On the path of meditation and Self-Inquiry, we often hear about the necessity of transforming our minds into proper instruments for Self-revelation. This means cultivating a calm, peaceful, serene, and luminous mind—one capable of sustained concentration and marked by sharp perception and clarity. In the yogic tradition, this is known as the sattvic mind.
But how much importance do we actually give to developing a sattvic mind, and how do we cultivate it consistently?
Ramana Maharshi said, “When sattva, the pure and disciplined mind, comes into play, hold on to it and make the best of it.” From these concise words, we understand the essential role such a mind plays on the spiritual path. This article is an invitation to profound self-reflection and a genuine aspiration to transform our minds, hearts, and lives.
Let us look more deeply, through the teachings of great masters, at why it’s so important to attain a sattvic mind.
Why Do We Need a Pure (Sattvic) Mind?
Adi Shankaracharya, the great Advaita master, advocates a fourfold sadhana—“spiritual practice”—to attain liberation: viveka—“sharp discrimination”; vairagya—“burning dispassion”; shat-sampatti—“the sixfold wealth”: mind control, sense control, withdrawal, endurance, faith and meditation; and mumukshutva—“deep aspiration for liberation.”
According to Shankaracharya, viveka—“sharp discrimination”—arises from the purity of mind, and he recommended a gradual approach to achieve this mental purification. He stated that one should begin with the practice of selfless action, or Karma Yoga. Through this practice, the mind gradually becomes free from expectation and the sense of “mineness,” making it increasingly capable of concentration.
Adi Shankaracharya emphasized that Jnana Yoga cannot be approached unless the mind is purified and capable of concentration. He recommended practicing the main branches of yoga in the following order: first, Karma Yoga, which purifies the mind; then Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga, which cultivate focus; and finally, with a pure and concentrated mind, one can approach Jnana Yoga.
An impure mind, clouded by conditioning, cannot perceive or aspire to anything higher. We fill our minds with all sorts of distractions, living in these murky waters while mistakenly believing that they represent the reality of our existence. Ramakrishna illustrates this with the example of a fly in a candy shop: it moves from one candy to another but eventually lands in excrement. Similarly, an impure mind constantly oscillates between highs and lows, between good and bad, sometimes dwelling for long periods in negative thoughts. By contrast, a honeybee visits only the flower—not out of escapism, but out of wisdom. This is the condition of a pure mind. Ramakrishna says, “Samadhi is very easy to attain for one with a purified mind. Bhakti comes naturally.”
Ramana Maharshi echoes this idea: “Only to such a mind which has gained the inner strength of one-pointedness, Self-Inquiry will be successful. But a weak mind will be like wet wood put into the fire of jnana-vichara.”
The more we understand that the mind is merely an instrument—designed to run the programs we have planted in it, like a computer running installed applications—the more attentive we become to what “applications” reside in our minds. We can then discern which ones should be discarded, upgraded, or used less frequently. As Francis Lucille said, “The mind can become the servant and lover of the eternal splendor that illuminates thoughts and perceptions.” This is the condition of a pure mind: a servant of the Heart, a polished mirror reflecting our True Nature, a lover of Truth, and a faithful instrument for liberation.
Ramana says, “The habits of the mind, vasanas, are the obstacles that hinder realization of the Self.” Why is this so? Because these habits keep us preoccupied with external distractions, preventing us from focusing on the essence of our own existence.
How to Develop a Pure (Sattvic) Mind?
So how can we attain a sattvic mind—one that is calm, peaceful, luminous, sharp, and clear, capable of sustained focus? This is achieved through a gradual transformation of the mind, a central theme in many spiritual traditions, commonly referred to as the “purification of the mind.”
Swami Brahmananda says, “This purifying process must be gone through by everybody without any exception. There is no comfortable high road leading to salvation. We must first attune our mind to the Truth. The body is to be attuned, polarized in a certain way. The mind must be attuned, polarized in a certain way, and unless this condition is fulfilled, at least to a great extent, no contact can be brought about with Truth.”
So, let us go through some guidelines that can support this process of purification of the mind.
1. Starting Where We Are At: Accepting the Condition of Our Mind
When we look closely at our minds and sincerely analyze their state, we may notice that the mind predominantly displays ordinary states or shifts from one ordinary state to another. It may be tamasic—heavy with inertia, dullness, apathy, fogginess, weakness, depression, negative thoughts, and downward tendencies—or rajasic—charged with dynamism, hyperactivity, constantly grasping information, leaping from one “what’s next?” to another at lightning speed, always seeking excitement, or, in other words, more or less addicted to dopamine.
