April 14th, 2026

Our Jnana class using Manah shodhanam is very much about insight and insight manifests impact. This course is not about wanting to change. This course is about how to change. Every one of you already has this power that you want to change. So it’s not about nurturing the want, it’s focusing on the how. We have these insights and they should automatically lead to this impact. But we need some guidance. We have invested the maximum time in the wave that we’re in in our course right now. This wave is about understanding vices, more so understanding values. And if this understanding is clear enough that value will become a virtue. The value is the insight, the impact is the virtue. When it comes to converting vices through values into virtues, we need precedent. Most around us are struggling with vices like stress and procrastination and fear, so we need precedent. Precedent when it comes to self development is found in the form of maps, Shastra, etc. It would be like the one who’s found a treasure has the right to design this map. What makes a map more powerful is when this map is describing the journey of a human. When a human begins this journey, they eventually become a Seeker.

First hour of our investment began on 17 March with verse 19th. Rishi Narada is sharing with Raja Yudhishtira how he can feel the same treasure that the Rishi had found.

Review so far: 

1. The very first vice is kāma, desire. Rishi Narada has shared the value to counter this vice is asankalpāth, It means not to have fanciful thinking, not to indulge that desire. We have distilled this into a single English practice, and that is observance when a thought of something you want comes instead of instead of fueling it, observe this and that will fade away. The three T’s  on how to take a message are: 1. The farthest way is the translation. The translation is by not fancy it. It doesn’t make enough sense. Some people live in a fancy way. 2. Coming closer than the translation is the tradition. This comes closer to us, but we live in a very different world than when Raja Yudhishthira was living and that’s why 3. Third T is transformation. What will work for you? How do you relate to this to be reformed by this.
2. Vice number two is krodha, anger. The value that is shared is the Kama that we have, one should be free of that desire, if I don’t have any desires, then whether they’re fulfilled or not, it doesn’t upset me. We have distilled this into acceptance. Whatever we accept, we don’t get angry.
3. Third vice is lobha or greed. In the Gita it is shared that the three gates to hell. These are the first three of the six enemies that live inside of us. The value for this vice is artha anartha ikshaya. Ikshaya (clarity) about the Anartha (chaos or the incompleteness that comes from Artha). When you feel a possession is going to bring you peace, there’s chaos. We have distilled this into remembrance. By remembering possessions are functional, but not fundamental.
4. And finally, on 24 March, verse 19, we started off with bhaya or fear and the value that Rishi Narada shares is tatva Ava Marsha. Tatva means the fundamental, the elemental. Ava Marsha means to touch. In our commentaries, it says to understand. Often you touch something, to understand it. We have distilled this into faith. Whatever we understand, it’s less unknown to us, and if it’s meaningful, we have more faith.
5. We continued into verse 20, the fifth vice is Shoka Moha.  We zoomed into just Moha. Shoka means sorrow. Moha means confusion. Confusion causes sorrow. So we wanted to start with the entry point, rather than the eventuality. The value is “to see”. It’s very much like the word ikshaya, but the presumption is that you can see what makes sense more and you are following common sense. We have to tune into the transformation. What we explored here was fortitude. When I keep my course, I don’t give in to confusions. It’s almost like I have these responsibilities, and whether I like them or dislike them, it doesn’t matter.
6. Next vice discussed was dambha, or hypocrisy. There’s a disintegration between what I think and what I say and what I feel or act. The value that rishi Narada shares is Mahat Upāsaya. Mahat means those who are great, great in their inner world. Upāsaya revolve around them. We have distilled this into firmness. When we are around those who are living by Integrity, we have to endure that embarrassment, so that we develop this integrity and the firmness that if I fought it and I said it, then I have to follow through with it.
7. Hour 3 began on March 31st with the seventh vice. It is when it comes to yoga, that is your self development, antarāya. Antarāya means obstacles, but in terms of transformation, it is Heaviness (obstacles felt as heaviness). Rishi Narada has shared that Mauna is the way to come out of this heaviness. We have distilled this into simplicity. The simpler we live, the lighter we live. When living becomes quite complex, we start to feel exhausted and frustrated. We completed this verse with the eighth vice.
8. Which is himsa or harming. The recommendation to us is kayadi, that means the equipment (body, etc) and Ani haya which means to direct these equipments, specifically direct the body. And the way that we’re going to transform using this value is serving.  When the body is used for service, then it doesn’t get into any trouble.
9. Our fourth hour began on 7 April. Here all of the vices are connected to Dukkha that’s shared in the first quarter. Dukkha means sadness. But where is the sadness coming from? Depending on where it comes from, it has a different intensity. Vice number nine is the Dukkha that comes from Daiva. Daiva here means the circumstances, and we simplify this translation into stress, the least intense sadness is stress.  Rishi Narada shares what one needs to do is samadhina. One needs to practice Balance. Balance is this value that starts to fight against the vice of stress. The more intense form of dukkha, doesn’t come from circumstances, but rather comes from beings. That is shared in the form of bhuta. Daiva is far away. Bhuta is nearby. This Dukkha is felt as anxiety, and the way to convert this vice into a value is kripaya, which in English, means compassion. At the end of the Upanishad, the Shanti mantras at the end of the mantra, we chant, Om Shanti, Shanti Shanti. The reflection of this is the first Shanti is for within and that’s why it’s the loudest. The second Shanti is for those nearby, and the third Shanti is for those who are far away. And that’s why it’s the quietest. The third dukkha is Atma, which means within. And this Dukkha is the most intense. When stress is unchecked, it becomes anxiety. When anxiety is unchecked, it becomes dejection. Rishi Narada has told Raja Yudhishtra that the way to be less dejected is by being strong and courageous with your yoga. Yoga has been used twice now in terms of the values, and quite often, this is the solution that’s given. But for someone who wants to know the how to change, specifics are needed. Yoga viryena is reconciliation. Yoga is a perpetual betterment. We have to keep on reconciling that what we are and what we want to become.
10. Number 12 is a very universal vice, Nidra. The value that’s shared is Satva Nisha Vaya, by cultivating satvik habits.  We have to define Satva. The transformation is to be present. The philosophical way to understand this is: In Srimad Bhāgavatam, Bhagavān Brahma opened his eyes, and when he looked up, he saw darkness.  He therefore engaged in tapa. In other words, he contemplated. And in his contemplation, that’s where he felt his source, Bhagavan Narayana. Connecting this to an earlier vice, Moha which is the feeling of purposelessness. When that purposelessness becomes severe enough we just want to escape. We just want to escape. That’s why Nidra is a more severe form of Moha. Moha, I’m confused. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do today. When this becomes acute enough, I just don’t get out of bed. Then I just want to keep sleeping. So Nidra can be translated to ‘escape’,  The psychological way of understanding this I very much like that Rishi nada has shared about habits. What precedes a habit is an experience.then that becomes your vasana. So we should try to have an experience that is satvik, which means quiet. The final way to understand this is the practical way, and that is to be present.
11. The 13th vice is stated as rajas, tamas cha satvena, the vices, Raja and tamas, For us, rajas is the bigger vice. Rajas can be defined as aggression. Rishi Narada said that sattva is that which helps to fight Tama and specifically Rajas. Vivekji’s reflection on the way to fight this aggression is by being on hedge. Hedge means to put up a boundary, Whatever makes you aggressive, put a boundary between you and that factor, if a certain food makes you aggressive, don’t go to such a restaurant, etc.