Samskaras or sánskaras are, in Indian philosophy and mythological religions, mental impressions, memories, or psychological imprints. In Hindu philosophies, samskaras are the basis for the development of the theory of karma.
According to several schools of Indian philosophy, every action, intention, or preparation of an individual leaves a samskara (impression, impact, trace) in the deepest structure of the person’s mind, and these impressions await volitional fruits in the future of that individual, in the form of hidden expectations, circumstances, or a subconscious sense of self-esteem.
These Samskaras manifest as tendencies, karmic impulses, subliminal impressions, habitual powers, or innate dispositions. In ancient Indian texts, the theory of Samskara explains how and why human beings remember things, and the effect that memories have on people’s suffering, happiness, and contentment.
1. Etymology and meaning
The Sanskrit word saṃskāra has several context-driven meanings that broadly refer to “putting together, accomplishing well, making perfect, a form of solemn recognition and preparation” and “mental impression, memory.” The first context is at the etymological root of the Sanskrit term for rites of passage, while it is the second context, as a form of disposition, impression, or behavioral inclination, that is at the etymological root of the word samsara as a psychological concept in Indian philosophies.
The concept of Samskara is also discussed as Vasana (Sanskrit: वासना vāsanā), particularly in the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism. Vasana also means “impression, inclination of everything that remains unconsciously in the mind.”
2. Context
Samskara, or samskara, is a significant concept in the main schools of Hindu philosophy, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism. Indian schools of philosophy differ on the specific mechanisms of how samskara works at the subconscious level.
We can take, for example, Buddhism, which considers samskara to be “continuous causation,” consistent with its premise of “no self, no soul,” while the Vedic traditions within Hinduism consider samskara to be “relational properties” (an impression, a mark, an impulse, a tendency, or a form of psychological potential energy within it) that reside within the “self, the soul” of each person.
In the yoga, Vedanta, and Nyaya schools of Hinduism, samskara constitutes an affective and motivational field that contributes to a person’s value structure. They subconsciously or consciously support the basic internal impulses that drive a human being into future actions, future premises, future thoughts, or future judgments.
Das asserts that the rites of passage of Samskara are a subset of actions in a human being’s life, where going through the rite within the traditions of Hinduism affects the individual both internally and externally in the way society perceives the person. This occurs in the form of impressions and impressions within it, that is, the samskara.
3. Hinduism
Hindu schools differ in details, but all postulate that samskara is formed in each individual in various ways. This includes perceptions, cognition of chitta, voluntary actions, and also intentions before and during the action.
Training and study, in these schools, is a form of exposure, introspective realization, and in many cases practice or repetition to make the “impression, imprint” part of one’s own nature, where practice reinforces dispositions (samskara) and dispositions reinforce practice, in a circular feedback loop. Scholars claim that David Hume’s theory of “impressions” is similar to the samskara theory of Hinduism.
Hindu schools are based on the theory of samskara as one of the pillars of their epistemology (pramana), where they explain how and why man knows anything, remembers anything, expects anything, feels satisfaction, feels frustration, feels freedom and joy, or feels suffering and pain.
Samskara are the impressions and dispositions that develop and accumulate within a person, according to these schools, from perception, inference, choices, preparation, practice, interaction with others, thoughts, intention, voluntary actions, and karma. These manifest Hindu philosophies, such as habits, behavior, tendencies, predispositions, and psychological dispositions.
Actions, studies, diligent preparation, and internal resolutions trigger Samskaras, which manifest the hidden things in an individual’s psyche, and these influence how the individual acts, perceives themselves, and how the individual responds to or accepts karmic circumstances and the future.
The enlightened Hindu “Ian Whicher” explains that, in the philosophical theories of Hinduism, each karma leaves a samskara in the deepest structure of the human mind, and that this impression awaits a volitional result, in the form of hidden expectations, circumstances, or an unconscious sense of self-esteem.
