Manasa, vacha, karmana

Manasa, vaacha, karmana are three Sanskrit words. The word manasa refers to the mind, vaachaa refers to speech, and karmanaa refers to actions.

For the 1979 Malayalam film, see Manasa Vacha Karmana.

In several Indian languages, these three words are together used to describe a state of consistency expected of an individual. The motto Manasa, Vaacha, Karmana is usually invoked to imply that one should strive to achieve the state where one's thoughts, speech and the actions coincide.

Sanskrit words

The definitions below are from Macdonnell's Sanskrit Dictionary:

• मनस or manasa: "mind (in its widest sense as the seat of intellectual operations and of emotions)"
• वाचा or vācā: "speech, word"
• कार्मण or kārmaṇa: "relating to or proceeding from action"

These three words appear at Mahabharata 13.8.16: कर्मणा मनसा वापि वाचा वापि परंतप / यन मे कृतं बराह्मणेषु तेनाद्य न तपाम्य अहम, meaning "In consequence of what I have done to the Brahmanas in thought, word, and deed, I do not feel any pain now (even though I am lying on a bed of arrows)."[1]

These three words also appear in at least one version of the Guru Gita: कर्मणा मनसा वाचा सर्वदाऽऽराधयेद्गुरुम् | दीर्घदण्डं नमस्कृत्य निर्लज्जौ गुरुसन्निधौ || ५१||[2]

See also

• Three vajra
• Trikaranasuddhi
• The Zoroastrian principle of "Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta" or "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds," also symbolized in the Faravahar
• Manasa Vacha Karmana (1979 Malayalam film)
• The Confiteor, a Christian prayer, contains the phrase "thought, word, and deed": peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere ("I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed")
• Three wise monkeys

References

1. Sanskrit text and English translation
2. For text, see here on Hindi Wikipedia.