Penances

[Eric11235]

Vannakam,

Although I am not technically a new devotee (new being relative in this case), I was not sure which board this post would be appropriate in. In any event, I feel I have strayed slightly from the path and as some reparation would like to perform a realistic penance. Such as a week without something I enjoy doing, but I am not sure if that is actually penances, these aren't severe ascetic penances, just ones that will help me along the path so I can focus more on meditation and classes.

If anyone has any more information on what could be considered a penance, the information would be greatly appreciated

Namaste

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Eric:

Penance is most often associated with Lord Murugan, and since you live reasonably close to a Murugan temple (Lanham) , perhaps you could go there and perform pradakshina 108 times either inside or outside. Another simple one is to prostrate 108 times. This one could even be done to your home shrine. Fasting is another. These are just simple suggestions. Performing penance is usually done until the individual feels that they have atoned, although there are also other reasons. Of course this depends on the severity or nature of the lapse in dharma.

Aum Namasivaya

[Eric11235]

Vannakam,

I don't feel that my lapse is too great, but I do feel the need to do it, so I may fast or prostrate myself as you have suggested, thank you for the ideas. as for the temple, I'm not sure that is viable despite relative closeness

[SanathanaDharma]

Dear Friend

Sri Krishna, very clearly and beautifully, describes the meaning of the term "Tapas"(very roughly translated as penance/austerity ) in Bhagavad Gita...

Lets understand the beautiful words of Paramathma...

We have been told that great rishi's and muni's [sages] sit in a forest, secluded from the materialistic world, concentrate on Him and do "tapas" for many years, without food, water or anything....

The thought of sitting in a forest for many years without television, internet, movies, hanging out, and other worldly pleasures, scares most of us( because we are filled with ignorance and adulterated half-knowledge, which is extremely dangerous)......so lets gain some real knowledge and understand carefully what is actually meant by Tapas....

Sri Krishna, first of all, classifies the term "tapas" into three categories


- Tapas of materialistic body[Deha]
- Tapas of speech
- Tapas of mind

Lets understand one after another in detail....

[Bhagavad Gita 17.14]
Tapas of the body consists of

- deva pujanam [worship of the Supreme Lord]...Sri Krishna says one should use this physical body to worship Paramathma...so how do we physically worship Him...
well, the answer is very simple...when you serve any physically disabled person, when you serve any aged or tired person, when you serve your father and mother,
when you serve or help anyone who is in need or depending on you,
when you physically serve or help anyone who is physically in need of help, you are, my dear friend, actually "worshipping Paramathma"...as Sri Krishna says He is the One who is present in everyone...
Using your physical strength and the body to serve others is doing Tapas of body....

- dvija, guru, prajna pujanam ... a dvija is one who has taken birth for the second time...what does that mean...taking physical birth is the first
birth, coming out of ignorance into the enlightenment called real knowledge, is known as second birth.....any person, irrespective of his first birth,cate, gender, if is enlightened
with real knowledge, such a person is qualified as a dvija....a dvija, a guru [teacher who teaches you real knowledge], prajna [anyone who is a learned person], are the
ones who have real knowledge which must be transferred to others, hence, help and serve such people... by doing so, you are doing Tapas of your body....

- Always maintain the cleanliness of the body, because this human body is like a mechanical machine and it needs to be maintained, else just like a machine,
the body as gets affected too...and when the body is not under good condition, the mind can never concentrate on Him...so one must maintain the cleanliness of the body
which is also Tapas of the body...

- Always maintain simplicity...people, in order to impress others wear make up, apply wrinkle free creams, build muscles, get hair treatments, etc....the human body when born is in
the simplest state..and this state needs to be maintained...as keeping it simple avoids the minds' constant attention towards the physical body and redirects the mind on Him..not on the materialistic body...

- Bramhacharya...this does not mean to stay unmarried...instead one must follow the four Purusharthas accordingly...one must perform the prescribed "sandhyavandhana"...
...one must never consume alcoholic drinks which alter the state of mind, thus making the body feel sick...one must always eat Saatvik food...one must get up before the sun rises[meaning early morning], do Yoga,
and start performing the prescribed duties...thus doing Tapas of the body....

