Men are immersed in many activities and they are engaged in
various undertakings. This is a well-known fact. They are so many
in numbers that sometimes one may feel that the span of
twenty-four hours is too short for his daily activity. Drinking,
eating, reading, walking, sitting and besides, dreaming, hating,
boasting, praising, weeping, laughing, moping, hoping - all types
of activities go on without end. They fill up the span of life.
These activities are all intimately attached to the mind. This
makes life a mere collection of Samskaras, which make an impact on
character and personality.
There are two types of activities, good and bad. The effect of
both on the life of man has to be considered. The acts of a body
during that tender age fade away like the writing of that boy on a
slate. When the events of one's own boyhood are thus consigned to
oblivion, how can the events of the past life be retained in the
memory? Leaving this point aside, it will be wrong to infer that
only such events as are remembered have happened, or have shaped
character. The acts and activities that have occurred and that
have been thrust back into forgetfulness by subsequent events have
left a trace of their consequences in the mind. The residue is
there. When you try to bring back to memory at bedtime the events
of the day, everything that happened from the insignificant to the
significant will not answer the summons. Those which are deeply
embedded inside, these alone can be recalled.
When such is the case with the happenings of a single day, when
we forget all events that are not associated with joy or pain,
what shall be said of events of last week or month or years? Only
the chief events are registered clearly. The rest turn hazy and
recede and disappear. These few are the Samskaras.
Performing innumerable deeds, gathering vast experience and
knowledge, learning a wide variety of lesson from a wide variety
of activities, man retains as his capital only a mere four or five
of them, strong, deep rooted, vital.