balsanskar (child culture or parenting)

What is a sanskar ?

Sanskar (Subconscious impression) is a process of increasing the potential in ourselves. The word sanskar has multiple meanings, such as – to improve, to purify, to remove shortcomings in an object and to endow a new, attractive form to it. In short, the process by which positive qualities in man are developed and enhanced is known as a sanskar.

Sanskar = sam (samyak) + kar.

‘Sam’ means good and ‘kar’ means work or action.

Every action of an individual should be enriched with good sanskars; for example, eating a banana and throwing away the skin is an action, throwing the skin in a dustbin is prakruti (Nature), throwing it on the road is a vikruti (Perversion), picking up a banana skin thrown on the road and putting it into the dustbin is sanskruti (Culture).

Eating when hungry is prakruti, eating another’s share is a vikruti and ensuring that all in the household including guests, servants, cattle have eaten and then eating the food as Prasad (Holy sacrament) after offering it to the Deity as Naivedya is sanskruti.

समुद्रवसने देवि ! पर्वतस्तनमंडले।

विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्व मे ॥

One who after contemplation and holistic thinking performs an action is man. Sanskars are required to make thoughts and actions benevolent. According to Bharatiya scriptures, every action has to be enriched with sanskars; for example, on waking up in the morning, before placing your feet on the ground you should recite the following prayer to Mother Earth.

Meaning : I offer namaskar (Obeisance) to You, O Mother Earth (and the wife of Shrivishnu), who wears clothes in the form of the sea and has breasts in the form of mountains. Please forgive me for treading on You.

When bathing, urinating, eating etc. perform actions as prescribed by the scriptures and are enriched with sanskars; for example, when bathing recite the mantra

शं नो देवी…। आपः पुनन्तु…।

while pouring lukewarm water over the head and hot water on the body; its meaning is – May Jaladevata (Deity of water) purify my body and mind.

While eating a meal if you chant God’s Name, offer the food to Him and partake it as Prasad, then the food gets digested easily.

वदनि कवळ घेता नाम घ्या श्रीहरीचे

सहज हवन होते नाम घेता फुकाचे ।

जिवन करि जिवित्वा अन्न हे पूर्णब्रह्म

उदरभरण नोहे जाणिजे यज्ञकर्म ॥

Meaning : Chant God’s Name with every morsel. The morsel eaten while chanting God’s Name gets digested easily. Food is complete Brahman and it gives life. Eating a meal does not mean merely filling up the stomach, but is like a pious act of performing a yadnya. This means that you should partake of a meal with a bhav (Spiritual emotion) that from the Shakti (Divine Energy) obtained from this food you will be able to help others and utilise it for the welfare of society. These are called sanskars.

Giving is more important than receiving

Taking someone else’s belongings without telling him is a vikruti, borrowing them with his permission is prakruti and giving your belongings to others is sanskruti. For this, sanskars are necessary. We tell our children, “Toffees are Rupees 100/- per kilogram. If you distribute all toffees today, tomorrow none will be left for you”. We ourselves teach our children the bad habit of not parting with our belongings.

3. Sanskar means multiplication of virtues and division of defects

Sanskar means good action. Every action of our body and mind should be enriched with sanskars. The mind’s sanskar-enriched actions mean pure thoughts and pure intellect. Pure thoughts are good thoughts, and pure intellect means one that takes correct decisions. Body’s sanskar-enriched action means good conduct and truthful speech.

Saint Dnyaneshwar says in Dnyaneshwari how one’s speech should be – We should speak the truth, but with softness so that others do not feel it to be harsh. All should speak less with every word dipped in sweetness and love as much as the listeners can get the experience of waves of Amrut (Divine nectar) to their ears.

Sanskar means worship of virtues and sacrifice of defects. Sattva, Raja, Tama components are the three subtle components of the mind. Sattva component is a virtue and Raja and Tama components are defects of the mind. Ignorance and laziness are the basis of Tama component; unhappiness and hyperactivity are the basis of Raja component; happiness and knowledge are the basis of Sattva component. Though every human being has all the three components, each is classified as sattvik (Sattva-predominant), rajasik (Raja-predominant), tamasik (Tama-predominant) depending on the proportion of the major component in him.

A. Tamasik individual

आहारनिद्राभयमैथुनं च ।

A tamasik individual engages in eating, sleeping, fear and s*x. He likes to get intoxicated by consuming alcohol. Kumbhakarna (Ravan’s brother, who used to sleep for 6 months) is one example of a tamasik individual. Such people can even kill others if something goes against their wish. A tamasik individual does not think about others.