These three verses explain what Tapas really means and classify Tapas pursued by different types of people.
Devotion and reverence to the ideals represented in the Deva, the Deity, lived by the Twice-Born, Brahmanas and preached by the Gurus and recommended by the wise is an act of worship. Such acts of worship, external and inward purity, straightforwardness in
the dealings with others, control of the mind from sense enjoyments in order to concentrate on the Supreme Brahman and avoiding all acts of injuring others are all called austerities of the body or bodily asceticism.
Here Tapas or austerity means not merely a life of self-denial but an intelligent method of living in the right relationship with the world of objects thereby avoiding wastage of energies and utilizing such energy in creative fields of spiritual enquiry.
Speech or the spoken words which cause no disturbances in others, which are true, sincere, agreeable and beneficial to others, careful study and reflection over the scriptures are all called austerity in speech. This implies the investing of the energies of speech in the study and reflection of the teachings of the scriptures.
The five noble values of life mentioned in verse 16 constitute austerity of the mind. They are:
Serenity of mind – this is the result of one’s healthy relationship with the world outside
Kindness or good heartedness – a feeling of warmth towards all
Silence – this is not only non-speaking but an inward noiseless calm wherein no passions and desires are generated
Self control – controlling of lower nature within us
Purity of nature or honesty of motive – the motivating factor for any action should be noble and divine.
These three verses depict the picture of what are true Tapas. Tapas pursued by people of different Gunas give different results. In the following verses the different kinds of Tapas based on the different Gunas of the Tapaswins are discussed.
