[Advaita-l] Tapas

[Sujal Upadhyay]

Pranams,

As other members have given references from shruti-s and Shankara BhASya,
we can say

1. vAcyArtha: A process - nidhidhAsana, deep contemplation.
2. laxyArtha: Abide in Self, knowledge of Brahman.

Tapas can be RAjasika, tAmasika or SAtvika. Here we have to take only
SAttvik tapa, w.r.t BG 9.25

यान्ति देवव्रता देवान् पितृ़न्यान्ति पितृव्रताः।
भूतानि यान्ति भूतेज्या यान्ति मद्याजिनोऽपि माम्।।9.25।।

yānti dēvavratā dēvān pitṛnyānti pitṛvratāḥ.
bhūtāni yānti bhūtējyā yānti madyājinō.pi mām..9.25..

English translation by Swami Gambhirananda

9.25 Votaries of the gods reach the gods; the votaries of the manes go to
the manes; the worshippers of the Beings reach the Beings; and those who
worship Me reach Me.

OR

9.25 Worshippers of the gods (devata-s (deva-s) ascend and stay in
deva-loka; the worshippers of the ancestors (staying on chandra-loka) go to
the manes (chandra-loka); the worshippers of the Ghosts (bhUta, piSAca)
 reach their loka; and those who worship Me (Ishvara) reach Me.

*Note: D**eva-loka means heaven. **Chandra means moon. Loka can be taken as
kingdom. Just like there is earth kingdom, there is sun-kingdom,
moon-kingdom, *
* etc. Howevder, 'Me' or param pada is not any loka it is Atman / Brahman
itself, as Adi Shankara clarifies in last verse of same chapter. *

P.S. I am clipping earlier reply except last one so as to keep the size of
email to a minimum. It will be helpful in saving space, as all replies are
archived. Last reply is not clipped for continuity purpose (helpful while
referring archives)

OM

Sujal Upadhyay

"To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

He who has faith has all
He who lacks faith, lacks all
It is the faith int he name of lord that works wonders
FAITH IS LIFE, DOUBT IS DEATH - Sri Ramakrishna


On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 11:58 AM, H S Chandramouli <hschandramouli at gmail.com
> wrote:

> undoubtedly tapas has many different meanings ( just as many other sanskrit
> words in vedanta ) and has to be understood depending on the context. it
> has different meanings even as between the various darshanas. broadly it
> could be classified ubder two categories namely karma marga and jnana
> marga. tapas under the first category leads to the attainment of the first
> three purusharthas ( dharma/artha/kama ) while tapas under the second
> category leads to the attainment of the fourth purushartha ( moksha ). what
> the asuras performed come under the karma marga and was characterized by
> severe austerities etc. the goal was to get some favours/boons etc. in fact
> thanks to the pauranikas narrating the various stories from the smrities
> like puranas this meaning has almost been considered by the general public
> as the only meaning of the word tapas.
> however in vedanta tapas has a totally different meaning. here again it can
> be classified under two headings namely for gaining eligibility for brahma
> vidya and secondly as sadhana for brahma vidya. in the first category which
> enables the sadhaka to become a sadhana chatushtaya sampannah, tapas
> consists of strict discipline pertining to all actions, body/verbal/mental
> ( kaya,vacha,manasa ) . sadhana chatushtaya refers to viveka,vichara,
> shamadi shatka sampattih (shama/dama/uparathi/titiksha/shradha/samadhana )
> and mumukshutva. during this phase tapas is basically relating to action
> including mental actions. in the second category, tapas mainly means
>  continuous uninterrupted atma tatva vichara ( references have been given
> in sri Subramaniam's mail ) leading to moksha/jivanmukti.
>
> regards
>
> chandramouli
>
>
>