What exactly is vrtti?
Transcript
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Question, what exactly is vritti? Answer, vritti basically means tendency. So, there is a progression that vritti is a generic desire. Vasana is a more specific desire.
So, for example, there is a generic male-female attraction. Now, when we see a member of the opposite sex, we feel attracted. But that is a vritti.
But when a person develops an attraction to a specific member of the opposite sex, then that is a vasana. So, when a general tendency becomes a specific desire, that is a transformation of vritti into vasana. So, now the word vritti is generally used in terms of material things like bhoga vritti.
But it can also be used in a spiritual sense, it is a seva vritti. You can also use it in that sense. So, vritti basically means tendency.
So, it can be spiritual, it can be material, depending on what kind of tendency one has developed. And does it come from the soul? Ultimately, all consciousness comes from the soul. But the specific kinds of desire that we have, they do not necessarily come from the soul.
That means that, just like, unless I turn on the computer, nothing happens in the computer. But after I turn on the computer, if some virus is present, the virus may run certain programs which I am not aware of. And they happen against my will.
And my computer is sort of getting taken over by that. So, the soul does not have any material vasanas like lust, anger, greed. But when the soul’s consciousness passes through the subtle body, and in the subtle body there is lust, anger, greed, then that can hijack and that can misdirect, pervert the soul’s desires.
So, that means the original consciousness, which is the basis of all desires, comes from the soul. But the specific way it is expressed, that will depend on the kind of impressions that are there in the mind. So, in that sense, a lusty, greedy, angry mentality, that comes because the soul’s consciousness is rooted through the mind and gets distorted.
So, like white light, it’s covered with a red film, it will become reddish. So, like that, our consciousness gets distorted.