In the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali defines “yoga” as “the cessation of the waves of the mind” (sutra 1.2).
In the second chapter, he presents “kriya yoga” – the yoga of action – and prescribes three actions to alleviate our suffering and to bring about this state of mental stillness (sutra 2.2). This week, we examine the first one, “tapas.”
The Sanskrit word “tapas” has many translations: heat, glow, flaming forth, self-discipline, restraint, austerity, pain.
What does it mean to practice tapas? “Tapas is the energy of restraint” (Stephen Cope). It includes any action or effort to restrain our self-limiting habits. When we look at the causes of suffering (see Week 4’s post), we find that it is our own habits that create our suffering – our habits of thought, our habits of seeking or clinging to certain things, our habits of pushing other things away. Even thinking in and of itself is a habit; try to stop thinking and see what happens. Through tapas, we identify and dismantle these habits. We can start with very small steps.
Tapas is not comfortable, because it means that we push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. We choose to go without the things we usually cling to, or to tolerate the things we usually reject. The point is to gradually undo the habits of clinging and aversion. And what do we find? That we do not need X, Y, and Z to be happy. We can be happy without those things; we are in fact freer without those things! Our willpower grows as we practice restraint, and this new willpower serves us in ways that our old habits could not.
As we remove the layers of our false self – who we thought we were, and what we thought we wanted/needed – the True Self “flames forth.” In Stephen Cope’s words, “We don’t have to worry about Truth because Truth is what emerges when we are not lying . . . At the core of [tapas] is the belief that once you expose so-called unwholesome behaviour, the luminous, clear, and compassionate true nature of the self will shine through, and wholesome acts will naturally arise” (p.156).
Thoughts? questions? examples or experiences to share? Feel free to post in the comments section.
Reference:
Cope, Stephen. (2006.) The wisdom of yoga: A seeker’s guide to extraordinary living. New York, NY: Bantam Dell.