Arjavam comes from the word rju meaning straight. When there is an alignment in thought, word and deed, it is arjavam.

Having psychological adjustment leads to having values in life. When a man has values in life, he is peaceful. When adjustment is complete in a camera, it gives a proper, good picture. Similarly, when the mind has minimum distractions, introspection begins and extrovert nature of the mind goes. Mind gets extrovert because of wrong values. Those wrong values have to be corrected to have atmasanti (peace of mind).

Mind adapts different defense mechanisms to avoid anxiety. Since mind has tensions, it takes various forms of defence. These forms of defence, called repression, suppression, codependency etc, have to be addressed

Why does a person say something and behave in a different manner? Why does he deny a problem even when the problem is evident? Mind needs to face the reality. When faced with a real situation, mind gets shaken. If we avoid facing real situations we will remain weak for ever. We need to look into the causes of defence mechanisms to have arjavam in our life.

Arjavam is eliminating the gap between what we think, what we say and what we do. Mind, speech and body should be in consonance with each other. Having alignment among all the three functions is needed.

(to be continued in the next issue)