“Due to this eternal game of Param Purusa matter is converted into mind and mind into consciousness”   -  PR Sarkar         

                                        

                Mind is an ever-changing functional entity and therefore it must have a momentum that drives it to move. From where does it derive this momentum? Every stage results from the previous stages. The effects of actions of the past stages are called samskaras. It means reaction in potential form. That is, an action is done but the reaction is yet to come. They are like the energy in the fuel waiting to be expressed.

 

            As the mind is essentially a stage in the process of movement its momentum or samskaras create many thoughts in it that constantly emerge and dissolve. To find expression of these thoughts the mind adopts certain occupations like love, hatred, fear, etc. These occupations are called propensities or vrttis in samskrta. Thus the propensities are formed according to one's reactive momenta or samskaras. When they  are expressed we say that the human mind is alive because mind exists as long as propensities exist. When they are destroyed however, the human mind ceases to exist.

 

            Since the mind is in a process of evolution it has two objectives. It should continue to evolve and it should continue to express its propensities. For the latter it has to create external waves, and needs the help of nerve cells and hormones resulting in our multifarious activities called behaviour.

 

            There are fifty main propensities in human mind. The seed of all of them is in the mind, but their expressions and control occur through substations called cakras. That is to say that the waves of the mind find expression by creating waves in cakras, which are the controlling points of regional glands. Therefore their waves cause secretions of hormones. Natural or unnatural expressions of the propensities depend on the degree of normal or abnormal secretions of these hormones. Hormones create their vibrations in the nerves and the blood  that modulate our actions and behaviour patterns.

 

            Here it is important to mention few words about sentiments and instincts. Mental propensities are expressed  sentiments. However, they lack rationality and sense of propriety. They are impulsive in nature and run blindly without discrimination of proper and improper. When a particular sentiment repeatedly finds expression through a subsidiary  or lower gland (from neck downward) it becomes fixed in that gland, and is called instinct. An instinct can be inborn or acquired later in life. The examples of inborn instincts are suckling of a baby, urinating, defecating and crying, etc. Laughing and eating are acquired later in life. Instincts may or may not be guided by the rational faculty. Its aim is to maintain existence.

 

            Although  the inherent momentum of mind is provided by the samskaras, the expression of propensities is affected by the environmental factors. The latter create various types of longings in the mind. A longing is the urge that pulls the mind rather than pushing it as the samskaras do. Human longings are many and multifarious. They manifest as our hopes and aspirations and vary tremendously from person to person in number, quantity and quality. However they can be brought within the range of four main categories depending on their object of enjoyment:

 

1. Those goaded by the urge for physical survival, and it is of inborn nature, e.g. suckling, urinating etc.

 

2.  The longing  for physical enjoyment of acquired nature    eating, laughing etc.

 

Within certain limitations these two physical longings are complementary to each other. They can lead to  some progress in physical stratum. For example good food can improve health. Society can develop various means of comforts by technological developments. Thus the civilisation can move a bit forward. However, indulgence in food can lead to ill-health and physical comforts can degenerate our adaptive qualities. Therefore living organisms have certain fundamental principles of survival. When the physical enjoyment goes ultra vires to these principles it can not maintain its structural solidarity. It starts disintegrating and decomposing. This state is called illness and its finality is death.

 

3. The longing  for psychic objects, that is the object of enjoyment is mental growth and expansion. These longings must keep parallelism with the principles of physical existence.

 

4. When the object of enjoyment is of spiritual nature, the mind in this state is pinnacled and all faculties are goaded into a spiritual goal. This can be called spiritual longing.

           

            Our samskaras, our propensities and our longings have enor­mous effect on the way we conduct ourselves in life. However, they are not infallible. They can be shaped, sublimated and expressed in such a way that we can enjoy a very meaningful life as well as continue to  evolve towards our spiritual destiny. That is why it is said "as you think so you become".