Samskara (Hinduism)
Description
is the term used to describe awareness when the mind - [citta]
- is obscured by the barrier caused by accumulation of thoughts, desires and past deeds. [Samskara]
is often confused with [karma]
but, according to Panini, karma is the aim of any action, that which the person instigating the action desires as the result of that action not the action itself nor its fruit. However, since actions are rarely done for their own sake but for some other result (which is, by definition, a further action) karma will therefore lead to further action and has come to mean the action itself, and also the sum of the effects of past actions, the latter truly [samskara]
. It is therefore the [samskara]
which conditions birth into this life and the consciousness with which this life is perceived.