Yogis believed that this cycle of birth and rebirth in human form was innately driven by all things delusional. (Learn more in Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha: Patanjali's Definition of Yoga, Explained.) The Wheel of Samsara is Full of Delusion This is why they created the many techniques of yoga-to ultimately break free from the inherent suffering of being stuck in a human body, human mind, and human level of consciousness. Life was viewed as a kind of affliction, and one that we needed to transcend. The hope is that one is reborn into a slightly higher level of consciousness with the next birth.īecause life is inherently full of suffering, the yogis believed human existence to be something we should aim to get out of. With each death, the consciousness of that particular life is said to fall away. We might even wander through it for many lifetimes. Our intentions and actions are responsible for this level of awareness, and until the quality of our intentions and actions change, we might wander through this realm for quite some time. This is our current state of consciousness. We might experience ignorance, poverty, and lack-on many levels. It’s the energy that keeps us trapped in human existence-experiencing birth, life, death, rebirth, and so on, and so forth.Īnother popular translation of the word samsara is ‘to flow.’ Samsara can be thought of as the energy that keeps us flowing from one station of existence to the next.įor instance, we might be born into a life in which we wander through a rather hellish station of existence. To put it simply, we can define samsara as the cycle that keeps us in human form. Samsara: The Cycle That Keeps Us Flowing in Human Form While they’re not eradicated, they can be transcended. (Learn more in The Path to Liberation Starts With Our First Step Off the Mat.) They cannot be eradicated, and contain the messages of what it means to take form as a human being. In this sense, the word samsara denotes an energy that gathers together a power which drives us forward. The ‘sam’ part of samskara is a Sanskrit prefix that means ‘to collect,’ or ‘to gather.’ In Sanskrit, the ancient language of yoga, the ‘kara’ part of the word samskara means ‘to do.’ It’s closely related to the word ‘ karma.’ (Learn more in The Law of Karma: How Karmic Forces Really Work.) If we asked the ancient yogis what it was that propelled this process of being human, they would answer with the word samsara. In this process there’s an energy that drives our bodies and minds to take form, exist, and evolve. We’re created by a process, a process that’s comprised of latent impressions and imprints. (Learn more in The Meaning of Moksha.) The Latent Impressions and Imprints That Propel our Existence These spiritual traditions all aim for nirvana, moksha, enlightenment-whatever you want to call it-in order to break free from the seemingly never ending pattern of human samsaras.
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