LIFE Nugget 01:
Written on: February 12, 2025
According to Samkhya philosophy, there are nine forms of Tushti (satisfaction or complacency) and eight Siddhis (powers) that characterize the normal functioning human mind. These psychological states, however, do not represent spiritual enlightenment—rather, they indicate our ordinary mental conditioning. When these nine ways of satisfaction and eight powers become disrupted, our sensory and mental faculties become impaired.
Of these nine forms of Tushti, four operate internally: awareness of nature’s ways, acquisition of material possessions, belief in the “play of time,” and faith in luck or destiny. The remaining five function externally, related to actions we perform to feel satisfied, such as charitable giving. The internal forms provide a rational basis for contentment, while the external ones offer psychological relief by bolstering what might be called our “spiritual ego” through prescribed actions or abstinence.
When an event occurs that disrupts these satisfaction mechanisms—perhaps through theft or damage to a prized possession—our senses begin to malfunction and our ego experiences wounding. The moment our ego registers this pain, it becomes stored in memory. With impaired senses, our intellect recedes into the background while the ego demands some form of pleasure to compensate for the pain suffered.
This is the critical juncture where the impulse for retribution emerges, with the intellect remaining a silent observer. When sufficient opportunity arises and punishment is delivered, the ego experiences gratification, marking this as a “significant achievement” in our memory bank. Through this process, the ego strengthens its hold through cumulative memories of “successful” retribution.
The next time a similar incident occurs, the intellect has an even slimmer chance of exercising discrimination, as our memory already contains a “stored solution,” making it easier for the ego to justify and execute further acts of revenge. This self-reinforcing cycle progressively diminishes our capacity to respond thoughtfully to future situations, potentially inviting greater damage into our lives.
By understanding this mechanism—how the wounded ego hijacks our response system and weakens our intellectual discernment—we gain the opportunity to interrupt this cycle. Rather than allowing our ego’s demand for retribution to dictate our actions, we can create space for the intellect to reassert its discriminative function, breaking the chains of automatic revenge responses that ultimately constrict our freedom and diminish our clarity.
Author: L.N. Venkataraman
To reach out, email to: venkat@adaptive-instruction.in
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