December 2nd 2025
A common word that we come across is ‘Avidya’ (ignorance). Most often this is described in the negative, however being ignorant about some matters can be in the positive as well. Example, if we are ignorant about someone gossiping about us, then we are not bothered by it. Vivekji shared that as per Quantum physics, everything is essentially alive and that the way we are feeling/being affects that which is around us (not just people, animals and plants, but the stones too). In the Yoga Sutras, Rishi Patanjali has shared that the mind is created extrovert, meaning that the ordinary mind is trying to know what is in front of it, but the extraordinary mind is that which is trying to know what is behind it. As per Quantum physics, i affect the marker that is beside me, however in Yoga sutra what is taught is that if we come to know what is behind the mind, we become that! This is dimensionally different. Me ‘affecting’ an entity versus me ‘becoming’ an entity is very different. Manah Shodanam is really training in empathy.
If the way i am feeling affects that which is around me, the empathetic person would change how they feel to help those around them! Empathy is very much about feeling what another is going through, so if i become what is behind my mind, i have the power of becoming what another is going through. The utility of being in this course is really immeasurable! This is a course in training in empathy (especially since so many of us happen to be caregivers to aging parents, young children or siblings).
Pujya Swami Tejomayananda has built out how important it is to have a pure mind! (Shodanam is to purify, and Manah is mind or inner world). Signs of the mind becoming pure is that there is more balance, more focus and more reflection. We all wish for this and need this.
Now, Pujya Swami Tejomayananda shares specific practices on how to purify the mind.
Verse 7:
manah shuddhi karāni iha, sādhanāni vadanti ha;
yajnah dānam tapaschaiva, japah theertham vratah tathā.
Karani – is what causes
shuddha or shuddi – purity
manah – of the mind or inner world
Purity can really be assessed by how much one enquires and how much one inquires. One whose inner world is impure, it is ordinary, so they are enquiring – they want to know what is in front of the mind. Those who have been graced by the divine and those who are bhagya – they are not concerned about what is in front of the mind but more about what is behind the mind – they inquire. The more there is purity in one’s inner world, the more one comes to see what is behind their mind.
Sadhana- is the way to go from enquiry to inquiry.
Vadanti – this has been spoken or taught
Those who have practiced nurturing a pure mind, they feel this empathy for us who wish and need a pure mind and that is why they are guiding us! They have found the treasure and are now leading a trail for us!
Iha means now! This is a powerful word – Though Manah Shodanam was written 35 years ago and the teachings of the verse are 5000 years old, iha means it is just as relevant here and now.
Sadhana is not an action but it is an attitude. That means every action we engage in can be sadhana if we have the right attitude. With the wrong attitude, we can apparently be engaged in the best actions but it won’t help to purify one’s inner world. The point of a ritual is to become reflective, otherwise it is just mechanics.
Sadhanas that are recommended by those who already have a pure inner world are:
Yajna (dedication) – a sign of dedication is that we don’t know what we are sacrificing.
In our samskaras, the very first samskara that we facilitate for ourselves is the 14th of the 16 samskaras. The 14th samskara is called Pancha Maha yajna. It means to be dedicated to the indebtedness that one was born with. We were all born with 5 debts (nature’s forces, nature’s beings, society, family, tradition of guides). Only those who are dedicated to these debts get to be free. For example, student debt or a mortgage is always holding us back, but once we pay off that debt we get to be free financially. So for those of us who wish to be free, yajna is an antidote to Rna.
The second sadhana that is recommended for our inner world to be more balanced, focused and reflective is:
Dana – it is a powerful psychological engagement where we shift our security from the external to the internal. Those who depend on external security are internally weak. Those who depend on internal security are strong inside and outside.
