Learning to read land (or geographic) samskaras is a great way to connect with a place because they are a measure of its intrinsic character. Samskaras are the cumulative record of all the thoughts and actions that have transpired at a particular location. Like an individual’s samskaras they can exert a powerful influence on those that they envelope by encouraging them to repeat the area’s previous behavior. Every place in the world is covered with samskaras that can be recognized by a dowser with a pair of L-rods. Learning to read samskaras can be a vital tool because they can overwhelm an area with negativity and overwrite its other features. More importantly an individual's positive intentions and prayers can help clear up a lot of the negativity that permeates places and snares individuals in its web.

The Root of Karma

According to Hindu philosophy samskaras are the root of our karma¹ . Each individual thought and action we have are recorded as impressions, or samskaras. These impressions build up over time. The more we focus on a particular thought or action the deeper that impression becomes and the more it begins to exert an influence upon us. Over time these impressions, or samskaras, can exert tremendous influence and begin driving our behavior. If these impressions are not cleared away before we die we will carry them forward into a future life.

Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga states his analysis of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and notes the power of samskaras to influence the life cycle and the necessity to burn them away:

“It is said by Nagarjuna that a seed when not burned is capable of giving rise to many seeds and plants. In the same way when the chitta ² is not freed from the samskaras, it is capable of producing many more samskaras, bodies and reincarnations.”
Page 139 (Chapter 2, Sutra 1); Four Chapters on Freedom—Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Many enlightened persons say that samskaras are the greatest impediment to our spiritual progression. “[S]amskaras are the source of bondage and keep man forever chained to the cycle of birth and death.”³

I believe in the Samkhya(n) (a school of Hindu thinking) philosophy that holds that the earth is composed of Purusha (Soul, consciousness, Godhead) and Prakriti (energy, nature) and combinations thereof. I also believe in the Hindu premise that the earth has a similar make up to the human body⁴. That is why I call the residual thoughts and actions of a place samskaras. I view samskaras as being consciousness, not energy. This is a sharp delineation from the view of many who belong to what I call the energy school (dowsers and others) who view all earth phenomena as being made up of energy, everything is energy.

It is important to understand the difference between consciousness and energy. Instead of looking at samskaras as either being positive or negative energy flows we see them as consciousness that runs a continuum from the divine to the demonic⁵. Consciousness can also be transformed.

Like human nature, a place has both good and bad⁶ , the amount of each being a function of what has transpired there before. Fellow dowser Susan Weiner points out that the negative readings I register around dead and dying trees are a function of the natural process of death.

Reading Samskaras

To begin measuring the samskaras of a place ask spirit for help and guidance. With L-rods in hand I ask; “Please show me the samskaras”. When you first begin I suggest you go someplace like a place of worship that should have a strong positive reading ⁷ . If you meditate at the same place you might want to begin there because your callings to the divine create a positive (+, clockwise spin) samskara⁸. This should help you pick up on the vibe of the place. As you progress you will be able to measure samskaras every place you go.

Your first measure will be a net reading. In other words you will be recording the net difference between the good acts/thoughts and the bad acts/thoughts that have transpired at a particular location. If the good acts/thoughts far out number the negative acts/thoughts you will get a strong positive (+, clockwise) movement of your L-rods. Conversely if the positive acts/thoughts are slightly less than the negative acts/thoughts that have occurred at a particular place you will get a weak negative (-, counter-clockwise) reading. This is the samskaras for a place. The speed with which your L-rods move would indicate how strong (fast) or weak (slow) a reading is.

Your next measure would be to record the components (positive and negative) of your net samskaras reading. Ask spirit to show you the positive samskaras for a place. This will give you a reading of what good has transpired at a place. Next ask to be shown the negative samskaras.

Measuring the components of place is critical because many places can be conflicted. For example, you might get a weak positive reading. But when you ask to be shown the positive and negative components you may find that there are both strongly positive and negative samskaras existing there. Such a reading would not be good because it would indicate that there are strong negative influences lurking there. [Note: It is possible to further break samskaras for particular types of thoughts and actions.]

Since samskaras are a vortex of consciousness they have a center. You can ask to see where the center of the samskara is. This is particularly important if you are looking to clean up an area. Your L-rods will point in the direction of the center. Follow them and when they open up you are at the center.

Knowing where the center of vortex of negative consciousness is a big help in cleaning up the space. By focusing your intentions on the center you will have a better chance of cleaning it up.

Samskaras’ come in All Sizes

The size of a samskara can vary from being infinitesimal to miles in circumference. They tend to cluster together, probably because they are self-reinforcing. There are also samskaras within samskaras, small pockets that go against the grain of the larger samskara that envelopes them. Samskaras are localized consciousness ⁹ .

It is important to note that samskaras are dynamic consciousness that is constantly changing. In other words the size and force of a samskara will change over time. Anyone and everything that come into contact with an area influences it. I suggest you get to know a particular location and focus on its fringes. Periodically visit it and you will notice that it changes over time. This is particularly true for larger amalgams of samskaras. You can also begin recording how your positive intentions of God’s light and love are changing the area. I have seen significant shifts in size between the positive and negative samskaras for places that I am trying to heal.

Hindu mystics The Mother and Sri Aurobindo share their wisdom on how our thought forms are constantly vying to influence us:

“[E]veryone has in him…the power to give form to his mental activity…We are all the time, ALWAYS, creating images, creating forms. We send them into the atmosphere without even knowing that we are doing so—they go roaming about, pass from one person to another, meet companions, sometimes join together...create conflicts, and then there are battles….If our eyes were open to the vision of all these forms in the atmosphere, we would see very amazing things: battlefields, waves, onsets, retreats of a crowd of small entities which are constantly thrown out into the air and always try to realize themselves. All these formations have a common tendency to want to materialize and realize them physically.” Collected Works of the Mother , Book 9, pages:385-388, The Mother (The Mother was the spiritual partner of Hindu Mystic and activist Sri Aurobindo. The following web site is dedicated to them: Sri Aurobindo Society.

Sobering, Enlightening, Chilling

Learning to read samskaras will be an eye opening experience as the scales will fall from your eyes. You might find a divide with what your physical eyes sees and what your spiritual eyes, or L-rods tell you. Always remember the words of the prophets and great teachers. For example, plush suburbs built on white flight, wealth and exclusion will often exhibit strong negative readings. While you may find impoverished inner city neighborhoods, or rust belt cities that will have strong positive readings. Remember the words of Jesus and others like Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet, that taught us that blessed are the meek. God’s words will ring true.

The land will begin to speak to you. Serene Forests will show you their true beauty others will still register strong scars from de-forestation or the massacre of Native Americans¹⁰ , or you may find a hunter’s tree stand in what was otherwise a positive setting. Sadly, much of what you will find will be negative.

God has blessed me by teaching me about land samskaras. Last spring while dowsing in the woods my L-rods begin to turn as if I were in some giant vortex. Over time I learned what I was being told. I share this with you to help you learn. To help you see that below this delusion of we call reality that there is a spiritual truth as taught by the prophets’ time immemorial.

The Hindu rishi’s and sages tell us that samskaras are the greatest impediment to our spiritual growth. They also teach us that through mediation and other spiritual practices we can clear up these blockages that impede our spiritual advancement . I ask for your help in clearing up land/geographic samskaras that you find and making more sacred space that would help others move closer to the divine. Your prayers and positive intentions can help begin to clean up a lot of the negativity that engulfs the world.

God Bless,
Madis senner

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