Q: How does one deal with strong vasanas / desires?
A: Vasanas – Product of past unintelligent actions
Past actions – present vasanas
Vasanas manifest as thoughts and desires pushing you out into the world of experience.
Antidote to vasanas is Wisdom
When one has wisdom, you will be able to control one’s desires or rise above them with your intellect.
Knowledge
Solution – Two pedals to gain wisdom
Withdrawal (Reflection)
Knowledge without withdrawal = No self-control / Guilt
Withdrawal without knowledge = Frustration
Knowledge / Wisdom
Vasanas can be exhausted
Experience
Whenever the mind entertains desire, let intellect checkmate it by postponing / dismissing it. Time would come you cannot withstand. At that point of having reached the threshold of containing the desire, get into experience cautiously, objectively.
You are using experience not to indulge or revel in sense enjoyment but only as a means to release the pressure caused by withdrawal. One who revels in sense enjoyment is a bhogi. One who wants to transcend the desire is a yogi.
Meanwhile, carry on the process of gaining knowledge and withdrawal with sufficient spiritual sadhana; the world of sense objects would lose its charm and no longer distract you. Thus wisdom burns away vasanas.
If you withdraw totally, it will frustrate you. If you are amidst sense objects, you will not be able to consolidate your knowledge into wisdom. So when you gather knowledge, you should withdraw into an environment where you can reflect and contemplate. It becomes a conducive soil for sadhana. When you withdraw, you will have more opportunity to gain knowledge. The more knowledge you gain, back it up with withdrawal. These two pedals of knowledge and withdrawal will help you gain enough strength to keep a check on your vasanas. While you are gaining knowledge and withdrawing, your vasanas may frustrate you. When frustration kicks in, go out into the world and experience it. You must rightly proportion knowledge and withdrawal. It varies to each individual. Cleansing your inner personality is a constant process.
Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 3 Verse 7
यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन ।
कर्मेन्द्रियैः कर्मयोगमसक्तः स विशिष्यते ॥
yastvindriyāṇi manasā niyamyārabhatē’rjuna ।
karmēndriyaiḥ karmayōgamasaktaḥ sa viśiṣyatē ॥
But whosoever, controlling the senses by mind, O Arjuna, engages his organs of action in yoga of action (Karma yoga) without attachment, he excels.
This verse gives you how to exhaust your vasanas with experience. When you control the mind and engage in action without attachment, you excel. You are mentally withdrawn but physically engaged. You act in the spirit of karma yoga.
When you revel in action, you become a materialist or sensualist.
This mantra is talking to people who are a victim of their vasanas.
Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 3 Verse 6
कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् ।
इन्द्रियार्थान्विमूढात्मा मिथ्याचारः स उच्यते ॥ 6 ॥
karmēndriyāṇi saṃyamya ya āstē manasā smaran ।
indriyārthānvimūḍhātmā mithyāchāraḥ sa uchyatē ॥ 6 ॥
He who, restraining the organs of action, sits mentally revelling in the sense objects, he, of deluded understanding, is called a hypocrite.
Physically restraining and mentally indulging is a hypocrite.
