Sage of Kanchipuram (Maha Periyava) once explained what is Trikarana Suddhi to a few students. Sharing the story & experience!

Maha Periyava is known for his unique ability to explain complex topics in a very simple manner that everyone can understand.

Once he was addressing a group of students who had completed their exams and got their results. He was enquiring about the scores of individual students in various subjects and suddenly turned around to address all of them.

He said “I have a question for all of you. If you score 90% in Math, 60% in Physics and 20% in Chemistry, can you be considered to have passed the exam?”

Unanimously all students shouted “No”

With Maha Periyava, every question and answer has a hidden reason and the resulting explanation is usually wonderful!

Maha Periyava smiled and asked “Why is that so?”

Students started explaining about the rules of the examination and how one needs to pass in all the subjects to be considered for a passing grade.

Maha Periyava smiled again and asked “Okay. Consider this – Your actions are good and you score 90% for your good actions. Your speech is average and you score 60% in it. You are weak in your thoughts and hence score 20%, can you consider that you would pass God’s exams?”

There was pin-drop silence in the room. Instantaneously, everyone in the room was analyzing their actions, speech and thoughts.

Maha Periyava continued “Just like you cannot pass your academic exams without scoring well in all the subjects, you cannot pass God’s exams without scoring well in your thoughts, words and deeds”

He added “This is Trikarana Suddhi. Cleansing our thoughts, words and deeds to ensure they are pure and good is a stepping stone to step into the journey to reach the Supreme.”

And that is how a Guru (teacher) shows the way 🙏🏻