HOW TAPAS HELPS TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING

Introduction

If you are ready to challenge yourself and bear some discomfort then, you can certainly attain your goals. A disciplined effort goes a long way. Suppose you set a goal to achieve in your life but, as soon as you face any obstacle you will get disturbed or lose interest, that difficulty somehow reduces your enthusiasm to get that goal. This is the reason we don’t pursue most of the targets, on the other hand, if someone chases them despite the difficulties on the path, they achieve success, as consistency and endurance is the key to success. Austere efforts are needed for higher goals.

In Yogic science, there is one principle called Tapa (Austerity) given by our sages for the purity of our body and mind as well as to face the obstacles with strength and positivity in every situation of life. This Tapa denotes the Yogic willpower in yogic tradition required to attain the goal. This is a boon to achieve anything. We will discuss that in this article.

Here in this article, we will cover

• Tapas in Yogic tradition
• Three types of Tapas
• How does Tapas help out? / Austerity a boon
• Wrapping up

Tapas in the yogic tradition

Tapas is a Sanskrit word, it is called austerity in English. Tapa is a skill of “toughening” oneself. When it is not possible to control the outer world then you can control or prepare yourself for the same, you can always control what goes on inside with psychological austerity which works on our mind. 

In the yoga tradition, the importance of Tapa is mentioned in many places, as a yoga practitioner or anyone willing to liberate, faces several obstacles on the path of self-realization. In Yogasutra, (the most systematic text on yoga by Maharishi Patanjali) the concept of Tapa/Tapas is mentioned under Niyamas(regulations of life) in the first chapter as

शौचसंतोषतपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि नियमाः ॥ २.३२॥

śaucasaṃtoṣatapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ Y.S2.32

Niyamas are five i.e Shaucha, Santosha, Tapa, Svadhyaya, and Ishwarpranidhana.

कायेन्द्रियसिद्धिरशुद्धिक्षयात् तपसः ॥ २.४३॥

kāyendriyasiddhiraśuddhikṣayāt Tapasaḥ Y.S 2.43

“Excellence of the sense-organs and body is accomplished following the destruction of impurity through austerities.”

The concept of Tapa is again mentioned in the Second chapter (Saadhanpaad) which shows the importance of the idea. This starts with the Kriya Yoga, This Kriya Yoga comprises Tapa, Svadhyaya, And Ishwar Pranidhan

तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः ॥ २.१॥

Tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ Y.S 2.1

Tapas (Austerity), Swadhyaya (Self-study), and Ishwarapraidhana (surrender to god) constitute kriya yoga, and this kriya yoga is the easy way to control Chitta (Mind).

Tapa is also mentioned in other texts like Bhagwadgita, Upanishads, etc. . . .

Three Types of Tapas

We found mainly three types of austerity as we are discussing below.

Maansika Tapa/Austerity of Mind

The qualities that come under mental asceticism are Compassion, steadiness, maintaining calmness, gentleness, self-discipline, psychological control, pure heartedness, Self-satisfaction as well as a meditative practice.

Vaachik Tapa/Austerity of Speech

The qualities that come under verbal asceticism are truthfulness, non-disturbing words/speech, beneficial and pleasing speech avoiding harsh words, as well as recitation of sacred chants and spiritual texts.

Shaaririk Tapa/ Physical Austerity

The qualities that come under physical asceticism are Simplicity, celibacy, non-violence, cleanliness, worship of the deity, etc. 

These all austerities are interconnected, one type of austerity helps to develop the other kind of austerity.

How does Tapas help out? / Austerity a boon

• By practicing Tapas, one overcomes the fear of pain and attains fearlessness to attempt difficult things which are required to achieve the goal. 
• The power of tolerance increases. It disciplines the body and mind
• It is intended to strengthen one’s willpower by observing small austerities such as refusing to eat for a decided period of time (fasting), the vow of silence, etc. It helps to discipline the mind. 
• It enables the human to control the impulse for material and physical pleasures, and thus, helps in the attainment of the actual goal.
• Maansika Tapa/ austerity of mind strengthens the mind.
• Shaaririk Tapa/ physical austerity makes the body strong.
• With Vaachik Tapa /austerity of speech, you get control over your speaking power.
• It prepares for consistent yoga practices or any other practice one wants to perform. 
• It helps to remove physical and mental impurities.
• Tapas increases endurance power.
• It helps to develop the passion of concentration on one point.
• It helps to remove rigidity and prepares the body for meditation and other higher practices.
• Tapa/Austerity is an important weapon to get victory in any field. 

Wrapping up

It is necessary to take extra work from the body and prepare oneself for every situation. Challenge yourself and stir up your inner fire to achieve anything you want in your life. Everyone should learn the hard lesson of life positively, as it prepares us to fight against the odds; it adds tools to deal with the further dares of life. Not only in the case of self-realization, but in day-to-day life also face many challenges e.g. you want to write an assignment, a book, or anything, but somehow you did not get that enthusiasm to do that because many obstacles interfere on the way like laziness, carelessness, lack of discipline, etc.. Then you need to come out of your limits of laziness, carelessness, or your comfort zone. 

You cannot reach the top of the mountain just by thinking about that at the bottom, you need to climb that and this climbing could be difficult and have many obstacles on the way but despite of that you have to climb and that attitude of not giving up is austerity- the will power. This hardship will result in a beautiful view and peace from the top of the mountain and that feeling is unmatchable and you will forget the hardship you have gone through to achieve that.

Tapa stands for the habit of bearing the hardship of life and skillful adaptation to the sufferings or hindrances without giving up. This is a kind of practice with efforts, in which we move towards our goal by facing physical and mental difficulties.