8. Self Discipline - Tapa
Tapa is self-discipline voluntarily imposed by yourself with total cooperation of the mind and intellect. While we are crossing the river of life there are six crocodiles which trouble us: passion, anger, greed, attachment, pride and envy. Unless the trouble from these crocodiles is reduced we are not going to be happy. Constant pursuit of material objects will never culminate in finding worthwhile solutions to our problems. The problems multiply, giving rise to a built-in mechanism which defies all solutions. The problems are resolved only by practice of Tapa.
Tapa sensitizes the body, makes the flow of PRANA harmonious and the
will power is strengthened. The resistance that the body and mind
offer in the pursuit of the Path of Light is broken and the bodily
vehicle becomes a more sensitive instrument of consciousness.
Control over the body brings about harmony between intellect and
emotions. This is Tapa, the process of character building through
discipline. Tapa is an effort to exercise control over Prana, the
life energy that connects us with the cosmos and pulsates through
us. Control over Prana means control over mind. Tapa establishes us
in a state of fearlessness born out of love. Tapa begets utter
humility which accentuates our journey on the Path of Light. Tapa
grants us true understanding wherein love synthesizes with
discipline and duty takes the total coloration of bliss. Tapa
improves our perception and grants us the ability to see through the
vicissitudes of life. By practice of Tapa we bear with fortitude
unpleasant situations in life and experience without infatuation the
pleasant ones. Tapa unburdens the mind by transformation of the
attitudes.
Tapa unlocks the latent powers within us and makes them patent.
Creative powers and true knowledge dawn through Tapa. If we remain
unattached to these creative powers and do not hanker after them we
enter higher states of consciousness. Tapa is like fire which finds
its own way to spread itself. Tapa makes us realize the evanescent
nature of material conditions and thus our attachment is reduced.
Then the fountain of joy gushes forth and mental agony, anxiety and
tension are relegated to the limbo of the past.
If a desire is fulfilled it gives rise to two more desires. If it is
not fulfilled it leads to anger. Thus a satisfied desire leads to
hunger for more desires and an unsatisfied desire leads to anger.
What is the way out? A person feels that the moment of gratification
of his desire is his highest moment of happiness. However, a little
more examination will show us that it is not the gratification of
the desire that has brought about this happy state of mind but it is
the eradication of the desire that makes us happy. There is no more
burden of the desire on the mind and hence, we feel happy. If we are
able to bring about this happy state of mind by eradication, then
our work is done.
There is a difference between appetite and hunger. Hunger is a
natural demand by the body. Supposing one evening you have
over-eaten and you go out for a stroll. While walking through the
streets you pass by a restaurant. From the glass show window you see
sizzling food being cooked inside and your eye is stimulated. You go
a few steps ahead; a waft of breeze brings the smell of food and you
hear soft music being played inside. Your ear is stimulated. These
stimulants create an appetite and quietly you enter the restaurant
and help yourself to your heart's content. The momentary contents of
the heart however, are not shared by your overwrought stomach,
contributing to ill health. Someone abuses you or says something bad
about you or you think he has said something bad about you and you
get angry. If you decide to cut your own fingers because of this,
you would be called a fool.
Now look what happens when you get angry. The pupils of your eyes
expand and your breathing becomes fast. The metabolism is affected;
the endocrine system is affected. This puts a strain on the nervous
system and the mind is disturbed. Is this not similar to cutting
your own fingers, if not worse? What do you gain by getting angry?
You hurt yourself and in no way do you improve the person who you
think is the cause of your trouble. The intellect thus tells us that
one should not get angry. However, mind is in certain grooves of
habits and it needs to be trained to get out of those habits. This
is Tapa. Practice of Agnihotra helps a good deal in this effort.
Most misunderstandings and quarrels arise because we cannot control
our tongue. Hence, we may start practicing a few things. The list is
not exhaustive but merely illustrative:
· Do not show your importance while you speak.
· Do not use harsh or spiteful language. Truth can be told in a
palatable manner.
· Do not indulge in backbiting.
· By describing other persons' faults you wish to show that you are
superior.
Avoid this. With speech much energy is consumed. We should learn to
conserve it.
· If someone speaks ill about another person in his absence, treat
him as an uninvited guest.
· Get rid of the habit of blaming others when things do not come
about the way you wish them to be.
· Never speak ill of others. You create evil thought forms which
impinge upon you and weaken the mental fibre.
· Do not get into a holier-than-thou attitude.
A wrong thought, word or action creates a groove in the mind and
your future thought, word or deed tends to flow in a similar
pattern. This puts a
great burden on the mind.
The moment we are disturbed we feel we must get away from this state
of mind and be happy. Happiness should be a natural state of the
mind. This is possible when all our reactions to outside conditions
flow from LOVE. In fact, when the mind takes the total coloration of
LOVE the journey on the Path of Light (Divine Path) is nearly done.
