The greatest step a human being can ever take is to renounce the world and dedicate their life to spiritual improvement—helping themselves, helping others—by becoming a monk. Tania Máynez, a spiritual practitioner of five years, became Sadhvi Anubhuti when she took Jain Sadhvi Diksha into the Siddha Sangh Order under H. H. Acharya Shree Yogeesh at Siddhayatan Tirth (Dallas, Texas). Tania, 33, was born and raised in Mexico to a highly cultured and principled, hard-working family and moved with her family to Houston, Texas when she was 12 years old. She attended the University of Houston and graduated with Cum Laude honors and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing degree, a Minor in French, and an Advanced Certification in the Program for Excellence in Selling. Following her education, she had a very successful marketing and sales career. When Tania was 29 years old, she met her guru Acharya Shree Yogeesh for the first time at Siddhayatan Tirth when she was seeking a spiritual retreat. Inspired by his guidance and teachings, she began practicing nonviolence, meditation, yoga, mantras (such as the Namokar mantra), pranayama, and became vegetarian. In October 2012, she expressed her deep desire to become a Sadhvi and lead a meaningful life and Acharya Shree accepted her for full training four months later.
After three intense years of training—discipline, studies, scriptures, and sadhana—Acharya Shree announced Tania was ready to take her lifelong vows, take diksha, and enter the difficult life of a Sadhvi. Diksha is the ceremony of initiation into monkshood; a sadhvi is a female monk. Tania’s diksha was a two-day event on July 8th and 9th, 2016. The diksha festivities began in McKinney, Texas at a Jain family's home for an evening of mehndi rasma, bhajans, and bhavana. The following day, the local Jain, Hindu, and Siddhayatan Spiritual community came together at Siddhayatan Tirth to witness a historic moment—the first Mexican to take Jain Sadhvi Diksha.
 The program opened with the entrance of Tania dressed in a beautiful and sparkling reddish orange wedding attire and makeup, accompanied by her mother, Chelo Máynez and sponsor Vanita Jain. Before taking vows, the wedding aspect of the diksha ceremony is to show her in the worldly life before she leaves it behind. It also represents a “marriage to paramaatma" (God). 
(Tania escorted by her mother, Chelo Máynez (right) and diksha sponsor Vanita Jain (McKinney, Texas).)
Once she took her seat, the Tilak Ceremony began. The Tilak Ceremony is symbolic of Indian culture, love, activation of the third eye, and the community showing their support for her to enter the monastic life. Everyone, including children, from the culturally-diverse crowd participated in the Tilak Ceremony.
Upon completion of the Tilak Ceremony, Acharya Shree announced it was time for Sadhvi Chola when her colorful clothes are changed and simple white robes become her new attire. This moment symbolizes renouncing the worldly lifestyle to lead a simple life of the renunciant and the white color represents nonviolence, peace, and protection.
While Tania was getting ready, Acharya Shree gave pravachan (spiritual discourse) and explained the meaning of diksha, the difficulties of the path, and the Five Mahavratas (Great Vows) that she was going to take--nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, brahmacharya, and non-possession.
Acharya Shree said, "The diksha Tania is about to take is not an easy one. It takes a brave and courageous soul to leave the world and family behind. The vow she takes today is forever. Many think they can take this step and many desire spiritual monk life, but it is rare for someone to actually make the leap. I give a lot of credit to her. She has trained and worked hard on herself for three years. She left a successful life. She left her family. She is ready to endure the path of a Sadhvi. She is dedicating her life to find freedom. You must know, in order to share freedom, you must first have it yourself. It's not easy an easy thing to achieve, but it is not impossible. She will reach her goal one day. My question to all of you is, if she can renounce the whole world today, can you at least renounce one thing in your life that is causing harm to yourself or others?" He also stressed the importance of gender equality and that both women and men can achieve moksha--enlightenment and liberation--if they free themselves from karma and the cycle of birth and death. According to Acharya Shree, "Diksha is the first step towards liberation."
