0096 Section 3, Chapter 40 (continued) Yoga Vasistha

The force of our own psychological tendencies could be the catalyst towards a new life. (It's certainly what sustains who we think we are in this life.)

It is like what our own latent psychological tendencies do in a dream.

Pradhana -- the psychological tendencies, potentiality, 'pregnant memory'. It could be regarded as what propels the thought stream.

It is what propels the cognitive process and our notions of the world. Here it is called the "ethereal body of the jiva". The notion of the ethereal body will be discussed in more detail later on. Here it can be regarded as the characteristics of the individual psyche.




The notion of the jiva is concomitant with the notion of Creation.

It is all simply consciousness.

This chapter is concerned with giving validity to the notion in Hindu metaphysics of the jiva but we needn't be too concerned about it. Understanding it as some kind of immortal soul is not helpful.

It is simpler just to assume that after death a new dream (life) begins. Just as there is no apparent connection between dreams there needn't be any connection between one life and the next.

Individuality is something that is very much learnt as life progresses rather than something that is carried on from one life to the next.

After death, a fundamental sense of being coalesces in accordance with subtle notions of individuality within a particular context.

Text: http://www.venkatesaya.com Yoga Vasistha Book 1, March 7

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