Methods to achieve this state are Tapa. From the cradle to the grave
vanity takes a heavy toll of mind energy. Due to vanity we are
unable to see the other man's point of view. Opinion is ultimately
an end product of intellect expressing itself as an attitude of the
mind. There can be several attitudes out of which ours may be only
one. Religious dogmatism is the worst kind of vanity which has taken
a heavy toll of the human race. The swollen ego struts about the
stage of life and we become miserable at every point of friction.
Vanity breeds smugness and intolerance. Our errors come disguised as
righteousness due to vanity. So-called self-righteousness is also
the manifestation of ego. Vanity is the breeding reactor where
fanaticism, orthodoxy, dogma and
cultism thrive. Bigotry never admits mistakes and invents
long-winded defense for its misdeeds. Anger and vanity thrive upon
each other. Therefore, practice the following:
· Do not hanker after name and fame.
· Do not make a vulgar show of your possessions or your academic
accouterments.
· Avoid talking about yourself. Listen more. Talk less. We have two
ears but only one tongue.
· In conversation, avoid dogmatic self-assertions.
· Be humble. Humility is the hallmark of a person on the Divine
Path.
· Do not try to pose as what you are not. Attempt to become as you
wish others to see you.
Envy is grudging desire or discontent at someone else's success.
Envy coexists with prejudiced hostility or animosity. Envy blinds us
to our own blessings. Envy clouds the intellect and disfigures the
mind. Envy leads us off the track of discrimination between right
and wrong. The Law of Karma is inviolable and hence, there is no
place for envy. To overcome envy learn to be happy at the success of
others.
Sex, when permitted to run riot, becomes lust. When sex becomes the
instrument of self-indulgence much energy is drained off and the
will is enfeebled. The more we are trapped in sex the cloudier the
intellect becomes. Passion haunts all humanity and keeps people in a
tantalizing state. It dangles the carrot of pleasant sensations
before us and makes us labor like the proverbial donkey. When the
sap is squeezed we are fit for the trash can. When sex is not
channelled, it envelops the mind and all the sensory stimuli
apparatus is enslaved towards this end. Sex then acts like a
parasite on the whole organism. This leads to violent emotional
disturbances. To restore the sexual instinct to its natural function
and to bring the emotions under the control of intellect is Tapa.
Greed chains us down to the objects of phenomena, draining all our
energy over trivial things. The same energy needs to be harnessed to
higher achievements. Initially, a person starts piling up material
things as a means for comfortable living.
Later on he gets dragged into the habit of piling up things for
their own sake. People try to adopt devious ways to acquire wealth
not realizing that they have to reap as they sow. Just think for a
moment what all this is for. lt only hardens the chain of desires
around us and chokes us further.
To eliminate the tension on the mind which comes due to attachment,
practice DAAN, the second aspect of the Fivefold Path. Bear in mind
that wealth is merely the means to an end and not an end in itself.
If robbery is sin, so is amassing material objects without the habit
of giving.
Tapa is training the mind. This training could be considered from
various aspects, e.g.: · Removal of tension on the mind which comes
due to bodily causes.
Practice of Yoga Asanas (physical postures) is helpful in this
regard.
· Removal of tension on the mind which comes about due to
disharmonious flow of Prana (Life energy) through the nervous
system. Pranayama (Yoga rhythmic breathing) helps eliminate this
tension. Yoga Asanas and Pranayama lead to good health and better
performance ability.
· Removal of tension on the mind which comes due to atmospheric
pollution. Agnihotra is the most scientific method to remove this
tension and simultaneously nourish plant life around us.
· Removal of tension on the mind which comes due to wrong habit
patterns. For this, we have first to deal with the six crocodiles
mentioned above. Mind is in the grooves of habits which exact a
great toll of energy for purposes that take us away from the Divine
Path (The Path of Light).
You like to eat your favorite dish because it grants you moments of
happiness. You like to read a novel or watch T.V. or play at the
pool table because it grants you moments of happiness. However, you
soon get tired of these external stimulants. Their capacity to make
you happy becomes marginal. Later on, sometimes, they even tend to
play on your nerves. By practice of Tapa you realize that no
external stimulants are necessary and you can be happy all the time
when the Light within shines.
The mind training which is Tapa needs to be undertaken with the
cooperation of the intellect. The methods have to be within the
reach of the average person. The Fivefold Path presented here takes
into consideration all the above aspects of the psychosomatic man
and teaches new biopsychological habit patterns which act as
reinforcers to Tapa.
Tapa purifies the body and the mind and enables us to notice subtler
aspects of behavior. lt strengthens our perception and improves the
evaluation of that perception. This results in better action. When
the mind gets purged of these six crocodiles KNOWLEDGE dawns. This
is knowledge transformed into wisdom. We enter into higher tiers of
consciousness and we feel LOVE towards all creation. This is
happiness that is not followed by unhappiness. Tapa is the key which
unlocks the hidden treasure and accentuates our journey on the Path
of Light. The traveler on the Path of Light experiences intellectual
illumination, peace of mind and total joy. Tapa enables us to
perform better in any given situation in life as we land
ourselves in higher consciousness where Universal Love is the
ultimate value.
The Kingdom of Light is within you. This is the Eternal Truth. LOVE
is the key to this Kingdom.
Om Tat Sat!