Karma and Latent Tendencies (Samskaras).

By Matsya Avatara Dasa

A specific branch of psychology studies the interpretation of the “not verbal language” , according to their studying the communication of a message, beyond the meaning of the words, draws attention to the analysis of gestual speech or morphological forms that associate with it.

Therefore it is important in our relationship with the others, to understand body language by learning to recognize the emotions depicted on the face, the intonation of the voice, the hand gestures, the sound, the look, the inclination of the mouth; even the tiniest detail, if observed with attention, is a sign of communication, it is a message that describes a type of personality which we can read as an open book.

The first attempt in order to observe these forms of communication is to acquire a good listening and learning skill from people who have more wisdom and experience than us, in the study of mankind. We ought to search in ourselves and in the people around us these taught acquisitions by practsing, so as to personally experience their genuiness, rather than denying the truthfulness.

Entering our psychological dynamics and those of the others, to analyze and understand them with a good comprehension of the the human nature, is a fundamental and precious ability to overcome attachments. In order to achieve that target it is required a lot of maturity, competence and experience. Occasionally, in fact, by walking the path of mankind inner universe, we run the risk to come across a latent nervous or psycho tendency and that is very dangerous because it can show up in the form of a strong disruptive and self destroying energy.

When a person is uncomfortable, has feelings of revenge or evilness against the others and such behaviours look apparently unexplained, do not think it is actually so: karma is not incomprehensive. We may not explain its behaviour with our understanding of things, but there are deep and remote reasons which make things happen. Karmic seeds may rest untouched in the subconscious for thousands of years, for centuries, for decades. Layers of time cover Karma without playing an influence on it, because Karma has no phisical Mass. From time to time, we may receive an exaggerate, negative reaction compared to the actual damage we have done; according to the Law of Physic, Static and Dynamic, if we punch a wall we provoke an equal reaction in the opposite direction, but if often happens that the reaction is 10, 20, 100 times stronger, in that case we are facing a problem rooted in the past, even though we may not be able to recognize it at first sight.

Indovedic Psychology texts teach that we can and must transform our karma! We have to transform our energies, neither remove nor destroy them, as it could happen. We must not suppress our uncomfortable feelings, as induced by psychopharmacy or suggested by certain behaviorists who hide the problems without solving them. However it is necessary to reconcile / convert and sublimate mental and emotional meanings, otherwise they will stay hidden in the subconscious as buried bombs, which will then explode, showing off in the form of physical diseases or psychological pathologies, producing, sooner or later, great sufferance and often depression too. Apparently it happens without a specific cause, but we know that in reality there is an unconscious cause.

We should not be concerned to the big karmic changes of our life only; it is misleading to think that in order not to have karmic reactions, it would be enough to get rid of the most negative sides of our behaviour and personality, the most visible ones only. As a matter of fact even the tiniest seed can grow up as a huge tree, therefore small things, even the easiest mistakes ought to be noticed and corrected by healing the original frame of mind, which otherwise can plant deep roots and progressively drag the subject in a self destroyng dynamic.

If the behaviorists studied the unconscious mechanisms related to karmic reactions accumulated from previous lives, their studying would be of greater value instead of limiting their attention to mechanical reactions which depend from stimulus-answer processes that can be observed in the specific behaviour of a subject.

Psychologists should unveil “hidden” psychological objects, locked in the subconscious, as if they were archaeologists who dig up wrecks through excavations, to report outstanding discoveris.

The same as latent psychological and nervous tendencies, there are latent behavioural features that can pop up and become effective, according to circumnstances favourable to them. For istance, if there is a tendency to homosexuality, even a short episode, a simple approach or contact may activate this propension, which can become not only as strong as a wave, but as huge as a tzunami, overflowing. Similarly, if a person has an inclination for stealing, having done it in the past, thousands of lives before, even a small, innocent act of stealing is enough to awake such tendency and be jeopardized / slaved by that old habit.

Latent tendencies can be rehabilitated fast and developed easily, no matter how old they are; they are like fire burning under ash: if it is not extinguished thoroughly it will become more dangerous. According to Indovedic literature, each action creates more actions leading to still more desires and actions. This process carries with it the seed of a greater problem. It is (in short) the meaning of the concept of karma which is usually explained superficially. However it is a complex mechanism consisting of powerful and decisive dynamics, even though unseen by most of people. It is therefore fundamental for each of us to pay attention to the quality of dreams, thoughts and actions (acting is a natural consequence of our desires and thoughts), even the smallest adharma activities which brake the cosmo-ethic order of the universe, can hit the bombs hidden in the subconscious. They are a disaster because they are loaded with an explosive powerful energy and we are not aware of them.

Great efford, accuracy and precision are required to defuse a bomb. As there are theatre-war territories full of bombs scattered all over the ground, which can occasionally explode, causing damages and wounded victimes; there are no less harmfull bombs of different nature in the subconscious too.

