​What determines our mind’s default settings?

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This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So what determines the default settings in all of us? There are broadly five factors. There is our, what science would tell us is our genes. Now genes, they determine certain physical features within us.
Certain behavioral features are also, patterns are determined. Now if you understand the spiritual worldview, there is a soul which goes from one body to another body. So whatever we are right now, that is by the result of our past karma.
We have had previous lives. In our previous lives what we have done, that determines to a large extent what we get as a starting point in this life. So even our genetic disposition, that comes from our past life karma.
So the first factor that determines our program is our past life karma, which may manifest through our genetic disposition. Second is our upbringing. Now what kind of influences were there for us during our formative years? This is primarily determined by our parents.
Then there is our association, our social circle. So our social circle refers to the kind of people we stay with. That also shapes our behavior.
Now there are different schools of thought which take each of these factors alone as final. So there is genetic determinism, which says we are determined only by our genes. Or there is what is called a social determinism.
Social determinism means that we are determined just by the social circumstances we are in. But these are all contributive causes. They are not decisive causes.
So apart from these three, there is a fourth factor is our own free will. So just like there may be certain programs that pop up in my computer, still I have the capacity to choose. So we have free will.
So somebody may be born in a very, say financially and socially deprived situation. And because of that, some people may become criminals. I hate the world which put me like this.
But some other people from that same situation may choose to become mature, responsible citizens and they make a positive difference in the world. So we all have free will. So that means these three factors are upbringing, our association, and our past life karma manifesting as our genes.
They push us, but they don’t force us. We can push back. They push us, but they don’t force us.
And our capacity to push back is our free will. And this capacity to push back increases by the fifth factor. And the fifth factor is divine grace, is the connection through yoga that we establish that gives us access to the supreme power.
And by that, our capacity to choose our responses increases. So we have a certain amount of power, just like say there is a iron filing which is attracted to a magnet. Now, or we consider say sometimes in sound, there is a resonance effect that happens.
So there is a certain sound flowing in a particular direction, but when the resonance, sound volume suddenly increases. So like that, we have a certain amount of power. But when we align with the supreme, then by the divine grace, our power increases.
And that’s why when you practice yoga, especially when you practice bhakti yoga, we’ll find that our capacity to choose increases. So for all of us, this combination of factors is all different. So all this combination is different means that the past life karma, this life’s upbringing, our present association, all these are different.
Now, among these five factors, the first two are more or less not changeable for us. We have certain kinds of genes. We have had a certain kind of upbringing.
But the third factor we can change. The kind of social circle we hang out with, if we change that, we’ll find that our choices will also be shaped by that. The fourth, of course, we have free will.
And the more we become aware of our own thoughts, the more we become aware of our own actions, we can choose to change them. And especially yoga, the practice of yoga can empower us to connect with that inner power. And by that, we can maximize our capacity to reprogram ourselves, to reprogram actually our body-mind machines.
Does it answer your question? So we’ll stop here. Thank you very much for your kind attention. And if any of you have any further questions, I’ll be available for discussion after that.
Thank you. Thank you, guys, for coming.