An ego-transcending spiritual practice.
Realization. Spiritual discipline. Means for attaining emancipation.
तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः॥१॥
SUTRA 2.1 tapaḥ svādhyāy-eśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyā-yogaḥ
तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः॥१॥
tapaḥ svādhyāy-eśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyā-yogaḥ
Ignite your inner fire. Stoke the flames of purification and transformation.
Study yourself. Take responsibility for acquiring spiritual knowledge. Examine your ego and your soul.
Surrender to īśvara.
This the practice of yoga.
“Tapas”, Birth, and Spiritual Rebirth in the Veda
- Walter O. Kaelber
- Published in Historia religionum 1 May 1976
The Sanskrit noun tapas assumes various convergent and divergent loads of meaning in the Vedic literature. Central to all such meanings, however, is the notion of “heat” or “warmth.” Tapas thus refers to natural heat, such as that emitted by the sun or fire. It refers also to the natural heat associated with biological conception, embryonic “maturation,” and birth. Thus the heat of sexual desire, the heat of sexual excitation, and the heat generated during sexual intercourse are all rendered by the term tapas. In a related context, that heat generated by a hen as she “broods” upon her eggs, that “hatching heat” so to speak necessary for birth, is also rendered by the noun tapas. Tapas, however, also refers to the heat of asceticism, to the heat generated by austerities, and thus to a voluntary and “nonnatural” heat. Relatedly, tapas refers not only to the heat generated through asceticism but to the practice of asceticism itself. In addition, tapas refers to “severe meditation,” an intellectual “brooding,” related to the natural, physical “brooding” of a hen upon her eggs. These meanings, however, in no way exhaust the word. The following discussion makes no pretense of considering the multiple though related meanings and dimensions of the noun tapas-and other derivations of the root tap-in their entirety. Its concern is more limited but also more complex.’ We shall 1 A sketch of those dimensions and ramifications of tapas not central to our immediate concern has been presented in Appendix I for the sake of a certain completeness.
Allow your inner fire to purify you. Let it blaze, radiant, and watch all shadows disappear. Accept what is. Create no darkness, no pain. Grow your spiritual practice. Remember your light and surrender to Spirit. This is Kriya yoga.
-Alberto Villoldo
Google translate: Tapas, study, and meditation on the Lord are the yoga of action.
tapaḥ = heat, from tap (to burn, to glow)
tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni = tapaḥ + svādhyāya + īśvarapraṇidhāna
tapaḥ derivative of tapas and tapa; as a verb, it means to heat; to glow; to shine; to purify; to fire; to change; to transform. In philosophical and spiritual literature, tapas refers to the practices and disciplines leading to acquiring radiance of body and clarity of mind; generally tapas refers to austerity, penance, and undertaking the practices that require putting the body and mind through hardship and thereby expanding one’s endurance.
tapaḥ = To ignite your inner fire, the purifying fire of transformation.
svādhyāya = sva + adhyāya
- sva self; one’s own; pertaining to inner reality; belongingness
- adhyāya a chapter; a phase; a portion; a lesson; study
Together, svādhyāya means study of the self; study by oneself; understanding each and every chapter of life separately, as well as in relation to each other; a thorough study of oneself; thorough study of the scriptures.
svādhyāya = Self study. Study by oneself, taking responsibility for acquiring spiritual knowledge. Study of oneself, the ego and the soul.
īśvarapraṇidhāna = īśvara + praṇidhāna
- īśvara guiding and protecting force; the omniscient, primordial being; the teacher of all previous teachers; the soul free from all afflictions, karmas, and fruits of karmas
- praṇidhāna complete surrender; complete recognition; embracing tightly; keeping at the center of life
Together, īśvarapraṇidhāna refers to having complete faith in the guiding and protecting power of the Absolute Reality.
īśvarapraṇidhāna = surrender to īśvara
kriyāyogaḥ = kriyā + yoga
- kriyā action; effort; to initiate; to move with purpose and goal
- yoga the process of acquiring a calm and tranquil mind; the absolutely still state of mind
Together, kriyāyoga means an action plan for acquiring a calm and tranquil mind; an action plan for reaching an absolutely still state of mind. In other words, kriyāyoga means to put the theory of yoga into practice; the schematic practice of yoga.
Tapah – Tapas
A process which illuminates the imperfections of the personality.
Bhagavad Gita – the fire of jnana burns the entire stock of karma
Self-purification
“When you want to eliminate a bad habit, the more you want to get rid of it, the more powerful it becomes. When you abandon it in the waking state, it comes in dreams. If it is stopped in dreams, it will express itself in your behavior, otherwise it will give rise to disease. This particular habit has got to be destroyed at its psychic root, not at the conscious level only. The I ottsamskara or complex must also be eliminated. For that, a kind of psychic activity such as pranayama or ahimsa, which will uproot it even from the layers of the subconscious, is required. The word tapas should be understood in this sense.”
Svādyāya – Swadhyaya
“the detailed study of your own self, which includes the entire structure of your personality, which includes the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects.”
“It is a process of seeing your own consciousness.”
Patanjali's yoga sutras 
Leave a comment