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The Power of Tapas- Swami Ranganathananda |
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The word Tapas, meaning heat, indicates effort and endeavor, which has the tendency to heat up any system, physical or organic. Its nearest equivalents in English are self-discipline, austerity or penance, without, however, taking in the idea of sin and penitence associated with the last two. The ideas expressed by Tapas find, in some form or other, a place in the practical part of every religion; they find a place even in political life or scientific research. In fact, they have a place in every field where man strives for higher values. Tapas involves the voluntary and cheerful experiencing of a privation with a view to attaining a higher value. |
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By fasting, which is the commonest form of Tapas in religion, by voluntarily giving up food, man hopes to achieve self-control and inner purity. What is given up is always a lower value, and what is sought is always a higher value. If food is the highest value, then there is no meaning in giving it up. It is the same with the entire gamut of sense pleasures. A seeker of knowledge gladly welcomes privation in the field of sense pleasures. A patriot seeking the liberation of his country from political slavery cheerfully faces physical privations, and even death itself. The ethical man cheerfully undergoes physical and mental privations at the call of duty. |
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Throwing away an advantage already gained in order to achieve a greater advantage has been a characteristic of organic as well as cultural evolution. This is the only safeguard against stagnation and death. Life’s command is ‘move on’. It is especially the law of moral and spiritual evolution. The lesson here is not ‘hold on’ but ‘give up’. This is what the Isa Upanishad proclaims: ‘enjoy life through Tyaga, renunciation’. The animal has its life entirely in the senses; man, though living in the body and in the plane of senses, feels the urge to move on; through control of his nervous impulses, he develops his mental life. Disciplining the workings of his mind he achieves morality and culture, science and art philosophy and religion. Tapas thus plays a vital part in human evolution. It unties the citizen and the saint in a common discipline and quest, thus bridging the gulf between the secular and the sacred. |
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