In a poem from Rabindranath Tagore, he describes a dream where he is a beggar and wandering around a desert, cursing himself that he was born like this and had nothing. All of a sudden, a silhouette appears in the horizon and he feels this silhouette could be his saviour. As the silhouette comes closer and closer, a majestic being appears with a crown, armour and gear. So the beggar feels that his prayer is being answered. Then the king like figure stops in front of the beggar and instead of giving to the beggar, the majestic being has its hands open not giving but rather asking. This stuns the beggar and so he reaches into his sack and finds the smallest bit of corn (kernel of corn) and gives it to this being. The being clasps it strongly and puts it near his heart and rides off into the distance. Now the beggar is even more frustrated. Eventually he finds somewhere to sleep and in his frustration throws his bag, and what comes out of the bag is a piece of gold which was of the same size as that kernel of corn he gave to the being. He gave nothing and so he got nothing. If he had just given everything, he would have gotten everything! When Rabindranath Tagore woke up, he realized this was a nightmare of his. He did not live like that and he is just trying to teach us the importance of shifting how we feel security.
The third sadhana-
Tapa: The words yajna, dana and tapa are repeated again and again in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita. This is the valedictory chapter where Sri Krishna shares its ok to stop ‘this and that’, but we can never stop yajna, dana and tapa. Pujya Swami Tejomayananda shared the sequence of these words – the first practice is tapa, which is to conserve one’s energy (resources, time and effort). Yajna is to channel what we have just conserved. Dana is to create what we have channeled. Conserve means slowing down in being an extrovert ( don’t go outside). Channel is speeding up in being an introvert (do go inside). Next comes create – Dana is when we feel secure in ourselves and we become a catalyst to create security around us. So the order is tapa, yajna, dana.
Tapa means to burn. (Tapa comes from tapati). The three burnings that have to happen to us from the deepest to the shallowest (from third degree burn to the second to the first degree) are:
The deepest level of tapa or third degree burn is to burn our identifications. Whatever we identify with, we are limited by ! As an example, Vivekji shared how when in high school there was a close friend who was from Cypress. In Cypress, once you graduate from high school one has to go to the army and serve for a while before carrying on with life. So one who is not a Cypriot is not limited by the fact that one has to serve in the army after graduating. So whatever we identify with – we are limited by. For many of us the primary identity is a ‘caregiver’. So we are limited by the same – and a familiar term for this is attachment. A way to burn our identification is to reorganize our inner world – that our only identity is that of a seeker. When we lock in that being a seeker is our identity then we don’t get limited by other relationships!
The second degree burn is to burn our comfort zones. A way to do this is to treat every experience or every context we are in as an opportunity to learn. Instead of expecting ‘this or that’ from that context, going with what can i ‘learn’ from this context – this is how we burn our comfort zones. There is a shift from expectation to acceptance.
The first degree burn is to burn our distractions. In Aparoksha Anubhuti, Acharya Shankara describes that tapa is to be focused. A way to practice this is – we are just a seeker, we are just learning and the final ‘just’ is to ‘just focus on the task in front of you’ (unitasking).
The fourth sadhana-
Japa – janmanaH paati iti japa. janmanaH means to be born, paati means to be protected from being born. Japa is what protects us from any and every problem. When creation began, creation was integrated – meaning creation was feeling Dharma. Built into creation was positivity and negativity. In Satya yuga (beginning of creation), the suras (those who are integrated) and the asuras (those who are disintegrated) lived in different dimensions – Swarga and Naraka. During this period, because creation was so tight, the way to become free of creation and go to Consciousness, one engaged in Dhyana because people were able to contemplate. During Treta Yuga, the suras and asuras did not live in different dimensions but they lived in different countries. Sri Rama lived in Bharat and Ravana lived in Lanka. People no longer were able to engage in dhyana so they engaged in Yaga (a macro ritual) to tune into consciousness and become free. Time continues and atrophy continues. So in Dwapara yuga, when Sri Krishna was present, the devas and the rakshasas did not live in different dimensions or different countries, they lived in the same family. Kamsa (who was the worst) and Devi Devaki (who was the best) were brother and sister! During this period, people could no longer engage in contemplation or macro rituals, so the way to become free was puja (micro ritual). In Kali yuga, which is the age we live in, with so much selfishness, distraction and fastness, the rakshasas and devas live in the same personality! So our creator who is the most compassionate knew we cannot engage in contemplation or macro rituals or micro rituals so the sadhana to transform adharma to dharma is japa. Japa is the yuga sadhana. We should not take japa casually! Whether we know the meaning of what we are repeating or not does not matter, the comparison given is that of medicine – we may be ignorant about how the medicine that we take works, but it still works! Japa is the same way!