Words From The Master: 20 Feb 2008

Towards Meditative Living


People ask me, What is tapas (penance)? Is tapas essential in meditation?

What I am telling you is nothing but tapas!

Working on your body, your thoughts, your emotions – what is this if not tapas?

Tapas does not mean going up into the mountains and undertaking all kinds of spiritual practices, and performing all kinds of rituals!

Tapas does not mean going without food or clothes, or living in a dark cave, or torturing the body in any way. When you deprive your body in any way, there is always the danger of focusing more on the deprivation than on the meditation. If I make you go without food even for twenty-four hours, you
may stop eating food, but you will start meditating on food instead! You will be able to think of nothing but food. Real fasting does not mean meditating about the food that you haven’t eaten, it means forgetting about food altogether. But not many people can see this difference. That’s why the path of deprivation is not for everyone.

Of course, these are all different routes, just different ways of handling the body. Some meditators take the path of disciplining the body through austerities. But it is not necessary that everyone should follow that path.

(to be continued.)

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: "Meditation is for You" -- an introduction to the science and art of meditation