There is a teaching I return to often that has subtly anchored my practice for years. It comes from the yogic understanding of Shiva and Shakti, not as abstract deities, but as the living architecture of reality itself.
Shiva is the substratum, pure consciousness, the unchanging ground beneath all experience. Shakti is the display, the movement that arises from that stillness: every thought, every sensation, every choice, every habit. The Whole (Shiva) is already complete. But the parts (Shakti) – our attributes – can be refined.
This is the heart of what the yogis call Shakti sadhana. And it begins with a concept I find both humbling and deeply practical: puṇya.
Puṇya is not moral goodness in a superficial sense. It is the deliberate refinement of our attributes so that they no longer obscure our deeper nature.
When our puṇya is small, the world feels small and contracted. Our orbit tightens around “me and mine.” We take trivial things too seriously and lose sight of what actually matters. This is where a crisis of conscience begins, we stop listening to and heeding the quiet inner voice.
To cultivate puṇya is to reverse that contraction, not through grand gestures or dramatic transformation, but through small, conscious shifts. The questions I ask myself are simple:
How can I be slightly better today? What would love do?
The goal is not to be perfect or ‘enlightened’, just a little more aware, more kind and considerate than yesterday.
The Role of Practice
Every small refinement requires energy, and since there is enormous inertia in our system, we need to build and refine our energy. Patterns of thinking and behaving have accumulated over years, sometimes lifetimes. This is exactly why we practice.
We get on the mat as an act of ignition. Breathwork, kriya, and mantra mobilize Shakti. They build the inner potency required to dissolve old patterns and create new ones. Once energy begins to move, transformation gathers momentum.
But that first step – overcoming inertia – is often the hardest.
Strength & Humility
As we cultivate inner energy and strength, and begin to shift our perspective, our attributes: habits, ways of thinking and feeling start to become apparent. Now, we have something tangible to work with. If we have a tendency to speak negatively, to complain, or blame, we can begin to make a new choice. Each time we do this it strengthens us and supports a new way of being in harmony with our conscience and inner being. This in turn supports how we speak, the way we walk into a room. The tone we use when frustrated. These are all expressions of Shakti – and they are all available for refinement. A RADICAL ACT
Our current cultural climate amplifies the egoic impulse. We are encouraged toward self-absorption, comparison, and constant consumption of information, of experiences, of attention. In such an environment, cultivating puṇya is quietly radical.
Each choice to serve rather than dominate, to listen rather than argue, to hold space rather than retaliate, begins to restore balance. Not just within ourselves, but in the field around us. And as our attributes are refined, the substratum naturally shines through.
We do not manufacture Sat-Chit-Ananda – pure Being, pure Awareness, pure Bliss. We remove what has been obscuring it.
We stop feeding animosity and start nourishing kindness. We empty the house of unnecessary clutter like resentment, pride, and complaint. We discover that the heart, once cleared, feels full. The invitation is simple: Take one step today. Offer an act of kindness. Have a loving conversation in the place of complaint. Practice one kriya with full presence.
And gradually, the Whole that seemed distant reveals itself as the very ground of our being.