Latent nervous disturbances are overcoated by other tendencies and karma, but if you hit them, just like hitting a bomb, the whole karma explodes at once, as if you light a bottle of alchool inside a warehouse (the subconscious) to blow fire all over the place.

Latent nervous disturbances can be awaken if you take part to spiritic ceremonies or the likes: it is therefore suggested to avoid researches and experiments in occult sciences made by pure curiosity because they carry negative consequences if they are not handled appropriately. By all means, if we want to make a journey into the mind, it is better to avoid the self approach “do it yourself”.

For this purpoce, according to Indovedic Psychology, the Visual Meditation Psychotherapy is a very important and efficient technique to purify the subconscious. Nevertheless the therapysts have to grow: sensibility, competence, experience, inner vision to handle psychological dynamics successfully.

In order to control nervous disturbances or even worst latent psycho disturbances, it is fundamental to make a good selection of the people we associate and share our life with, because people play a great influence. The human mind works as a radio device, continuosly receiving and sending pieces of information, energies, impulses, emotions, and it is a must to choose the quality of energies we want to get in touch with. For istance, we ought to stay away from degraded, untrue, mean people because by staying away we avoid their influence on us; only by obstructing their contagious influence we can hope to offer them help, if they are willing to accept it.

Compassion, known as Christian charity, is a noble quality to develop and it may also work as a deterrant, in fact we are not attracted with morbosity by the things we feel compassion for.

A psychotherapist will not be able to help and heal people if he lacks of compassion: if a therapist wants to enter deeply into the human soul and stimulate a progressive transformation in the personality of the patient, in order to be successful, he needs to adopt spiritual qualities (Caitanya Caritamrita describes 26 fundamental qualities) based on yama and niyama, detachment from all that contaminates the mind, even occasional habits, or the developing of negative tendencies, and simultaneously the practice of actions which are needed to elevate the conscience, like meditation and deeds offered to the Divine Entity, for the welfare of everyone.

Bhakti Yoga is equally blended with meditation, action, adoration and contemplation. Through contemplation and action, all our affectionate activities should be addressed to elevated targets and values, reaching devotional service to God. Acarya are the great Masters of Tradition, whose lives are an example to teach us how to do it; they are like drops of love into human bodies. We ought to learn to look at the world with their own eyes and follow their examples, looking at the people around us as spiritual souls, potentially healthy and luminous, only temporary darkened by the conditions of nature, but it is to their spiritual essence that we need to look and inspire our relationships and lives at.

According to the Bhaktirasamrita Sindhu and Bhakti texts, meditation is a very efficient practice, progressively able to unroot any karmic seed, if properly done with consciousness and affectionate human presence, without stumbling on parallel adharma activities, contrary to the cosmo-ethic order. Humbleness and gratitude regarded to our Masters, whose lives are completely devoted to God and the Wellness of all human beings, and the spiritual teachings which direct us towards the reintegration of personality and devine enlightment, protect us from the risk to make mistakes and offences, helping us to focus the greatness of conscience and the treasure of wisdom we received from them.

The works of Indovedic Tradition remind us that life in the form of a human being is a rare opportunity and it is a privilage.

As a way to describe this rarity the Buddhist texts and the Puranas use the metaphor of a sea turtle who lives in the submarine for years and then, swimming to the ocean surface, extraordinaryly puts her head in the hole of a floating, wooden bar. Living in a human body is an exclusive opportunity to be proud of, it happens to just a few among billions of living creatures.

The human form is the only one able to investigate on the nature of the real Self, on the purpoce and meaning of life, enabling us to distinguish between good and bad / well and evel, between light and dark, between knowledge and oblivion.

An easy mistake is enough to start a chain of further mistakes; every shift from the right path may look small and irrelevant, but it takes you progressively even further untill the loss of the sense of direction and the loss of one’s way. The human form is not given for granted, even the tiniest mistake caused by a wrong attitude, can make us fall backwards to the bottom of the evolutionary scale.

With a handful of straw we can light up a fire in a forest made of thousand years old trees, a huge tree is born from a small seed; likewise an apparent, insignificant mistake – if not corrected in time – can be the cause of dangerous consequences. It works by a scientific principle, in the same way that both the Laws of Nature and Psyque work. It is always a good practice to look at the consequences of what we think, desire and most of all what we want to do. Our strength is our consciousness, for Devine Grace, our tendencies and our karma can be modified by means of Bhakti, the superior science which creates an alchemy for all energies to be converted on a superior level, towards a high purpoce that ultimates in devotion and love for the Creator, the Universe and all living creatures. In this way even the most selfish requests can be sublimated and trascended. The Supreme Love is the instrument for our elevation and at the same time, in its perfect wholeness and purity, it is the highest target to reach in life.