- Always follow nonviolence...just because He has given us the physical body with strength and energy, one must not mis-use it to harm others...one must always use
the strength to help others who are lacking strength...

All the above constitute the term "Tapas of Deha"

[Bhagavad Gita 17.15]
Tapas of speech consists of speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature

Most of the people love to talk about gossips, information regarding others' life, movies, sports, politics,etc... to put it in a simple statement "people love to talk about everything except Him"...and most of the times when people gather together or even if they are alone the mind starts to branch itself deeply in the above mentioned topics....and slowly the mind starts making groups with people who have similar "taste"...and then starts the marathon of madness...one gets so much involved in all the above mentioned unwanted things that when we even are visiting a temple, or during a festival, or during any function or any other event when people meet each other, all we do is become a slave of mind and indulge in talking and thinking about all the above mentioned materialistic futile stuff...thus drifting away from Him...

One must instead, always talk truth, which is bound by dharma...one must always talk things that are pleasing and beneficial to others...what
else can be more pleasing and beneficial, than talking about Paramathma, gaining more knowledge about Him...what else can be more truthful than talking about dharma...

Most importantly, just like the physical strength of body must never be used to hurt others, similarly the power of speech must never be used to insult, humiliate, agitate or hurt others...
and following this is exactly Tapas of speech....

Everyone must control their speech....just because most of us have been provided with the ability to speak, by His grace, it simply does not mean that one should always talk and give a personal opinion on all the unwanted materialistic things, as its always "personal opinions"[not based on dharma] which ignites every baseless argument....

Instead of pouring out personal opinions, one should start telling His holy name whenever possible...one should practise the vedic mantras and shlokas..if that is too difficult then just go ahead with chanting His name alone as what in this Universe is more powerful than His beautiful name....

All the above constitute the term "Tapas of speech"
[Bhagavad Gita 17.16]
Serenity of thought, simplicity and compassion, secluded self-control and purification of one’s thought processing are the tapas of the mind.

- Serenity of thought: Mind is the most fickle entity present in us...the fickleness of mind is explained by Sri Krishna as "mind is a boat, without oars, present
in the middle of an ocean, which is caught in extremely harsh cyclone, where huge strong waves are pulling it in different directions".....Sri Krishna also
tells us that one must control the mind just like the light of a lamp, which is undisturbed and steady....so here comes another question...we live in this society which is
a vast ocean, which is made up of millions of attractions which act like huge strong waves, and so, how is it possible for our mind to stay undisturbed...well the
answer is again simple....when the mind concentrates on
- performing the prescribed duty, without thinking about the results, and offers everything to Him
- always remain in His thoughts instead of indulging in anything that is not a prescribed duty...
Thus by concentrating on Him and our prescribed duty, one can control the mind and keep it undisturbed....

- Simplicity and compassion: Mind needs to be always kept under leash: mind needs to be always humble...mind needs to behave in a simple manner...
mind needs to show compassion at the places where the necessity exists...mind always needs to think of different ways to help others rather than
build its own paradise based on selfish personal desires...mind needs to always learn to forgive...one needs to condition the mind in such a
way that hate, anger, lust, desire and other materialistic terms need to be supressed and mind should stay calm and composed always....

- Secluded self control and purification of thought processing: One must always control the self with the power of silence(not indulging in unwanted talks which never actually are needed or matters..general talk), controlling the mind to either think about Him or our duty and thus showing the purity of our existence, allows us to achie the purpose of this life..to reach Him
When real knowledge is gained by the intellect, mind starts to realise that everything is Him alone...

