All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Two Steps to Spiritual Ascent
- Yoga & Tapa - IV
[This is the final instalment of the discourse on ‘Two steps to Spiritual Ascent –Yoga and Tapa’ delivered by Pujya Gurudev Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya. In the previous instalment, the in-depth meaning of “Yoga” was discussed with motivating guidelines on adept execution of this spiritual endeavor. Here we continue with the guidance and live-examples, including Gurudev’s personal experiences with the miracles of true yoga. His further discussions and thorough instructions on Tapa are also presented.]

Friends,
The first step to yoga as part of your spiritual development is that you should endeavor to become a devat3 (divine being — a generous giver) and not a possessor or a beggar. Let us look at another example of a devat3 in human form, who in spite of being deprived of worldly resources and support, made such great contributions to the society that have glorified humanity forever.

A Unique Well:
If you want to see a mark of what is selfless service to the society, you must visit the “Pisanhari ka Kuaó” (a well named after a grain-grinding woman) in Mathura, U.P., India. About a century ago, there lived a poor widow in a village near Mathura. She used to grind wheat flour by hand-driven stone-grinder to earn her living. She used to earn about two paisa per day on an average by hard work. She would save one paisa and somehow manage the expenses of her simple living using whatever remained. By the time she grew very old, she had saved about two big pots filled with one paisa coins. One day she called some responsible citizens of the village and asked them to use her savings for the welfare of the village. They all discussed and collectively decided to dig a well near the road, as there was no good well in the village at that time. Upon her consent, a big well was built along-side the road used by the villagers to commute to-and-from the village on foot. The total sum saved by that lady was about five hundred rupees, which, in those days, was quite substantial to dig a deep well and build concrete walls inside it.

Surprisingly, the water of this well was soft and tasty, whereas water available elsewhere in Mathura town was hard, which tasted somewhat salty. Even now, the underground water found in Mathura, including the wells dug as deep as about eighty feet, is hard and ‘salty’, but the water of the well built by that saintly woman still gives clean, ‘sweet water’. In the honor of her altruistic activity the well is rightly known as Pisanhari ka Kuaó. It continues to be a popular spot (located about 5-6 kilometers from Mathura) on the Mathura-Delhi road. Considering its utility, some mango trees and gardens have also been grown around it. For long distance tourists, it is a point of sojourn; for the people in and around the town, it is a picnic spot; many times villagers also bring some patients — including those of tuberculosis and typhoid, and some other diseases here, as they believe that the water of this unique well also has medicinal properties. Sometimes people camp here for few days and live in the tents to improve their health. So this place also serves as a ‘natural sanatorium’.

A distinct Jain temple popularly known as Pisanhari ko MaÃhiya on a hill-top in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India is also said to be built by the savings and dedicated efforts of a poor flour-grinding woman. The two grinding stones that were the source of sustenance of her life are prominent part of this monument.

You should also introspect to find, whether, instead of piling up varieties of things (in your possession), can you distribute some of your belongings or share some of your resources for some welfare activities, contribute for the betterment of the society and nation, deploy your potentials for some worthy cause? If you sincerely proceed and progress on the path of generosity and self-less service, I will call you a devata.

My Personal Experiences and Message:
I had got my share of about 80 bigha (about two hundred fifty thousand square feet) of land from my ancestral property in my village (Anvalkheda, district Agra, UP, India). The village was quite green and full of farm fields, as it had water canals for irrigation. But the literacy level was quite low there when I left. Only three persons, including myself, had studied up to middle school in that entire village. I donated my land and established a Higher Secondary school on it. Hundreds of village-girls, including those from the so-called extremely backward class of society, also got educated there. By now this school has expanded into a full-fledged degree college with an enrolment of about three to four thousand students from the village and nearby region.