When it was time, Tania came from her room, adorned in her all-white outfit, welcomed by loud applause of the crowd. It was during this time Acharya Shree asked for everyone’s undivided attention. Pin-drop silence filled the room. It was Tania's moment.
Acharya Shree asked Tania's family to stand up and asked publicly for permission for her to become a monk. They said, “Yes!” loudly and proudly. He then asked the dedicated Jain family, Vanita and Sanjeev Jain, who sponsored the diksha for permission from the community for Tania to enter the life. With big smiles, they said, “Absolutely!”
With full approval from the family and community, Acharya Shree asked Tania to stand up to take her vows. She folded her hands in prayer position, faced Acharya Shree, and repeated her vows in the Prakrit language one word at a time. It was a beautiful, significant, and powerful moment. Acharya Shree gave her the name “Sadhvi Anubhuti.” Anubhuti means “realization.”
 Afterward, Sadhvi Siddhali Shree spoke about Sadhvi Anubhuti's best luck to take diksha from an arihanta, a living enlightened master. She expressed the rarity of Sadhvi Anubhuti's diksha, because she is a special and spiritual soul. Sadhvi Siddhali Shree said, “According to Acharya Shree, only 1 out of 1000 souls that take diksha are truly spiritual. The other 999 souls are religious. Spirituality liberates you, not religion. Sadhvi Anubhuti is that 1 out of 1000. Acharya Shree only accepts the spiritual truth seeker under his wing.” As a newly initiated Sadhvi, Sadhvi Anubhuti delivered a powerful, inspiring and enlightening Pratham Sambodhan, her first speech. She first began by sharing a poem she wrote titled, "Let It Be."
A few lines from her poem: “… If I’m going to have courage,
Let it be courage to face the challenges of the path. If I’m going to feel pain,
Let it be the pain of burning karma. If I’m going to judge,
Let it be to judge my intentions. If I’m going to work,
Let it be to work on myself. And if I’m going to move,
Let it be to move towards eternal freedom.”
After her poem, she gave a 20-minute speech filled with heartfelt gratitude to her guru, teachers, and family, a talk on how she got to this special day, her four main wishes and goals, and a comprehensive talk on success, love, and death. In addition to her speech, she also spoke briefly in Hindi and Spanish.
Sadhvi Anubhuti expressed, “With Acharya Shree’s blessing and guidance I wish for my soul to achieve four things: I would like to serve humanity and help those in need. With so many blessings in my life, I cannot turn my back against those living in fear, pain, and suffering. I would like to spread Acharya Shree's teachings and the teachings of the Tirthankaras because I know that this will help pave a road for those souls seeking liberation. I wish for my soul to inspire others to work on themselves, to find themselves, and to find the incredible things I’ve discovered through spirituality. And last, I wish for my soul to reach its highest potential in this life.”
The community witnessed a very special event and many said they felt “privileged” and “honored” to be there. Some traveled from as far as Canada, Mexico, and nearby states to attend the event. At one point in the ceremony, some members claimed to feel an angelic energy and presence. The diksha of Sadhvi Anubhuti took place at Siddhayatan Tirth in Windom, Texas, which was founded by Acharya Shree Yogeesh in 2008. Siddhayatan Tirth rests on over 155 acres of beautiful rolling hills and is known for its bubble of powerful energy, peace, and spiritual impact. Hundreds come to Siddhayatan Tirth each year to participate in yoga, meditation and spiritual retreats, at which time students are introduced to the universal Shramanic teachings of nonviolence, compassion, and vegetarianism. Sadhvi Anubhuti concluded, “If I live my life like this, then I will know that I lived a meaningful life. And if at least one person becomes inspired to do the same, then I will know that absolutely everything was worth it.” Email to receive the full transcript of Sadhvi Anubhuti's speech and video of diksha once it becomes available. | 
