Long before the word yoga came to mean "spirituality" or "spiritual path," He compelled the Gods to grant His request that the heavenly river Ganges (Ganga) release its waters to flood and regenerate the parched earth by raising his arms high.
The archetypal ascetic (tapasvin) of the Vedic period is the ecstatic muni, not the obedient householder-sacrificer or even the elevated seer (rishi).
- The muni is part of what is known as the Vedic counterculture, which consists of religious people and organizations (such as the Vratyas) that followed their holy goals outside of Vedic society.
- The muni has been referred to be the forerunner of the later yogi? in that he resembles a lunatic in his euphoric oblivion.
- Many aspects of his lifestyle foreshadow the later avadhuta's unconventional conduct, which is celebrated in the Avadhuta-Gita and other medieval Sanskrit writings.
Tapas has survived as a separate tradition from Yoga.
The Mahabharata epic, for example, documents this simultaneous growth.
Many famous tapasvins' tales are told, including Vyasa, Vishvamitra, Vashishtha, Cyavana, Bharadvaja, Bhrigu, and Uttanka.
Indeed, the tradition of tapas is given precedence over Yoga in several sections of the epic, indicating the passages' early antiquity.
- Tapas is usually achieved via chastity (brahmacarya) and the subjection of the senses (indriya-jaya).
- The inherent tendencies of the body-mind are believed to produce psychophysical effulgence (tejas), brightness (jyotis), tremendous power (ba/a), and vitality (ba/a) (vfrya).
Since Vedic times, another word strongly associated with asceticism is ojas (apparently related to the Latin a dt ustus, "majestic").
- It refers to a certain kind of numinous energy that energizes the whole body and mind.
- Ojas is produced primarily via the discipline of chastity, as a consequence of sexual energy being sublimated.
- It is said to be so powerful that the ascetic may influence and alter his or her own fate as well as the fate of others.
- According to the Atharva-Veda, the deities attained immortality by practicing chastity and austerities.
Tapas is typically associated with the acquisition of psychic powers (siddhi), which often proved to be the downfall of unwise ascetics who abused their extraordinary abilities.
- The Tapas tradition unfolded against the backdrop of a magical worldview in which the cosmos is filled with personalized sources of psychic power, both in the Vedic Age and the Epic Age (virya).
- He also names tapas as one of the five observances or restrictions (niyama) and claims that austerity perfects the body and its senses.
- Tapas is clearly limited to the role of a warm-up exercise in this context.
Yoga is primarily concerned with meditation and its enhanced form, ecstatic transcendence (samadhi).
- For millennia, the tradition of tapas has coexisted with the schools of Yoga, and this is also the case today.
- Tapasviji Maharaj, the story's protagonist, was born into a royal family but abandoned everything in his late fifties and girded himself with a loincloth.
- He was regarded as a powerful ascetic and miracle worker throughout his lifetime.
- He achieved incredible feats of endurance, overcoming both pain and boredom.
- He stood on one leg with one arm extended skyward for three years, then never laid down for another twenty-four years while traveling several kilometers every day.
This saint drew a lot of attention in the United States because of his extraordinary lifespan, which he said was due to his receiving the kaya-kalpa or renewing therapy known to traditional Indian medicine three times.
- The effectiveness of this therapy is mainly determined on the patient's temperament, since he or she must be able to tolerate extended periods of near-complete isolation.
- Only a highly adept meditator of Tapasviji Ma haraj's caliber could conceivably bear the agony of self-denial.
- Clearly, the tapasvins of ancient and modern India have much to teach Western medicine.
You may also want to read more about Kundalini Yoga here.
You may also want to read more about Yoga here.
You may also want to read more about Yoga Asanas and Exercises here.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
Be sure to check out my writings on religion here.
