PU. A simple, exceptional practice for building a healthy mind and lasting mental fitness — adapted for modern life.
PU (Patanjal Upāsanā) is a practice based on Sāṃkhya and Yoga, developed to cultivate a healthy and well-trained mind.
At its foundation is the HSMM (Harishchandra Sāṃkhya Mind Model), developed by Dr. Harishchandra. According to HSMM, every human being has Chitta — a fundamental unit of the mind and its most active aspect, through which we function in life. Chitta remains continuously active, except during profound deep sleep, when it comes to rest while the body undergoes its natural recovery from the wear and tear of daily life.
HSMM describes how a healthy and well-trained mind can voluntarily bring Chitta to rest, focus it on a specific task when needed, or make its focus dynamic according to the demands of the situation. This voluntary control enables greater control over its different dimensions.
PU is the practice through which we develop this capacity, supporting our ability to meet challenges, restore vitality and improve the quality of life.
Much of how we experience our lives is shaped by the mind. It influences how we sleep, recover, relate to others, find meaning and fulfilment, and respond to the world around us.
Yet, as we think about wellbeing, we often focus on the body while giving less attention to the systematic cultivation of the mind.
No. PU (Patanjal Upāsanā) is a precise practice, rooted in the profound framework of Sāṃkhya and Yoga.
You can simply practise it, or go deeper into the principles behind it. Nothing is hidden or held on authority alone. Practise it. Understand it. Go as deep as you choose.
Meditation, breathwork, mindfulness and more have evolved across cultures, bringing with them layers of interpretation and technique. Often, the essentials are left for practitioners to discover through years of practice.
PU makes those essential principles explicit, so you can spend less time figuring out what matters and more time practising what does. Progress with greater clarity, while leaving more time for the rest of life: work, exercise, sport, relationships and community.
It starts at the root. Original texts. Clear references. Essential principles preserved and adapted for modern life.
Refined across generations and civilizations, its foundation predates and complements modern scientific validation. Many practices today are branches of this tradition, shaped over time by new techniques and interpretations. But a plant disconnected from its roots cannot fully bloom.
Sāṃkhya is the framework. Yoga is the path. PU brings the two together.
Yes. PU works at the core of how the mind functions, helping us respond better to stress, regulate emotions and sustain attention.
It works through practice and understanding — developing emotional awareness, regulation, cognitive flexibility and self-awareness. The aim is simple: build a stronger mind, so we can meet life’s challenges better.
PU, developed through 30 years of research and study into the functioning of the mind, provides a simple way to develop greater mastery over the functions of Chitta.
It is a clutter-free practice focused on the essentials, making the development of this control simple enough to integrate into everyday life.
Dr. Harishchandra is an internationally recognized combustion scientist, Vedic scholar and author, and an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and Princeton University.
His distinctive contribution lies in presenting India’s profound inquiry into the mind in a structured and accessible framework for the contemporary world, one that illuminates how the mind works and what this means for wellbeing, human development, meaningful living, and lasting happiness.