Tapas (The Essential Ingredient of Sadhana, Set of 3 Books)

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Tapas (The Essential Ingredient of Sadhana)
Tapas in the Bhagavadgita	The Secret of Tapas	The Concept of Tapas in Valmiki Ramayana

The word tapas, derived from the root tap ‘to generate heat’, is generally recognized in the sense of some prescribed act of afflicting the physical body, senses and mind, in order to destroy desire (tapah krcchradi-karma; vaidham klesa-janakam karma; kamanasanam tapah; etc.). Under the wide umbrella of tapas the Upanisad brings : speaking truth (rtam, satyam), studying and teaching scriptures (svadhyaya—pravacana), self—control (dama), tranquillity ‘(sama), performance of sacrifices (agnihotra etc.), entertaining guests (atithi- satkara), fasting (anasana) and many such items; How- ever eminent spiritualists, like Veda Vyasa, consider that the intense concentration of one’s mind and senses is the highest form of tapas (manasas cendriyanam ca hy aikagryam paramam tapak, Santiparvan 242.4). The reason is that the Sruti itself specifically and repeatedly advises the aspirant to seek, to realize the Supreme by means of this tapas (tapasa brahma vijijnasasva) since this alone constitutes the sure and direct means to the realization of the Supreme Reality (sadhakatamam sadhanam brahma—pratipatteh). However all other acts (mentioned above) that go by the term tapas are accepted as tapas since they distantly help (arad upa-karoti) and augment the concentration of mind.

But the treatment of the topic tapas in the Bhagavadgita is quite different, yet interesting. The logic followed by the Gitacarya seems as follows. All actions, good or bad, are performed by man by making use of anyone of his three faculties, namely, physical body (kaya), speech-organ (vak) and mind (manas). Tapas is also a kind of act. Hence there are also three kinds of tapas, kayika, vacika and manasa, executed respectively by body, speech—organ and mind.

One more point. All that exists in the universe whether substance, quality or action and so on are noticed to fall into three categories, namely, superior, moderate (or intermediate), and inferior. To the basic principles responsible for this threefold gradation of beings, the Samkhya philosophers had given three respective designations, namely, sattva (bright), rajas (red) and tamas (dark) and they call them by the general term gunna ‘strand’. These designations, the author of the Gita readily accepts as convenient technical terms for grading things of the world. Moreover the theory of three guna—s of the Samkhya might have itself had its " ultimate origin in the Upanisadic doctrine of the development of things in threefold colours: white, red and black (Chandogya VI.4; Svetasvatara, IV.5).

Now as a result, each one of the three tapas (kayika, vacika and manasa) is gradated into sattvika (superior), rajasa (intermediary) and tamasa (inferior). Thus we have nine forms of (3x3) basic tapas, each with its own sub—varieties. Of them the three superior forms of tapas help one to go up and up on the spiritual ladder; the three kinds of intermediary tapas keep man in the middle of the ladder and make him much preoccupied with worldly pursuit; while the inferior ones push the man down and down in the ladder and to the nether regions, lower animal status, etc. All these facts are logically explained lucidly in the Gila".

Professor Minoru Hara, an internationally reputed scholar in Sanskrit and in Indian philosophy, particularly in Buddhist studies has taken up for study this spiritual subject in his paper ‘Tapas in the Bhagavadgita?. While analysing the contents of the verses there of the author draws our attention to the striking parallels he could find in works like the Mahabharata, Buddhacarita, Kumarasambhava and Sakuntala, and he is not tired of citing the concerned passages there from. In this way Professor Minoru Hara’s treatment of the seemingly dry subject, tapas, has become an absorbing one. It touches the heart of readers who at times unawares, wipe off tears. This paper has appeared in the Adyar Library Bulletin, vols. 68—70 (2004-06). Yet we thought it should also reach a wider circle of persons interested in spiritual pursuit. So it reappears in the Adyar Library Pamphlet Series as no. 61.

This super book is an advanced version of my earlier title “Nija Ananda Bhodham”. This exposes my spiritual experiences at the peak of Tapas in a state beyond Thuriya where the Sadak becomes one with Divine in total wrap of omniscience intelligence. It is a super state of Tapas witnessed with mighty 18 Siddhas of yore in general and super souls like the great Agastiya, Nehrur Sadasiva Brahmam, and other like Veda Vyasa. I rank first in its series to reveal the cosmic truths of man vs. cosmic intelligence in the context of human presence on earth as autobiography highlighting and detailing various prerequisites for direct communion with God to terminate in record of cosmic truths dictated by the divine as with the Veda Vyasa. I am able to touch the plane of Saint Agastiya at will instantly for all my communion with the divine for revelations stored in the above said two titles. There are no citations or quotes in my books form any Upanishads or the great Bhagawat Gita although the origin and spirit of the contents are congruent with that of Vedas, Upanishads and Gita.