Every mind has the powerful rudimentary feature called "concentration"....its the basic functionality of mind to focus..."mind always needs a subject to concentrate"...mind
always needs to be involved in something or the other...mind is like the needle of a mariners compass..it always is pointing to some or the other "north pole"...this entire Universe is like an area around the compass made up of thousands of conflicting, strong magnetic fields...mind, just like the needle of a compass tries to always point in some or other "north direction" based on the changing conflicting magnetic fields around it....these thousands of magnetic fields are the personality of other minds....and our mind, just like the compass needle always tends to have strong attraction and repulsion towards particular fields[or personalities of other minds]...the mind, just like the needle is fickle, unstable and keeps on changing its direction, when numerous strong magnetic fields are always around it....and every mind present in this Universe is bound by this feature...the mind can concentrate for hours or even days on any particular subject.....its all in controlling the mind beyond the materialistic world that actually matters...

mind is like the output of a "nuclear reaction"....a nuclear reaction can be used to produce energy, which can be used to sustain and grow millions of lives [like Sun does it for us] or it can be used to produce energy that can destroy millions of lives[like bewildered humans do it]...just like production of energy is the rudimentary feature of every "nuclear reaction", concentrating on any subject is the rudimentary feature of every "mind"...its only with a well informed intellect, that this extremely
powerful feature of concentration can be used to gain more and more knowledge and involve ourselves in Him...its concentrating on our duty and Him, which is real
usage of mind....which makes it pure and controlled...
All these constitute the Tapas of mind...

So, lets see what Sri Krishna says about the kinds of Tapas and the reactions related to it...

[Bhagavad Gita 17.17]
The threefold tapas(body,speech,mind), when performed with
- transcendental faith[shraddha]
- by not expecting material benefits
- by not having a desire for materialistic results
- but engaged only for the sake of obtaining Supreme
is called saatvika tapas.

[Bhagavad Gita 17.18]
Any "human defined" Tapas performed out of pride and for the sake of gaining respect, honor and worship is said to be in rajo guna. It is neither stable nor permanent.

One can get a plenty of people in this category today....this is what many of the so called, self proclaimed "swami's" and "guru's" of today who are not afraid to go to any extent,
just for the sake of gaining more respect, popularity and more self obsessed devotees, claim as doing Tapas...such people and their tapas are both unstable and ofcourse are futile and temporary....
and most importantly its worthless as one drifts away from Paramathma....

[Bhagavad Gita 17.19]
Any act, which is performed in the name of Tapas, which is performed out of foolishness, with self-torture or to destroy or injure others, is said to be in the tamo guna.

Thinking evil about others, hoping that someone else gets injured, making sure that others suffer and enjoying these things surely is a type of tapas...as one needs to always concentrate a lot on others life... always think what/how others can be troubled... and enjoy others suffering...this is surely tamo guna...how beautifully such people can attain Him, if only they can divert their attention towards Him, instead of troubling others...wishful thinking...but still possible with His grace...

another important thing Sri Krishna says here is one should not torture the self and say he is doing tapas...many of us due to the "fear" in us or the "wishes and desires" we have, which is caused due to half knowledge and ignorance, actually try to torture our mind and our body, in the name of tapas...and many even say that they are doing it to please Him!!!....He has never ever asked anyone to do any sort of difficult thing where our body needs to be tortured...ignorant people always misinterpret knowledge, add all the false stuff and create stories and anyone without correct knowledge believes in them... what they do not understand is that its the bhakti in our mind and heart that actually matters to Him...nothing else....

When we perform the Saatvika Tapas in every action of life, we are sure to reach Him....

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste Eric,

Eastern Mindji offers good suggestions, such as fasting and doing 108 prostrations. I have done fasting before as penance but not the prostrations, although that does sound like a good idea especially since it can be done right at one's home shrine.

Of course you can also do more modern style penances, like you suggested going a week without something you enjoy. But I suggest going without something that you really do enjoy and that you would really be different without (in a good way). I laugh at my Catholic friends when they say for Lent they do a penance such as not eating sweets or something like that. I would suggest something like going without watching television for a whole week. I don't know about you, but this would definitely be difficult for me to do. (Especially with the Super Bowl this Sunday )

Jai Sri Ram

[Eric11235]

Vannakam Ramakrishna

I am going to attempt to go without something for a week, what it is I cannot say just yet. But in place of it I will attempt Meditation more regularly