“Vasana” is a Vedantic term for a persistent reaction pattern triggered by a current upset which resembles a past upset.
The patterns that are troublesome to us and thus come to our attention are usually negative. They give rise to unwanted conditions. In the past, I’ve used the shorthand term “unfinished business” as a synonym.
It’s our vasanas, I think, that will hang us up as we move higher into the ascension energies. They’ll show up as drag, competing agendas, resistance. Rather than choosing to open to the new energies or ideas, we’ll want to hold back, under the influence of the vasanas.
I have a vasana that’s affecting my work on this site at the moment and one part of the answer to it is just to share about it. It’s a pattern derived from a paternal comment to me when I was a young child, that I was a “lazy no-good good-for-nothing.” (Dad, bless his heart, had some serious issues!) Unknown to him, he created a prolific author, all to prove his assessment wrong. Again and again and again.
But the downside of being a prolific producer is periodic burnout. Perhaps I can illustrate that downside with John Enright’s distinction (1) that we move in a constant cycle through life: from doing it and digging it to doing it and not digging it, to not doing it and digging it, and finally to not doing it and not digging it. After that, we begin the cycle again.
If I creep closer to burnout, I’ll move from doing it and digging it to doing it and not digging it. I’ll finally end up in not doing it and digging it. And I don’t want to go there.
So I need to handle my vasana.
One way in which it shows up is to resolve to publish one portion of a series every day. Well, that’s proving a stressor. So with the current series, I’ll be moving to publishing a part when it’s complete, rather than every day. I need to lower the stress level or I risk burning out.
Another way it shows up is in reposting articles prolifically. Again, I need to shepherd my energy and go for a walk, get out in the sun, or I’ll burn out.
I’ve discovered, as the energies rise, that new ways of handling my vasanas are becoming available. Previously I had to laboriously process them, using techniques I’ve learned over the years. I needed to connect with the energy on its own level, identify the incident at the base of the vasana, free myself of the story, etc.
But now it seems possible to simply “be with” the feelings as they arise and dissolve them by experiencing them through completely. I take this new ability to process easily and more quickly as an indication of the impact of the fuller energies.
I’ll have a lot more to say about vasanas later on as we move into a time when our resistances become more prominent – say, when the galactics tell us things that seriously test our ability to stay grounded, as accountability progresses.
But for now, I just need to tend to this one over here and make sure that he can stay active over the long haul, to accomplish the mission he took on before birth (if we believe the galactics) as well as reach the finish line in one piece.
Footnotes
(1) For more of John’s superlative insights, see John Enright Dictionary at https://goldenageofgaia.com/a-world-that-works-for-everyone/john-enright-dictionary-1976-1980/