I was chosen by the divine for this mission of uplift the humanity by providing the missing-links in Indian philosophy and spiritual practice and theory. The whole contents of the 2 titles are never found in any Vedic or Upanishads text in the same order and context for the reason that my Sadhana and Siddhi rank with the great Veda Vyasa and saint Agastiya in its way and adopt thus serving to bridge the gap between the Vedic time and the current era. God has certified then and there in above texts that it will be presumptuous for anyone on earth to claim any mastery over these 2 titles even on his repeated knocks with this study since the substance furnished there are true, divine and above all unprecedented in its descend from above to any human after Veda Vyasa. As an ordent devotee of Mula Ganaathi I take pride in the humanity as a whole as willed by the divine.

Amarakavi 's revelation overreaches the logic of all the system of philosophy and all disciplines of yoga. The summits touched by it transcend the loft peaks of Vedanta and disclose regions beyond samadhi of yoga. It is not just a Sadhana but a consummation of all Sadhanas and as such, it would admit no limitation in its operation in any dimension in the temporal as the in the eternal.

In the light of such a revelation the magnificent task of man, which in essense is the consummation of himself with the divine as the divine, does not stop with any personal aim of self-realisation but in participation of a divinely ordered cosmic plan through ascent and descent into the infinite forms of the transcendental and the temporal.

When man "Becomes God" - to choose a simple mode of expression - he must share with God himself all the delights of the divine expression and manifestation, all the sublimities of reincarnation.

This would provide the keynote of a comprehensive grasp of Amarakavi's message whose stress is not merely theoretical or practical but fuses both.

"The Secret of Tapas" is the source-book of higher research in a field long forgotten by learned scholars and seekers after truth. It is a book of inspiration and is intended itself to inspire all research.

The tradition of India is essentially spiritual and hence it is rooted in first-hand experience of sages from times immemorial. All research into the various fields of tradition such as Yoga or Vedanta would directly or indirectly belong to the experiences and the revelations of the sages. No research in India's spiritual fields would be complete without an indepth study of the revelations of the sages.

This Super Title belongs to the category of source material calling for research. Its meaning could be comprehended gradually and steadily only by such research. Hence the need for a research centre.

The "Amarakavi Research Centre" is a necessary accompaniment of Amarakavi' s philosophy as set forth in his Nija Ananda Bhodham. Of course, by the very nature of it, the research must be much more than a merely academic pursuit. The full fruit of Nija Ananda Bhodham is the fruit of "Integral Yoga" practised and lived and not merely taught and discussed. I would add that it is not confined in its relevance to Indian alone, or to anyone country, but to the entire world, East or West, North or South.

It is ancient Hindu wisdom, revived today in Yoga Drishti, as one could fathom himself beyond sense perception. This book has gone into its concise editiion now, but in its integrated thoughts with the basic text as a whole. It is "practical Yoga" enunciated in its pages, where the attempt is to transform One's Nature in a deepening oneness with the divine - the infinite. It is only there, that spiritual knowledge is acquired in intuitive thought, through progressive self-transcendence as with sages of yore.

I commend this book for universal study as it promises a value that is probably the highest - in human progress on earth and in assured claim with all nationals of the world. Amarakavi is privileged into it today and even there, never "opens himself" for personal recognition. Amarakavi is a Siddha and "Illara Jnani".

**Sample Pages**

Just as the fragrance from a tree laden with flowers is wafted across a distance, the fragrance of a good life comes to us crossing the barriers of time. Such was the life of the Retired Honourable V.S. Srinivasa Sastri. We have met to pay homage to his memory by bringing our minds to dwell upon some aspects of the Ramayana which was so dear to him and which offered to him and which offered to him the greatest consolation in his last days. He delivered thirty discourses on the Ramayana under the auspices of the Sanskrit Academy in the Sanskrit College campus in the year 1944. At the conclusion of the lectures, Sri. P.S. Sivaswami Iyer who presided said that by delivering these lectures on the national epic of India, Sri Sastri had added one more to the manifold and valuable services rendered by him to country. His services to the cause of education and politics is well known. He pursued the middle path in his approach to life’s problems and was kind of bridge between the extremists and the conservatives, between dogmatism and nationalism. Starting as a teacher, he rose to command the respect of the leaders of the world. His English was faultless and mellifluous and won the admiration of Englishmen. The beauty of his style can be enjoyed in every page of his lectures on the Ramayana which has gone through four editions, and I presume, is awaiting the fifth.

In His introductory talk on the Ramayana, he observes:

The fundamental postulate is that an epic is a great work of art which is intended expressly for the edification of man. If God took the shape amongst us as one of us, He did so for the purpose of giving us instruction how to live, how to prepare for our parts in life, how to go through it.

Sri Rama was an embodiment of the great virtues of human character. Hear him speak, see him do things, have anything to do with him, come under his influence, you cannot escape the touch of divinity. That is why the study of his life is more profitable to us from the point of view of the soul than the study of the lives of other heroes.