Sri Sai Baba And Tapas

Aum Sairam

There is a general fear and misconception among most of the people that Tapas [Penance] is a very rigorous ordeal to observe by subjecting body and mind to great pain like going and living in a secluded forest away from the people, exposing to extremes of climate like severe heat of Summer, Winter, Rain and observing fasting and celibacy to cultivate rigid discipline of mind to obtain God's Grace and Moksha [Liberation].

But you can be rest assured that it is not so, if you observe closely the method advocated by Lord Krishna in Shree Bhagawad Gita Chapter 17 [Shradha Trya Vibhaga Yoga].

Our Sadguru Sri Sai Baba in recent times is the living example of how an individual should be as per the pictures advocated in Shri Bhagwad Gita Even though it is not necessary for great liberated and realized souls like Sri Sai Baba to observe all these rigidly as they have already attained the highest goal being in even blissful existence, with love and compassion towards there devotees and followers to set an example our Sri Sai Baba has practically lived amidst us and demonstrated how easily it is to observe and try to attain solution in day to day life and the Tapas the method of which is detailed hereunder for our benefit.

The Tapas are of three kinds 1. Body 2 Speech and 3 Mind.

1. In Body Tapas there are five principle to observe and this will help the aspirants in earning the grace of them and by surrendering them heartedly and unconditionally, our ego and pride will subside. "Savacham" [cleanliness].

The cleanliness of mind and surroundings. You can active them by maintaining the body and surroundings, clean, eating soft satvic food to develop satva nature. This will help to cultivate always device and godly thoughts and to avoid distracting bad mundane ones "Arjavam" [Behavior]. In your thought word & deed you should practice ahimsa and you should be straight forward in all your actions and dealings, and avoid malice towards fellow beings.

"Brahamacharyam" : It means that you should observe celibacy in all your
actions, you should avoid bad thoughts and deeds, lustful thinking, undue indulgence in sex and should always engage and keep the pure thought of Brahama [God] in mind.

AHIMSA [Non – Violence] Avoid harming any creature in thought, word and deed and develop godly knowledge [Jnana] as keeping yourself in dark [Ajnana] is also considered to be the highest from of Himsa. (Violence)

2. Vachaka Tapas [Speech] whatever you speak should always be truth, harmless, nice soundings and doing good to others. You should also constantly practice reading religious books like Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagawad Gita, and others and accumulate the knowledge therein, in addition to Ahaganana [Meditation and Namajappa].

3. Mental [Mind] Manasik Taps :- your mind must be pure and develop satvi nature and your face appearance and behavior should reflect the calmness of your mind. Your thinking should be clean and mind should be controlled and directed to concentrate your thoughts towards paramathama only by avoiding the thoughts of external objects. In a nutshell your mind should be pure, your behavior must be satvic and you should maintain calm and silence in word, thought and deed. If you observe closely the day to day activity and life of our Sri Sai Baba throughout, you can easily gather how easily he has accomplished the above objectives with effortless ease. Even though he is paramapurasha and Jevanmuktha, who is above all the worldly consideration He has lived so amongst us to practically demonstration how easy to conducting the tapas in whole of your day to day life even after attending to duties and leading ordinary life.

You can achieve all the above provided you have unbending faith in your Sadguru Sri Sai Baba and prostrate before him by surrounding your thought word and deed and simply put into practice what he has shown by his example for the elevation of the soul of all His followers.

Allah Malik