23. Replant The Seeds Of Samskaras

We have often heard Enlightened Masters tell people, 'You create your own world. You create your own world. You create your own realities.'

Does that mean that we have so much power over our lives? Be clear! We have absolute power to create our own realities. We create our hell and heaven through our Samskaras.

This Sanskrit word, Samskara, can be loosely translated as imprint or impression. These words are incomplete and the closest way to explain and understand the word samskara is to call it 'emotion filled memories.' Grasp this idea of Samskara. This is a powerful idea with power to transform our life.

Samskara is created if there is a hangover of the activity we undertake. When we think of the event- fondly or otherwise- long after it is over, and want to recreate it again and again, then we are creating samskara.

Let us say we enjoy coffee. When we are faced with a difficult task we immediately think of it. Soon, we begin to drink coffee when we need to do difficult things. We are unconsciously linking the joy of drinking coffee and the difficult task. We do this act repeatedly and in the end it seems that we cannot live without drinking coffee.

We create a Samskara when an idea or habit is imprinted in our mind. Samskara has a powerful potential energy to make us do the same thing again. People tell, 'Master, exactly at 10 O'clock at night, wherever I am, I am reminded of drinking. I am not able to control. I am just being pulled. My mind simply decides. I go to the bar.' This is a samskara.

Samskaras are powerful. They are like gun powder sprinkled throughout our being. When the time comes it simply pulls us, so we almost have no choice. It pulls us to do the same thing again and again. When we repeat an act, samskara get deeper. It is a vicious circle.

'Doing' makes a samskara and repeating the deed makes it deeper. Having

samskara makes us do things, doing things makes the samskara deeper.

Understand that we create samskaras every time we do not decide consciously. When we decide to live consciously, life happens to us. Don't think life happens to us when we are born. When we are born, only the seed, the potentiality of life is given to us, never life itself. Creating our world is our choice.

Do an act with awareness is the best way to replant the seeds of samskara. Try it the whole day today.