Word

Vasana

Sanskrit

वासना

IAST

vāsāna

In General

Vasana are the strong impression in the mind which lure things to do for good or worse. Vasana came out of habits and some of them carried forward from previous lives. It is so strong that, once it arises in the mind, a person is forced to act without thinking of the consequences.

Some of the qualities to develop to transform the bad vasana for the good are ahimsa (non violence), arjava (strightforwardness), abhaya (fearlessness), dama (self control), svadhyaya ( study of holy texts) etc.