chitta shuddhi

Ravisankar S. Mayavaram msr at ISC.TAMU.EDU
Tue Jul 14 09:51:02 CDT 1998


namaste

After reading Rama's post I thought about it for a while. This is my
understanding. Please correct me.

There are totally four components, related to what we call Mind in
English.

manas   Perceiving faculty
buddhi  Intellect or discriminating faculty
chitta  where the impressions are formed (like sa.nskAras , vAsanas)
aha.nkAram      That which created the I feeling or ego.


chitta shuddi means cleaning/getting rid of the bad sa.nskAras and
replacing them by good sa.nskAras.  It the bad sa.nskAras which form the
habits and make a man slave to habits. good sa.nskAras do not put a man
into such a terrible bond. But still it is also habit forming, in a weaker
sense. By chitta shuddhi we clean the dirt of bad sa.nskAras.

Best is to act based on wisdom than based on habits. chitta shuddhi may
aid this process, but will not directly provide it. For that one has
contemplate and meditate deeply. It is j~nAna which destroys the ego and
everythings else, ultimately like the kaTaka nut lets the self shine by
itself.

Thanks for Rama for his useful postings.

With respects,
Ravi

O Divine Mother, Guide my actions by Thy unerring wisdom. May not I become
a slave of blind habits.



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