BANGALORE: The word thapas is understood in different ways. A spiritual practice or sadhana carried over a long period of time is thapas; an act of penance for purification is a thapas. It is essentially a process of purification. Take the case of gold. If it is mixed with impurities, it does not glitter. When we melt it, the impurities burn away . After this ordeal through fire,the burnished gold glitters with a new glow.
Similarly, the hard rice turns into soft sweet food when it is cooked in a pot of boiling water. The sour, raw mangoes ripe into sweet fruit over a period of time. All these involve some kind of heating.
Thaapa means heat. Lot of inner changes have to take place in the rice and the mango before they reach the stage of perfection and fulfilment. This transformation involves waiting,suffering,patience and pain.
We have to wait and wait like Shabari or Ahalya for the grace of God.Then we mellow and mature into worthy individuals. Thapas paves way for someone’s evolution into a higher state.
Pain and suffering act as heat and melt a person’s vanity, ego and other impurities of the mind.
We are like the precious gold mixed with impurities. We have to refine ourselves before we reach God. Thapas is the way to cleanse ourselves before we merge with Him. The Ocean makes even the Holy Ganges to wait for some time before the final merger. The river has to rid itself of its impurities and then run towards the mighty ocean with its crystal clear for the sagara sangama.
Geethacharya elucidates three types of thapas which are of sathwika,rajasa and thamasa qualities. Mind,speech, and body are the tools to perform thapas. We can either sin through these tools or use them as means of liberation. According to Sri Krishna, speech should be inoffensive,true,pleasant and beneficial.Sathya, priya and hitha are the qualities which are necessary to make one’s speech Vaak thapas. Anudvega karam vaakyam satyam,priya-hitam cha yat...Once Akbar summoned an astrologer to his court for consultation.
The astrologer studied the emperor’s horoscope and stated, that his children and granchildren would die before him. Enraged, the emperor ordered the astrologer to be whipped. The astrologer met Birbal who promised to set things right. Next day, Birbal brought an astrologer to the court. The astrolger studied Akbar’s horoscope and stated that the emperor was blessed with health and longevity and would infact outlive his children and grandchildren. Akbar was pleased with the prediction and gifted the astrologer with hundred gold coins. Birbal asked the astrologer to remove his disguise and it was the same person who had been whipped the previous day. This story shows how a bitter truth can be told in a pleasing manner.Geethacharya also states that recitation of scriptures and vedas purifies speech and constitutes vaak thapas.