Tapas- Austerity

The Art of Egg Hatching

Tapas is quite an interesting Niyama. Normally, we understand it as ‘austerity,’ but delving into the word’s root reveals a deeper narrative. Discard extreme practices promoting body mortification; they only lead to misery, not growth. Embrace healthier approaches that foster well-being for lasting progress. Don’t give any thought or credence to this type of “tapas.” Tap means “to burn” or “to heat,” and Tapas can itself be seen as “fire” or “heat.” Fire, as you can probably guess, is intimately related to Kundalini energy.

Through Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga, and other spiritual disciplines, the inner fire (Kundalini) is awakened. This embodies Tapas—hence its alias as meditation, known as the art of ‘egg hatching’. In other words, it’s the incubation of your attention on your inner world with the purpose of awakening the Kundalini (fire) and giving birth to the realization of being God, the infinite consciousness. Tapas is, therefore, synonymous with spiritual practice, which is the crux of all spiritual work. If you don’t practice, you’re not going anywhere. During spiritual practice, elevate life-force, clarity, and mindfulness, cleansing both conscious and subconscious minds. Strengthen yearning for enlightenment, enhancing discernment and concentration in the process.

Intellectual spiritual understanding is a good beginning, but if you don’t put instructions and theory into action, then you’re merely playing makebelieve. You must also consciously infuse spirituality into your whole life. One hour of practice amidst worldly immersion won’t transform a seeker. Consistent lucidity beyond practice is vital for personal growth and transformation. Transitioning from a non-seeker doesn’t imply a “new self,” but introspection alters perspectives. Seeking truth transforms consciousness and one’s outlook on life.
or God) to a genuine seeker (i.e., when you realize that enlightenment, Selfrealization, God, Buddha-nature, etc., is what you truly want), there are
certain aspects, qualities, and characteristics that emerge in you, such as a sudden dispassion toward superficial things, increased interest in all
spiritual matters, a heightened sense of introspection, and a strength to face one’s own beliefs, trauma, etc. Books like this aid in awakening discernment, offering profound insights and enlightening moments. They shed light on understanding, facilitating spiritual awakening and growth. Engaging in Yogic (e.g., Kriya Pranayama, Kriya Supreme Fire), Buddhist (e.g., Anapanasati, Tummo), nondual (e.g., Self-Inquiry, Shikantaza), or other spiritual practices sharpens focus, silence the mind, and nurtures appreciation for inner silence and lucidity, the more you practice daily.

Spiritual Practice is the Golden Shining Jewel

Meditation is the art and process of realizing our inherent unity with the Cosmos—our non-separateness. Meditation, spiritual practice or sadhana is the ultimate form of activity. Daily integration of meditation fuels spiritual growth, raising your baseline consciousness steadily over time. Consistent efforts in both sitting practice and daily life drive profound spiritual progress. Dedicated spiritual practice fosters insight, discernment, and the realization of one’s boundless potential. It cultivates maturity, unveiling the unlimited nature within oneself.
Meditation, however, is a term that is poorly understood. There are countless definitions, some more concrete, while others are entirely abstract
and ambiguous. The interpretation of meditation varies across traditions, shaping its meaning as understood in diverse cultures. Different traditions assign distinct significance to the concept, influencing its portrayal in languages like English. To make sure it is clear, whenever the terms spiritual practice or
meditation are used in this book, they mean: the employment of our body, mind, and awareness in a methodical and practical manner for the purpose of achieving a deeper state of consciousness that allows one to gain insight into and then abide as one’s essence. Spiritual practice is the endeavor of finding out who we truly are. Utilizing personal consciousness to transcend limited awareness into expansive universal consciousness is our spiritual endeavor. Expanding beyond individual perception taps into broader, universal awareness. Our goal is shifting from limited individual consciousness to boundless universal consciousness, resembling divinity. Transitioning from personal limitations to embodying the vastness of the universal consciousness, akin to divinity, defines our aspiration.
Our individual consciousness, descending from the universal field of consciousness where everything lies in potential, manifests itself via the life
force (prana) which runs through our energy body by virtue of the nervous system (or nadis), passing through the seven main chakras (the main
plexuses). Imprisoned in the body, consciousness becomes identified with its limited physical boundaries. The default state for all humans is universal, irrespective of societal, financial, or intellectual differences. It transcends accolades, social standings, and personal achievements in its universality.

In this default state, it can be quite easy when going about mundane, everyday tasks such as eating, walking, or buying groceries, to be lulled into
the belief that we know perfectly who we are or what it is like to be “I.”

But do we really know who we are?

