More than succumbing to all kinds of comforts that dull the senses, it is Tapasya that gives a naturally beautiful glow to the body and brilliance to the mind. No facial massage or elaborate dressing up can give this sheen of personality to an individual like Tapasya. Tapas means austerity. It comes from the root word Tapa—to burn. By practice of various Sadhanas, the impurities of the body and mind are literally burnt away. In that burning away of all discordant notes in our body-mind complex, good health expresses itself through the physical body and calmness, peace and brilliance shines through the mind.
Tapas is the yoga of acceptance. The great spiritual Master Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh sings in a most beautiful song in English beginning with, “Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise... Be good do good, be kind be compassionate| Adapt, Adjust, Accommodate—Bear insult, bear injury, highest yoga....highest sadhana.”
Any austerity practiced or endured through the body, breath, speech and mind is Tapas. It is the yoga of plain acceptance. As Manikkavasagar, a Tamil saint says in Tiruvasagam—Uninai Urukki Ulloli Perukki Ulappila Aananda Aaya—when the body is melted through that heat of tapasya, the light within shines more and more. This heat of cheerful endurance makes the body and sense organs adept and skillful and destroys impurities. Many forms of tapasya include yoga asanas, pranayama, concentration on a point, symbol, mantra or person of noble qualities or a god. Even enduring harsh words and pain is a form of tapasya. The secret of this yoga of tapas is to accept and grow.
By Swadhyaya—contemplating on the essence of your being—you achieve union with the deity you worship. Swadhyaya means many things, but everything leads to the same essence. It means study of the self. The Upanishads are books that speak of the self. Studying the Upanishads is Swadhyaya. Meditation in silence is also Swadhyaya as in meditation you get to know who you are. Study your thoughts, your emotions, your physical body and all its components so deeply that from whichever way you go, you arrive at yourself, which is the self in all. You come to that space inside you where the concepts of ‘you, me and it’ vanish. When you surrender or offer yourself totally to God, you attain a state of samadhi, or the merger of your mind and intellect, with the cosmic awareness and the supreme self. A handful of water when taken out of the river looks different but merges with it when offered back to the river. Similarly, the mind is only an apparent individual wave in the ocean. In the state of samadhi, the wave forgets it is a wave and revels in its oceanic self.
Brahmacharini Sharanya Chaitanya
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