The first step, therefore, is to acknowledge that our mind is untamed and to accept that we are: in a sense, slaves to our thoughts—observing how we feel sad in response to a sad thought, or happy in response to a happy one. True freedom from thoughts begins with accepting the existence of this slavery. As long as we are carried away by the constant flux of thoughts, mistaking it for freedom of thinking, there is no chance to liberate ourselves from the factory of producing thoughts and genuinely tame and control the mind. Ramana Maharshi says, “The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge the progress.”
These are clear guidelines offered by Ramana, which can help us to objectify ourselves, maintain a focused direction of the practice and evaluate the progress we make.
Therefore, the next step is to start gaining freedom from unwanted thoughts and emotions, which begins with Self-observation.
2. Thorough Observation and Analysis of the Content of Our Mind: Awareness of Our Positive and Negative Tendencies and Habits— Samskaras and Vasanas
Once the first step has been taken, we need to embark with courage on a thorough observation and analysis of the different layers of our mind, both conscious and subconscious.
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it’s held that as long as the mind is preoccupied with mundane concerns, genuine spiritual transformation isn’t possible. Nagarjuna, in this tradition, identifies eight ordinary concerns that obstruct one from sincerely pursuing the spiritual path. These are grouped into four pairs: gain–loss, pleasure–pain, praise–defamation, and fame–obscurity.
For example, if the mind is predominantly absorbed in thoughts—such as, How much wealth can I gain? or How can I protect my possessions?; How can I avoid loss? or How can I get more pleasure from life?; How can I avoid pain at all costs? or How can I receive more recognition, status, and praise?; How can I avoid any criticism and defamation? or How can I get more attention, becoming someone important?; or How can I get out of my obscurity, of the feeling that nobody sees, hears, and acknowledges me?—then steadiness on the spiritual path cannot be achieved.
Therefore, in this process of observing and analyzing the mind, we’re going to encounter in a conscious way both negative and positive tendencies and traits of our mind—what we know with Sanskrit words as samskaras and vasanas. We’ll meet our selfish worldly ambitions, compulsions, insecurities, pains, fears, losses, numbness, and miseries—but also our strengths, qualities, and virtues. By deepening this process, we begin to uncover our belief system, recognizing both its destructive and constructive aspects.
I highly recommend writing down your observations about your tendencies and habits regardless of their nature—good, bad or neutral—for a sustained period, such as six months. This allows for greater objectivity. Just as if we want to clean a room that’s in darkness, we first need to turn on the light to see clearly which are the dirty corners, in the same way we need to shed the light of awareness upon our behavior to see clearly where attention is needed. In itself, this conscious observation has purificatory effects.
3. Time for Laundry and Time for Beauty: The Determination to Purify from Negative Patterns and the Determination to Enhance the Positive Ones
It’s very important for all aspirants to Self-Realization, as well as for those who are simply seeking to alleviate the suffering in their lives, to understand that the process of detoxifying the mind is slow and requires strong determination, perseverance, and patience. Just as we undertake a physical detox while accepting its unpleasant aspects and simultaneously anticipating its benefits, in the same way we must engage in the process of psycho-mental detoxification. We need to accept its various stages of discomfort and suffering while holding in our hearts a trust in the process and joyful intuition of future benefits.
We must adopt what I like to call the laundry approach: enduring the smell of dirty clothes while joyfully washing them, rejoicing in the future happiness of wearing clean clothes. This should be our attitude—one of determination, joy, and trust. No matter how many times we fall back into old destructive habits, we must stand up and begin again, without falling into despair.
The process of psycho-mental detoxification implies two aspects: a gradual release of negative habits and the constant cultivation of the virtues, such as generosity, honesty, kindness, tolerance, forbearance, love, etc.—what we know in our school as Hridaya attitudes. These two aspects work hand-in-hand. The process of releasing negative habits is always troublesome and very slow, yet each aspirant has to pass through it. As Swami Brahmananda says, “Spiritual life is a cleaning process to make the mind a good reflector of the higher things.”
In our Hridaya school, we learn again and again to witness our thoughts and emotions and, thus, abide in Stillness, which in itself will generate transformation through cessation—the dissolution of the samskaras by the power of Stillness. However, this must be accompanied by the right action arising from mindfulness in order to eradicate the destructive patterns that lead to suffering again and again. This is what we call “applied mindfulness.” It means using the clarity gained from meditation to guide our choices, speech, and behavior in a conscious, constructive, and ethical way.