Many of my relatives had asked me to give that land to them. But I told them — if you are physically disabled or otherwise handicapped, then I can consider helping you in the best possible way; otherwise you should not depend upon my support; you should earn your living through your own hard work. In my views, even I don’t have any right on using this property that my ancestors had earned by hard work. So I have donated it on their name for the upliftment of the poor and needy people here and in the neighboring villages.

The Almighty has gifted me with bright intellect; I have not let it go waste in any wrong or selfish activity. If the royalty of all my writings (books, magazines and other articles) was claimed, this monumental literature would have generated an income of several lakhs (hundred thousands) of rupees per annum. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru used to get royalty for his books, after him the successive generations of his descendents continue to get this royalty. That way using the royalty of my books, several generations of my descendents would have enjoyed fat income free of exerting any work from their side. But I did not do that; as you might know, none of my writings is copy-righted. I have dedicated my intellect, all my talents, and potentials, to my divine mentor; I have sacrificed every moment of my life, all my efforts for the noble goals guided by Him.

Invaluable Returns from the Almighty:
In return of my wholehearted sacrifice for benevolent objectives, my divine mentor – the Almighty God has offered me everything, in
fact, enormous boons, without any request or expectation from my side. As evidence, you may look at the miraculous accomplishments of our great mission (of global enlightenment and awakening of divinity in humankind through thought revolution). It is said that the Indian mythological scripture (Puranas) were written with the combined efforts of two divine powers — Maharshi Vyas used to utter the text / narrate and god Ganesh used to write it down. All alone I not only translated and wrote the commentaries on all the Puranas, but also did it for the four Vedas and the 108 Upanishads, which the great saptarshis (seven divine sages of the Vedic Age) together had compiled. Moreover, I could do so without any library or any other support or resource, in a limited time period of about one year sitting on a rock at the arduous heights of the Himalayas. Isn’t it miraculous? Well, although visibly it was my endeavor, in reality it was also the divine force of my angelic Guru that worked from behind because of my complete surrender
for a divine mission.

As per the subtle instruction of my Guru, once I was to visit abroad to disseminate the light of spirituality. (During my sublime communication with him) I expressed my inability saying that I can only speak Hindi, how will I communicate with the people over there? What will I do there? He assured me that his ‘brain’ and ‘tongue’ will be with me whenever required. Indeed, Friends! I could understand and speak in several languages during that tour of several countries across the globe. So you see the miracle of (true)
yoga! In return of sacrifice of all my ambitions, expectations, talents and other resources, and thus an absolute connectivity (yoga) of my soul with God, my Almighty Guru’s powers and resources, became mine.

I had donated the few lakhs (as part of the ancestral property in my name) for altruistic purposes; and in turn the Almighty’s treasure
got open for me for all the benevolent projects undertaken as part of our mission. Look at our mission’s establishment of Yug Nirman Yojna. The land and the construction here valued about a million at that time (late 1950s). I hardly had any resource for it; my wife voluntarily donated all her jewelry for it. But you see all this construction and the activities here became possible without any external grant or support!

Upon completion of my 24 Mahapurïcharan Sadhana, a thousand kuñÃoya (altars) Gayatri Yagya was organized here. Apart from arrangements of the yagya, we also arranged for the 5-days stay for nearly four hundred thousand participants from different parts of India. Apart from them, the local participants, volunteers, also used to get free meals here twice a day. Sanitary facilities, drinking water, electricity, everything was arranged for free, no fee was charged. This grand arrangement of about five million (rupees) became possible as a ‘dividend’ of my five lakhs ‘investment’ (donation of all I had ever earned/ acquired from ancestors) in God’s funds.

These are only few examples. The magnificent growth of our mission on no-profit basis stands as testimony to the limitless grandeur of yoga. As a tiny drain becomes Holy Ganges after sacrificing itself in the river, similarly, my selfless dedication to the divine objectives has blessed me with infinite grace.

If you want to endeavor true yoga, you will have to first conquer the hurdles, the barriers of ego, ignorance, selfish attachments, vices and weaknesses rooted within you. As I had explained earlier, tapa is essential for this inner purification.

