Manah Shodhanam

The problem of mind control is as old as the hills. The mind never tires of playing tricks and there is no way to peace unless it is tamed. Indeed he is strong who conquers others, but he is mighty who conquers himself. Manah Sodhanam is an original Sanskrit composition of Swami Tejomayananda. This text and commentary helps us understand the working of our mind and gives practical solutions of how to tackle it. With a pure mind life becomes cheerful and meaningful and finally peaceful and blissful.

In Sanskrit, 'manah' means mind and 'sodhanam' means purification. Purification of the mind is relevant in all walks of life, secular or spiritual, to the individual or the community. Impurity of mind is the cause of sorrow and agitation in us, and this in turn is reflected in the society as well. In present times, we give much importance to our body (seek tasty food, comforts and good physical appearance) and to our intellect (through the gathering of secular knowledge and the pursuit of many academic degrees). However, between the physical and intellectual aspects of our personality, there exists another very important factor - the mind - which we tend to neglect to a great extent. According to Vedanta, the mind is the seat of emotions. Unfortunately, the only time we seem to pay attention to the mind is when we are going through an emotional crisis, and that too only when we are told by someone else that our problem is a psychological one.

We do not understand the cause of our problems, which is why there is so much depression at the individual level and conflict at every level - societal, national or international. We see that these conflicts are born out of our own likes, dislikes, passions, hatred and prejudices. War and strife exist because we cannot tolerate a different skin colour, a different religion or a different political ideology. Although we may generally be very rational beings, our sense of reason disappears when our mind gets clouded by narrow views. Sometimes we are very patient and helpful towards the rest of the world but not to our immediate family members! Let us consider the problems of the mind more deeply.

**Contents and Sample Pages**