Practically speaking, we can begin the detoxification process with the less harmful toxins of the mind so that we gain confidence that it’s possible to gradually release our psycho-mental toxins. For example, we can start with our habit to stare for hours at a computer screen before going to sleep, watching random content, which disrupts our sleep patterns and affects the quality of our sleep. Becoming mindful of the negative effects of such a habit leads to applied mindfulness, which entails the right action of refraining from screen use before bedtime and, instead, listening to relaxing music, meditating, or reading a few pages from an inspiring book in an atmosphere of relaxation and serenity. In this way, step-by-step, we can purge mental toxins from our being.
But which are the psycho-mental toxins? We find the most comprehensive description in the Buddhist canon. The Buddha discusses the defilements of the mind in many places, across several key discourses. Without entering in detail, it’s worth mentioning them here to clarify the direction in which we need to purify ourselves at an individual level. The Buddha speaks about three roots of the unwholesome action—greed, hatred, and delusion—and he also defines five major mental defilements, or five hindrances: sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness, and doubts. In one of his discourses, Vatthupama Sutta, the Buddha goes into detail regarding these hindrances, identifying sixteen mental defilements that one needs to purify in order to prepare the ground for enlightenment.
Here they are:
- Greed, implying desire and attachment for both your own belongings and belongings of others;
- Ill will, based on the nine types of aversion: aversion toward past actions—resentment of regret over past events or actions; aversion toward present situations— irritation or hatred towards what’s happening right now; aversion toward future events—fear, worry, or hatred toward what may happen; aversion towards oneself—self-hatred, guilt, or self-directed ill-will; aversion toward others—hatred, anger, or hostility toward others; aversion towards objects—dislike or repulsion toward things, possessions, or situations; mild aversion—minor irritation or annoyance; moderate aversion—stronger anger or agitation; and intense aversion—full-blown hatred or rage, potentially leading to harmful actions
- Anger, including irritability, irascibility, opposition, displeasure of mind
- Resentment, or hostility
- Contempt, or disregard
- Insolence, envy, avarice—stinginess, meanness, unwillingness to share
- Deceit, fraud, obstinacy—stiffness, harshness, single-mindedness, inflexibility
- Rivalry, conceit, arrogance, vanity and negligence
The Buddha offered several methods to remove defilements, but to summarize, we can say that mindfulness, or “the right seeing,” guarding the sense doors, patience, and the cultivation of the virtues—love being the highest among them—are essential for our deep transformation.
Ramana, in his concise style, similarly advises: “All that is needed is to give up thinking of objects other than the Self. Meditation is not so much thinking of the Self as giving up thinking of the not-Self. When you give up thinking of outward objects and prevent your mind from going outwards by turning it inwards and fixing it in the Self, the Self alone remains.”
He also emphasized: “Experience gained without rooting out all the vasanas cannot remain steady. Effort must be made to eradicate the vasanas. Knowledge can only remain unshaken after all the vasanas are rooted out.”
Maharishi: Practice removes the samskaras.
D: But samskaras are infinite and eternal—from beginningless time.
Maharishi: This itself is a samskara. Give up that idea and all samskaras will disappear at once.
Therefore, the practice of meditation, the right actions arising from mindfulness, and the constant cultivation of the virtues help remove the hindrances that keep us trapped in illusion and suffering.
4. Remembering the Enlightened Masters: Seeking Consciously to Gather with the Lovers of the Divine, the Lovers of the Truth and Asking for Guidance
Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche says, “No one can reach enlightenment without the blessing of a Buddha.” This is an important point to understand on our journey: we need to seek help and guidance from enlightened masters, regardless of their form—physical or subtle. They’re always ready to help, whenever we ask, with sincerity and devotion. Jesus assured us saying, “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” This demonstrates the power of Divine grace. As Ramana said, grace is ever present. We need to long for it, ask for it, and to seek it with a humble and trustful heart.
As Ramana said, “By remaining in contact with realized sages the man gradually loses ignorance until its removal is complete. Adi Shankara has said that in all the three worlds there is no boat like sat-sangato to carry one safely across the ocean of samsara.”
And Ramakrishna, “You cannot get rid of an ailment without the help of a physician. But it is not enough to be in the company of religious people only for a day. You should constantly seek it, because the disease has become chronic. Again, you cannot understand the pulse rightly unless you live with a physician.”
Therefore, gatherings with lovers of the Truth will rekindle the fire of the heart—the fire of aspiration in which we can burn away all the veils of ignorance and, ultimately, discover our primordial purity.
With the deep wish in my heart that these simple guidelines will bear fruit, let’s conclude with the uplifting words of Swami Vivekananda: “Every obstacle is a chance to grow stronger; every challenge is a doorway to new possibilities…” and “…rise with courage, act with clarity, and move forward with confidence—your path will unfold before you.”