Glazing through Tapa:
Tapa (tapasya) pertains to self-discipline and self-refinement. Penance and various disciplines of fasting, restraining of the sensory
passions, etc, are practised under tapa. This is like willingly imposing some kind of self- restraint on the body and mind. Not taking any meal on one day particular day in a week or a fortnight; or living only on water on such a day, etc are common examples of fasting to restrain the greed of the tongue. Observance of silence, sleeping on the floor, walking barefoot, restrain from watching favorite entertainment show, etc, are other common practices of penance. Living under scarcity and hardship, while one has abundance of comforts in his free-possession is what helps restraining the passions and agility of mind.

Ample examples around us illustrate the importance of “tapa”. Glorious peaks cannot be reached without climbing up the arduous heights and conquering challenging hurdles and adversities on the way. Look at the lives of great personalities and their immortal achievements! They have renounced self-comforts and sacrificed self-interests for the welfare of humanity. “Tapa” literally means “to heat up”. The glow of eminence like gold emerges only from the intense heat of the furnace of refinement.

Gold attains its precious glow only after purification in fire. Initially the bricks are soft and unstable like the wet clay-mix they are made up of. But once they are processed in the extremely high temperatures inside a brick-kiln, they get so strong that stout structures / buildings stand on their support for hundreds of years, bearing severity of monsoon, winter and summer. Bhasm (a kind of high-potency traditional medicine) is a special kind of ash prepared by slow and tedious process of heating and burning of specific metals. Wrought iron is melted, purified, and processed in fire for longtime; then only it gets converted into strong, high-quality steel. This is what unflinching tapasy3 (tapa) does — it purifies, ‘processes’ (trains), and transforms ordinary mortals into great, eminent, glorious, immortal, ideal, venerable, and angelic characters.

Raw, sour mango fruit gets its superb sweetness only after it is naturally ripened under proper warming. Tiny filament in a bulb gets heated up (by electric current); it then illuminates the surroundings. The thread of a candle or the wick of a dopaka (lamp of ghee or oil) burns and spreads light in its surroundings. The effect of your tapasya with a feeling of devotion should also sweeten your sentiments and behavior. Your tapa coupled with Swadhyaya and Satsang 1 will help spiritual illumination of your thoughts and intellect. Swadhyaya and Satsang would also inspire and motivate you for difficult tapasya and render great support in this endeavor. You are being given initial training and experience of this in the sadhana course here.

Permanent joints of metals are made up by welding, which is also possible only by heating and melting in the flames/high- voltage electrical currents. Devout tapasya and consequent spiritual illumination helps the ‘welding’ (yoga) of the individual self (jivatma) with the Absolute, Eternal, Divine, Supreme Soul (Paramatma). Our great rishis (Vedic sages) had attained supernatural powers, supramental talents, ultimate divine realization and eternal beatifying bliss through tapa and yoga. Our ancient (Vedic) texts of divine knowledge, our divine culture are focused at this ultimate truth of holistic development of life and evolution of consciousness.

Friends, I hope that you would continue with your tapa after completion of the sadhana session  here. Remember that the first and most important step for you is self-control over the sensory organs. Unchecked sensory pleasures drain out your vital energy; the passions of instinctive joys and consequent excitements will also weaken the mental strength and energy that you might acquire
through devotional and spiritual practices, and by blessings of saints. Restraining this severe loss will result in significant improvement in your health. Vigor and vitality of body and mind is important for your progress in higher-level endeavors of tapa for mental and emotional purification and strengthening. Tapa-Sadhana will gradually result in spiritual refinement and enlightenment of your subtle and astral bodies and thus advance your spiritual journey on the path of ultimate yoga.
|| Om Shanti ||

Notes:
1.Swadhyaya: Self-study and self-training in the light of sagacious thoughts and teachings of elevated souls. Satsang: Attending enlightening discourses, discussions; being in the company of great personalities.