of objects: the Feeler can
gather his experiences only from the field of emotions and Thinker can gather his
experiences only from the field of thoughts..

(6). Can this composition of Man be schematically shown?

Yes, please see the diagram shown below.

OM

Vasanas

Body. Mind Intellect

Perceiver Feeler Thinker

Objects Emotions Thoughts

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Notes for Study Circle Participants

(7) What is the Om placed above the Vasanas?

The Om represents the supreme, God, Brahman,

(8) Does it mean that the Vasanas stand between man and God?

Exactly’. The Vasanas stand for the “iron curtain” which seems to be an almost
insurmountable barrier between each individual and God. Each individual has his ego.
You can easily understand that, if the vasanas are removed, then it will become self-
evident to the ego that ego itself is nothing other than Om or God.

(9) How to eliminate the Vasanas?

Now begins the real purpose of all religions. The whole purpose of religion is the
exhaustion, or purgation, of the vasanas in each individual through self-discipline.

Before we go further, we must examine the effects of the vasanas on a person. The
vasanas are a bundle of desires. They “exert” pressure on the mind and intellect to
satisfy the desires so that the ego can enjoy and be happy by doing so. This enjoyment
and happiness can be obtained from the fields of the objects, emotions and thoughts.
And the body must act to satisfy such “ego-centric” desires.

(10) What is meant by “Ego-centric” desires?

Any desires which satisfies and pleases the ego or “I” and “Mine” sense in man.

(11) What is wrong in gratifying such desires?

First of all, there is no end to desire possibilities. No sooner is one “ego-centric”

desire satisfied, than many others crop up in its place. Therefore, desires continually
crop up and, when one cannot be satisfied, there comes unhappiness in the form of
mental agitations. As we have already mentioned, Vasanas create desires in the
intellect and they in their turn cause agitations of the mind. The agitations of the mind
cause loss of discrimination of the intellect. Hence the “thoughtless” action inevitable
remorse when actions have been performed under sudden emotional impulses.

The other important aspect of gratifying desires is that the satisfaction or happiness
gained never lasts long. It is merely transient or temporary. Man seeks a permanent
physical happiness, and peace of mind and spiritual bliss. Therefore, in order to obtain
this the body, mind and intellectual must be in harmony with the objects, emotions
and thoughts. In the ordinary man, these are not in harmony. Moreover, both exist and
function within the field of TIME and therefore they must always change. Naturally
they can never be in harmony for long. This leads to unhappiness in man.

(12) Then how can man discover his happiness? In other words, how can he
achieve his goal of permanent and unending happiness, peace and bliss? What is
it which prevents him from achieving that goal? How can man rid himself of that
obstruction or barrier to such permanent happiness, peace and bliss?

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Notes for Study Circle Participants

We have already found that man seeks for a permanent happiness, peace and bliss.
What prevents him from achieving that goal is the lack of harmony between the mind
and the intellect, and the vasanas , which exert pressure on the mind and intellect. He
must purge the Vasanas and “tune” up his mind-intellect part of his personally to the
Higher in order to achieve his Goal. It stands to reason, does it not? If the mind is
agitated by desire, then man is not happy. Desire is created or induced first in the
intellect by the Vasanas. Therefore, if the person exhausts his Varanasi, and thereby
ends all his ego-centric desires, his intellect and mind will be undisturbed. Serenity, or
an unagitated mind, confers happiness.

(13).How can one exhausts or purges oneself of the Vasanas? Then will the ego
(Perceiver-Feeler-Thinker) realize that it is nothing but the Om, the infinite God
Himself, will it not?

Yes! If the Vasanas are eliminated, then the ego will realize that the OM is the true
Self. This is what is called “Enlightenment”!. Such an Enlightened Person will never
be subject to the influence, or the pressure of the Vasanas; he will then have Eternal
happiness, peace, and bliss.

Let us recapitulate two important facts:-

(a) Ego-centric (“I want” or “I desire” type of) desire gather or create more Vasanas.
Without ego-centric (selfish) action, the Vasanas decrease. With increasing egoless
actions, the Vasanas exhaust themselves more and more.

(b) The less the Vasanas , the less the pressure on the mind-intellect and thus less
and less desires for the worlds of objects-emotions-thoughts’.

Since man has these three main equipments namely body, mind and intellect, he must
use these very equipment to exhaust his Vasanas. He must perform selfless actions,
entertain selfless emotions and maintain selfless thoughts so that his actions, emotions
and thoughts do not add to his present load of Vasanas , but actually exhaust them. He
must also “tune up” his mind-intellect factor so that they are in harmony with the
world of objects, emotions and thoughts.

(14) Is there a common method applicable to the whole of mankind?

No!. Vedanta describes mankind as belonging to four different types. This was arrived
at as the result of deep study and classification by the Rishis or Sages of very ancient
times.
The four types are as follows:--

(a) Intellectual type: These are type of people who are governed by their “head”
having no heart. They have no place for emotions, and they believe only in logical
arguments and scientific investigations. Therefore, the way or path for them to follow
in order to exhaust their Vasanas is through Knowledge. This path is called “Gyana
Yoga”

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Notes for Study Circle Participants

(b) Emotional type: His heart rules him and he must have an object to pour out his
emotions, and his path for exhaustion of his Vasanas is through “Devotion”. In
Vedanta it is described as the path of Devotion or “Bhakti Yoga”
.
(c) Both equally developed (the composite type); Exhaustion of Vasanas for such a
type of seekers is through selfless actions and it is called the Path of Action or
“Karma Yoga”.
A true seeker should not jump to the conclusion that these three are mutually
excluding factors. Each is not separate from the others. To every one of them the
other two are complementary. In short, the paths of Devotion (Bhakti) Action
(Karma) and the knowledge (Gyana) are to be practised in synthesis although each
student may take one or the other of them as his main path, according to the
subjective mental temperament.

(d) Both not so well developed; to this type of person the path of “Hatha Yoga” is
prescribed in which physical postures and breathing exercises are practised. These
help them in discipline and in developing the dominant trait in them. However, the
prescribing exercises should be done under the guidance of a competent Master or
Guru.