December 16th 2025
Vivekji started the class by telling us to imagine a scenario where we are on a plane that is about to take off on a long flight, we are on the window seat and the person in the middle starts to talk to us and wants to get to know us. They ask ‘how much of an open person you are’ – and Vivekji asked us to rate ourselves (keeping in mind who is asking us) how open we are on a scale of 1 to 100, 1 being completely closed and 100 being completely open. Next Vivekji asked us to imagine that Vivekji is sitting next to us and asks us the same question – what would our rating be? If we are rating ourselves in ‘openness’ when we are with someone who is challenging us to be our best, then we realize how closed we are! This is like, if we are around many indisciplined people, then our rating will be high, however if we are around a lot of disciplined people then our rating comes down. A solid sign of a solid seeker is how open they are, starting off with being open minded, open hearted and then being open handed. Open handed means that we have so much clarity that things keep coming and going out of these hands, and there is no need to hold on to what is coming and going. In our community, we train in this openness, and so much of what happens is a matter of feeling and flowing (with the divine will). Without openness the trust triangle is ineffective so we need to do a lot of Svadhyaya on openness.
Manah Shodhanam’s verse 7 is the most important teaching:
Review of Verse 7:
manah shuddhi karāni iha, sādhanāni vadanti ha;
yajnah dānam tapaschaiva, japah theertham vratah tathā.
Our way to purify the mind starts with ‘tapa’ (to conserve). With what we have conserved we have to do ‘yajna’ (to channel). So tapa means don’t be an extrovert and yajna means go inside/be inward looking. ‘Dana’ means to create. So for one who is more inward looking and has felt their center, that same center is ‘the’ center in all, so they ‘create’.
The next part of this framework is ‘tirtha’ and ‘japa’. As we go about living by conserving, channeling and creating, sometimes we need to be lifted up. A way to do that is ‘tirtha’ – this is when our context is uplifting. But we cannot be context dependent and so the next part is ‘japa’ where we are lifting up our content. Then we can be in any context! For example, Bhagavati Sita is in the most awful context of Ashoka vatika where there was only shoka, but all that she was thinking was ‘Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama’, so that really became Ashoka vatika (a place where there is only Rama and no shoka).
The final part of the verse describes ‘vrata’ – to make a promise to ourselves to engage in this Anushtana that we will take up all of these or atleast one of these! Vrata is a practice that we are tending to do less of as seekers, part of this is the nature of Kali. When life moves faster, it is harder to be committed. Another reason why vrata is going away is because we are very dependent on mobile communication, and this constant external communication inhibits us from being committed. This is a problem because commitment is the way to change the nature of the mind. Nature of the mind is ‘samshaya’ so commitment or vrata is ‘anti samshaya’.
After one has sufficiently purified their mind through tapa, yajna, dana, tirtha and japa, one is ready for what is described in Verse 8 as the best means to purify the mind. This is a way to rise above the mind! While everything else is about rewiring the mind, Verse 8 is about transcending the mind!
Verse 8:
vicārah sādhanam sreshtam varnyate atra yathāmati ;
mahattvam tasya vai proktam krshnena svayameva hi
Vichara – inquire
Sadhana – means
Sreshta – best
The best means to purify the mind is vichara.
Sadhana: We tend to use ‘means’ in our life unconsciously. For example, when we use an ATM, we just use it but we don’t really pause and think about details such as ‘this is a facility provided by the bank for me to access funds to buy coffee’. Our eyes are the means to see colors and forms, we cannot hear or taste with our eyes! So means are specific. An ATM is specific for cash, eyes are specific for seeing! Sadhana is a specific path for one to feel complete! If we are not feeling more complete, then what we are doing is not Sadhana. Sadhana is a specific path to feel the Sadhya (the ends or completeness).
Varnyate – described
Atra – here
Yatha – by
Mathi – mind
Pujya Swami Tejomayananda has shared that based on His experience, vichara is the best means as described here (in this quarter, in this line and in this book).
The greatness of vichara is also spoken about and taught by Sri Krishna Himself. Pujya Swami Tejomayananda is bringing here how brilliant and transformative vichara is, and it is backed by Guru (Pujya Swami Tejomayananda) , Gita (Verse 9 is taken directly from the Bhagavad Gita) and God (Sri Krishna).
What is important when it comes to a system of feeling oneness is ‘precedent’. In the Ramayana and Mahabharata, when someone asks a teacher a question, the teacher will usually mention where that same question was asked previously by another seeker and to another teacher. This shows ‘Shaashvata’, meaning it is ancient but still applicable. Pujya Swami Tejomayananda is following the tradition of how questions are answered. More important than what is said is, who is saying that.
Vichara: The root of the word vichara is ‘vich’, meaning to filter. The implication of a filter is that there are two substances. We want to keep one and don’t want to keep another. This means that there is something that is not right, and here what is not right is our concept of reality. When we are dreaming we feel that it is a definitive reality but it is just a concept of reality, sleeping is the same way and waking is the same way too. Reality is conceptualized through three layers of projection. This projection is called ‘Adhyasa’. The first projection is called ‘Satta Adhyasa’. Most of what we touch is actually empty space, and there is only the probability that we keep hitting matter when most of it is space. The multiverse is mostly space, and everything is vibrating so keep hitting it. But when we pick up a paper weight, it is so real, but it is just a projection and is mostly space, mostly earth and is all existence. But we project it so differently that it is a paper weight, it belongs to me etc. The next layer of projection is ‘Sukha Adhyasa’. Now that we feel that the paper weight is real, we only want to have a relationship with that which brings us happiness. We start to project happiness onto that which we feel is real.
The next layer of projection is ‘Shobha Adhyasa’. Shobha means one who is beautiful. But beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is also just a projection.
Vichara comes from ‘vich’ which means to filter, and a filter automatically applies that something is not right, and what is not right is how much we ‘project’ and how much we drown in this projection. Only God’s grace can make one shift from an ‘enquirer’ to an ‘inquirer’.
Some catalysts or encouragement on how to be one who practices vichara or inquiry:
Slow down – When we slow down, we tend to pay attention more to what is outside of us and how we are actually processing that inside of us. In Kali, worse things are happening, so slowing down is anti Kali.
Step back – Once we slow down, it encourages one to step back. This is where vichara starts and we can tune into the fundamentals. What really brings power to this is being in satsanga. In satsanga this is all explained in a systemized way by a whole lineage of teachers.
See more – Once we slow down and step back, we will come to see more. We will just see that we are projecting, we will just see that the states are just concepts of reality. The seeing gets accentuated by Sadhana. For those who practice ‘highest vocation’ or attend ‘silent retreats’ know the feeling of having a quiet inner world. That way when we go into our work or relationships and the mind becomes agitated, we know that this is not normal. Sadhana makes that filtering extreme. Vichara is the means and the ‘ends’ is that one accepts you are never separate from infinity. There actually is no ‘you’ and no possibility of separation in infinity. In tapa, yajna, dana , tirtha and japa, we are working on an entity that is presumed to be impure. But with vichara, the entity is dissolved! So naturally all impurities go too! Everything else is working on the Jivabhava (what the jiva does) , vichara works on the jiva.