h
dhanesvara das
healer, social economist, spiritual teacher, speaker and monk
Consciousness is at the root of everything
that we do. It is consciousness that
determines whether we will establish an
economy that exploits people or serves
them. It is consciousness that determines
whether to exploit commodity markets for
profit at the cost of widespread suffering. It
is consciousness that determines whether
we solve our differences with violence
or mutual respect and discussion. Every
one of our actions is determined by our
consciousness, therefore to understand
consciousness and how it is affected is
imperative to creating a good and proper
civilization, a NewEarth Nation.
Reincarnating lifetime after lifetime, for
thousands and millions of incarnations has
made each of us who we are. The impressions of each life, or samskaras, are carried
with us from one life to the next, and thus
we show our unique personalities from the
beginning of infancy. Our personalities are
formed by the experiences we’ve had, the
people we’ve been with, and the activities
we’ve engaged in. We are, in one sense, the
sum total of our experiences, and this is
expressed as our consciousness.
As we all know our experiences make
different impressions on us ~ some uplifting
us and fostering our growth ~ while others
bring darkness, despair and even destruction. The variety of these effects have been
classified by the ancients according to their
influence, under the heading of gunas, and
are explained in spiritual texts of the Vedas.
Guna is a Sanskrit word that I translate as
“consciousness determinants” as the gunas
influence our consciousness. The word itself
however is translated in many ways. One
translation is ‘ropes’, a word chosen for the
nature of these influences. Just as a person
tied with ropes is controlled by them, the
gunas are unseen and unfelt influences
that exert strong influences on consciousness, almost forcing us to act in predictable
ways, ways that we have become accustomed to. Other translations are ‘quality’,
‘attribute’, or ‘property’ of all created things.
The gunas are a subtle action of nature
that operate not on the physical aspects of
nature, but on consciousness. Like electromagnetic energies, they are ever-present
and imperceptible, constantly exerting
their influences on our choices, behaviours,