“Who am I?” is the old dictum that humanity has been asking since time immemorial. It is the most important question we can ask ourselves.
Many have tried to answer this question through intellectual effort, logic, analysis, and so on, but the chief means of Self-knowledge that still prevails
today is spiritual practice/meditation. Pragmatically employing the art of spirituality through practice is the way. Spiritual practice is the whole-being endeavor of finding out who we truly are. Continuous mental chatter amid chaotic lifestyles deprives introspection and self-inquiry moments for many individuals. The relentless stream of thoughts obstructs the opportunity to delve deeply into self-exploration and understanding. Seekers initiate meditation by persistently navigating mental clutter, often losing focus, yet gently returning repeatedly. Consistent effort involves refocusing attention amidst distractions, marking the beginning of the meditative journey.
Meditation or spiritual practice will, in the long run, lead every seeker to an experience of profound tranquility, spaciousness, and joy. If properly done, it awakens a stillness of being that is so profound that it leaves no question as to whether it is our natural state or not. The physical body also receives great benefits through meditation: the breathing, blood pressure, metabolism, and heart rate slow down along with the thinking processes (and all of them can even temporarily subside during some yogic techniques).
However, our culture leaves little free time for this self-discovery, so you will have to create this for yourself amidst your probably busy life. If you are reading this book, you are probably already practicing some form of meditation. Make sure it’s a proper practice (i.e., one that leads you to profound stillness so that you can abide in the presence of awareness). If you haven’t started practicing yet, this is a call to begin. Any practice is better than nothing !
It is not about sitting down and having an experience and then putting that aside and going on with life. The essence lies in unifying and seamlessly integrating that experience into your entire life; it involves recognizing that life embodies the blissful, serene stillness of existence, seamlessly connected to the profound state experienced during practice. That’s the natural state of our true Self.

When Tapas Is All There Is

All spiritual practices require a genuine connection with our internal dimension, otherwise they will be dry, barren, and devoid of grace and joy.
They must never become a chore. Spiritual practice is not a mechanical activity, but one that should be very alive, fresh, and lucid. Whenever you do it just for the sake of doing it, or because you’ve taken a vow or made a promise, there will be a high chance of that session being a shallow meditation. Furthermore, many people often believe that for a serious and consistent meditation practice, one should conduct it (or it would be better if conducted) in a remote location, alone, completely detached from interacting with the world. For this reason, many seekers who desire to engage in a long or continuous meditative practice, do so (unconsciously) as a form of escapism.
Suffering is not to be escaped, but to be defeated. You mustn’t try to shut down life and use meditation as a form of escape. You will not go far if you do so. Meditation is a process (to achieve the realization of who we truly are), rather than a goal in itself (escaping from life’s issues and problems).
It’s not about attempting to overlook our human existence and its problems, but instead it’s about overcoming those problems and embracing and bathing our human existence with the peace that is inherent to our very core.
Meditation must be a reflection of life itself. As we purify our mind and manage to bring our meditative state into daily life, the whole of life itself
will become a meditation or spiritual practice. There will be many disturbances from outside (people, work, events, society, media, etc.), in addition to the distractions that occur from within (thoughts, emotions, etc.)—but you have to plunge through. See these as positive hurdles that will show you how stable the spiritual depth is that you’ve integrated into your life, or how profound your mindfulness has become.

“The life you lead conceals the light you are.”

Sri Aurobindo

The majority of our daily life is primarily done on auto-pilot through some form of routine. Routines have their purpose and they can be quite useful. If you go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, you won’t need an alarm clock. You’ve taught your body and mind the correct times to fall asleep and wake up. This is really useful because you’ll always wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the day. There’s no problem with this whatsoever. You can constructively apply different conditionings to different things, such as always doing sitting practice at the same time, which
conditions your mind to enter into a meditation-prone state quickly.
The problem arises in other forms of auto-pilot or routines. If you take the same route to work every day, for example, regardless of whether this is
done by car, bike, foot, or public transportation, there’s a high probability that your body will do what is required to travel the path, but your mind—
because it doesn’t have to exert nearly any conscious effort to travel the path —will be free to wander. And what happens then? You lose yourself in thoughts or daydreams, neglecting to use the free time consciously and attentively.
If you don’t consistently bring the mind back to the present moment, it will habitually drift toward the past or future. This phenomenon is not new—
you’ve probably been aware of it before. If you witness this attentively, you will notice how rarely you are present throughout the day. Even if you do
stop the mind and try to be present for a while, you may find the mind sliding into judgments, narrations, or labeling what it is currently perceiving.
Living mindfully is being present at every moment rather than being absent and letting your life be lived by your mechanical habits and reactions.
Sitting practice is what will give you the ability to commit every moment to being fully present throughout the rest of the day. It’s a catalyst that enables you to experience a state of pure equanimity which grows and expands from the depths of your inner peace, embracing your life and of those who come in contact with you. Tapas is your life. You don’t do it—you become one with it.