Everyone in this country would have heard of the word tapas or penance. But what does it mean? How is it done? Not many are aware of the answer to this.
The common assumption is that penance means sitting in a forest, growing a beard, closing the eyes, holding the breath and doing chanting a mantra endlessly. If this were to be true, then why didn’t Kaushika of Mahabharata fame get liberation despite spending years in penance living in solitude in the forest?
To understand the meaning of tapas, we should necessarily understand Dharmavyadha’s story. Vyasa Bhagawan explains like this.
In a forest, a Brahmin by name Kaushika was in deep penance for long. One day, disturbed by the noise of a bird sitting on the tree, in fury, he opened his eyes and looked at it. It was instantly reduced to ashes. Kaushika was extremely proud of his spiritual achievement. Awakened from his penance, he realized that he was very hungry.
Seeking alms he went to a nearby village and stood in front of a house. The lady of the house saw him and went in to get food for him. Just as she was about to get his food, her husband suddenly returned home after a very tiring journey. Instead of giving alms to Kaushika, we immediately went to attend to her husband. After attending to all his needs, she remembered the ascetic who was waiting outside. Instantly she carried the food and came forward to serve him.
Kaushika was very angry at the delay. Infuriated he stared at her. The lady calmly replied, “O Brahmin! Do you think that I am a bird to get burnt to ashes by your anger?”
Kaushika was startled. He said, “O mother! How could you have this divine vision that I do not attain even after many years of penance?”
She replied, “I do not have the time to explain all this. Outside this village lives a butcher called Dharmavyadha. Go and approach him.” In eagerness, Kaushika arrived at the butcher’s shop.
Dharmavyadha was doing brisk business. He was chopping and selling meat and at the same time throwing tiny pieces and feeding the birds. On seeing Kaushika he said, “Did that mother send you here, O Kaushika? I am very busy now. I have no time to talk to you. After I close my shop I need to go home and attend to my aged parents. I can talk to you only after that.”
With this, Kaushika was simply astounded. How could a butcher have divine vision that he, a Brahmin who had spent so much time in tapas could not have? That evening after Dharmavyadha completed all his duties, he explained the meaning of tapas to Kaushika.
From this story, first of all it is clear to us that sitting under a tree, closing the eyes and continuously reciting mantra is not tapas (penance). A housewife who dutifully attended to her duties and a butcher who while concentrating on his trade and attending to his duties had achieved better spiritual growth than Kaushika. If so, what is tapas?
Tapas= tapana = a burning desire to reach God. It means constantly thinking about the Lord or His essence with complete concentrated focus. It also implies constant analysis about God-principle. Burning desire, coupled with thinking about Him and analysing the essence takes the person towards the ultimate goal.
Vedas have declared that adhering to truthfulness is also a penance, achieving mastery over the mind and over the sense organs is a penance; constantly engaging in charitable activities is penance; and yagna is a tapas.
How could these activities be classified as tapas?
Behind any task undertaken, the feelings are very important. Is the task being done with a selfish motive or a selfless motive? Is the person performing it with a calm pleasant mind or in anger? Is he seeking the welfare of others? Each one of these motives is very important.
Any job that is done selflessly with a motive to help others, calmly without any agitations, peacefully and with total concentration transforms into penance.
With this attitude, living in solitude and chanting mantras in the forest becomes a penance. So also, killing and selling meat in a butcher’s shop or attending to the household work becomes penance. Due to her selfless attitude, calmness, dedication and absolute concentration in her work a lady could reach that stage by merely attending to her household chores.
The story deals with yet another aspect. To that lady her work was extremely important, so much so that she had no time even to explain to that Brahmin. The butcher stated that he could talk only after he completed his duties towards his parents.
In other words, penance turns fruitful only if it is done after completing the duties towards the family and to the society. Anyone including women and butchers are eligible for such tapas. Such penance yields unimaginable results.
- Bhaktimala Aug 1996