Tapas (Sanskrit)

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Tapasya or tapas ( Sanskrit , n., तपस्, tapas, embers, heat ) means asceticism , self-control, concentration .

Tapasya or tapas is the exercise of physical and mental rigor and discipline in order to be able to achieve a certain goal. The term is usually used in a religious or spiritual context. Here, will and energy are concentrated and used to regulate and transform body, emotions and mind.

In the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism , the monks, gurus and their disciples practice tapasya as a means to strengthen and purify their devotion to God or to come close to the goal of spiritual liberation. Practicing tapasya is a distinctive feature of all religions that arose in India .

In the Bhagavad-Gita , three forms of asceticism and self -deprivation are distinguished:

Directness, innocence, physical cleanliness and sexual purity are the rigors of the body . The severity of speech is shown when speaking without ever causing pain in someone else, through truthfulness, when always spoken with kind and useful words and this is supported by regular study of the ( Vedic ) scriptures. If someone shows serenity and understanding , if he practices devotion to the Atman and the withdrawal of the mind from the sense objects and if he shows righteousness of his motives , he shows rigor of spirit .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Swami Prabhavananda; Isherwood, Christopher; Introduction by Aldous Huxley: The Song of God - Bhagavad Gita . Mentor / Signet, Chicago 1972, p. 118 (The Vedata Society of Southern California).