Samkhya-Yoga
In the Samkhya and Yoga schools, samskara—also spelled Samskara—are impressions or residues that affect an individual’s Gunas (behavioral attributes). These impressions form part of the mechanistic basis behind the ancient Indian scholars’ explanation of how the theory of karma works in practice.
Samskara is explained as dispositions, character, or behavioral traits, either as defects from birth or as behavioral traits perfected over time through yoga, conscious self-training, one’s desires, a sense of moral responsibility, and through practice.
In the Hindu school of Yoga, all actions and intentions lead to impressions and memories, whether active or hidden, conscious or unconscious. A person may not remember their past karma, but the impressions shape their character, habits, circumstances, and the essence of that person due to the impressions left by karma.
These tendencies, subtle traces, and innate characteristics, says the Yoga school, continue to affect actions, assumptions, attitudes (bhava), mind (buddhi), moral response, and interactions with everyone, everything, and oneself. Vyasa, Patanjali, and other ancient Indian scholars refer to these as karmic residues (karmasaya).
Personality, Patanjali asserts, is the sum total of all these impressions and subtle traces (samskaras). Individuals tend to do what they did in the past; man forms habits and often returns to those habits, and behaviors tend to repeat themselves due to these samskaras, according to these Yoga scholars.
Vedanta
These are seen as imprints or temperament that evolve through the refinement of inner consciousness and the expressed personality of the individual, and are a form of “being prepared” in Vedic psychology. All physical, verbal, and mental activity, according to the Vedanta school of Hinduism, creates Samskara, or traces within a person. These Samskaras together manifest as inner personality and external circumstances, and depending on the individual response to each of them, they produce phala (fruit).
In the state in which an individual realizes the Self and attains jivanmukti (moksha), Shankara, Mandana, Sarvajnatman, and other Vedanta scholars suggest that the causes of impressions such as ignorance disappear, the individual attains inner resolution and complete acceptance of the self, thus freeing themselves from samskaras and the consequent state of happiness of existence.
Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika
In the Nyaya school of Hinduism, Bhavana (Sanskrit: भावना) is synonymous with Samskara, a property that manifests as impressions or traces in the soul. It is a key concept in Nyaya philosophy, and applies the idea to both the living and non-living world. For example, the vega (speed) of vayu (wind) is its samskara, in Nyaya literature. The concept is closely related to the Nyaya quest and the reasoned explanation of the causes behind what happens in the living and non-living world, and why.
All voluntary actions, Nyayayikas state, have a cause, and these are guided by Samskara. For example, a newborn acts voluntarily and instinctively to reach its mother’s breast. This action, the Nyaya texts explain, must have a cause, but the newborn has not been provided with that knowledge, nor has the value of the mother’s breast been explained to it.
On the other hand, the newborn has not formed any Samskara in the new life. The newborn has that knowledge, that instinct, from some impression, some trace within “a previous experience.” That is an example of Samskara, according to Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika scholars.
In the Nyaya school of Hinduism, the existence of Samskara cannot be perceived directly, only inferred. Furthermore, not all samskaras are psychological. Some simply manifest as memories, premises, or beliefs formed “from a previous experience.”
4. Buddhism
Saṃskāra or Saṅkhāra in Buddhism refers to mental “dispositions,” which are the result of past volitions and are the causes of future volitions. Buddhism emphasizes the need to purify dispositions (Saṅkhāra) rather than eliminate them.
5. Jainism
The activities of the mind, speech, and body, according to Jain philosophy, lead to Asrava, that is, the influx and impression of karmic residues on the jiva (soul) of the living being. These residues bind (bandha), forming the karma sarira, which can be stopped (saṃvara) and liberated (nirjara).
The operating mechanism, consistent with the premise of Jain dualism, is not Saṃskāra as a latent mental imprint, but karma bandha for the soul. The rituals and rites of passage, called Samskara in Jainism, are part of the process of initiation of saṃvara and nirjara, to free the soul from the crust of karmic residues.
