Dynamics

TOWARDS A MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF SPIRITUALITY BASED ON ADVAITAVEDANTA

(Part IV):

VASANAS AND SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

-

Raju Chidambaram, Ph.D

.

ABSTRACT

Vasanas are the driving force determining the thought, desires, actions, and experience of a jeeva. As such they must necessarily play a key role in any complete theory of spirituality. In this paper, we propose the concept of Vasana Function V(x,t) definedover a spectrum, x, ranging from 0 to 1 as the basis for incorporating vasanas into amathematical theory of spirituality. The proposed concept is consistent with Hinduism’sspiritual lore, especially

Kundalini Yoga

. Using this concept, the paper-

defines the “size” and “shape” characteristics of the V(x,t) and their spiritualsignificance as “level of awareness” and “relative values”-

develops energy equations relating to the in-ward and outward flow of the jeeva’smind-

discusses spiritual evolution as the “re-shaping of vasana function”-

constructs an equation representing spiritual detachment

θ

(t) in terms of V(x,t)

1

-

discusses how vasanas influence a jeevas desires, actions, and experience-

derives a mathematical expression for the “suffering” of a jeeva in terms of itslevel of awareness, expectations, and spiritual detachment; and finally-

shows how the above expression is consistent with the basic techniques in ourscriptures to reduce suffering.The paper concludes with an acknowledgment of the important reverse process yet to beexamined in detail: How the vasana function is reshaped by life’s experiences and

sadhanas

.

THE DYNAMICS OF SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

Previous papers in this series discussed spiritual detachment over time, denoted by

θ

(t),and its relation to suffering and

moksha

(salvation) of a jeeva (Ref 2). The discussionnaturally leads to the question: what determines the spiritual detachment of a jeeva and itsevolution over time? That is, what are the cause-effect mechanisms determining thechanges in

θ

(t)?Our scriptures discuss this question exhaustively giving very valuable insights into theprocess of spiritual evolution as well as very many practical guidelines for a jeevadesirous of moksha. Knowledge of the complementary paths of karma yoga, bhakti yoga,and jnana yoga, along with the underlying karma theory, provide a solid basis on whichto build an understanding of the evolutionary process.The process of spiritual evolution involves complex interactions among numeroussubjective psychological factors. Developing a comprehensive mathematical model of this process is no doubt a daunting task. What is presented below is but a suggestion for

1

θ

(t) as defined and extensively used in Parts I, II, and III of this series

one possible way to approach the problem in a manner consistent with Vedanticteachings.

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF A JEEVA

Jeevas lead, as it were, two lives simultaneously: a worldly or material life (

laukika

) anda spiritual (

adhyatmic

) life. Our material life involves worldly transactions in order tosatisfy the many demands and obligations we have at the body, mind, and intellect levels.The spiritual life, of which spiritual detachment is a major characteristic, is defined byour understanding of who we are, what the world is, and our role in the world. Truehappiness is based on this spiritual life rather than the material life.Though the two aspects of our selves are to a degree distinct, they do interact constantly,mainly at the level of mind and intellect. The choices we make as we transact in thematerial world reflect the values (

vasanas or samskaras

) entertained by our spiritual self.Conversely, the transactions with the world bring diverse experiences such as happinessand sorrow, fame and dishonor or pain and pleasure. Reflection upon these experiencesreshapes the

vasanas

. We learn from personal experiences and also from experiences of others around us, slowly changing our inner personality. Most important in this regardare the scriptures, based as they are on the insights and experiences of generations of seers.

THE VASANA SPECTRUM

The worldly life of a jeeva can be conceived of as a continuous series of transactions eachgenerally consisting of three phases:

wishing, willing (i.e acting), and experiencing

.Typically, though not necessarily, the three phases occur in sequence: our actions arebased on what we wish and what we experience are the results of our action. There areexceptions to this rule. A wish is not always followed by action, remaining merely as athought instead. Similarly, what we experience at times is determined by the actions of others with no input from ourselves.Vasanas play a part in all three phases of a transaction, but in different ways. The numberand variety of vasanas potentially affecting a jeeva in its daily activities are far too manyand diverse to be neatly cataloged or listed exhaustively. Yet we need to find a way toaddress them in some systematic way in order to build a conceptual model.One way to accomplish this is to conceive the totality of vasanas as a “spectrum” rangingfrom the “lowest vasana” to the “highest vasana”. Vedanta philosophy does help to agreat extent in defining this spectrum. At the lowest level are vasanas which have to dowith merely appeasing the needs of the gross body by such actions as eating, sleeping,mating, and generally catering to a jeeva’s bodily comfort. A jeeva with only suchvasanas is in the lowest rung of spiritual evolution, a level that is non-distinct from onenormally associated with animals and plants.It is safe to say that most human beings have vasanas which are “higher” than the abovepurely gross-body oriented ones. There are vasanas at the subtle body (mind and intellect)level which impel a jeeva to seek wealth, power and knowledge and gain satisfaction in

entertainment, education, arts, games etc. The colorful history of human beings bearstestimony to the power of these vasanas. Truly human traits such as appreciation of beauty, curiosity, etc also manifest because of these vasanas.Then there are vasanas that appeal to a jeeva’s sense of identification with progressivelylarger groups such as family, community, nation, and finally the entire universe of beings. Larger the group identified with, broader is the vision of the jeeva and “higher”the associated vasanas. Noble traits, such as altruistic love, sacrifice, self-less work, andphilanthropy, are the results.Further up the scale are vasanas that speak to the spiritual self of the jeeva. Propelled bythese, the jeeva seeks Truth regarding its own self and the world around it. It practicesvarious

saadhana

s as a means to realize the truth. At the very highest level of thespectrum are divine vasanas- if they can be called vasanas- because of which the jeeva,detaching itself from mind and matter and everything subtle and gross, seeks abidance inthe Self that is beyond these dualities.Fig 1 is a representation of the vasana spectrum along a vertical line with the bottom of the line representing the lowest vasana and the top representing the highest vasana. Weassume, based on the above brief description, that all vasanas affecting jeevas can berepresented by a point on this line. Further, without loss of generality, we may assign thevalue zero to the lowest point of this line segment and 1 to the highest so that all vasanascan be assigned a value x, in the range (0,1).

(2)

“Higher” the vasana, closer is its value to1.

THE VASANA FUNCTION V(x,t)

The Vasana Function is a key concept that reflects the fact that the vasanas affecting a jeeva change with time and that multiple vasanas can be at work at any given time.

2

Subsequently a more specific meaning will be attributed to the variable x justifying this choice.

Fig 1: The Vasana Spectrum

x: (0,1)

01

x : v a s a n a s

Tamasic/Gross-Body Related

: selfish, indulgent,ignorant of larger needs, dull, low energy level of Pure Consciousness.

Color:

Black

Rajasic/Subtle-Body Related

: Enterprise,Power, Honor, Wealth. Medium energy level of Pure Consciousness.Color: