It’s Saturday morning, and I am prepared to join Satsang with Ganga Maa. When I reached there, there were still many scooters parked, but in the Satsang room, there were fewer people than a few weeks ago. People are leaving Tiru because it’s getting hotter here; it’s 35 degrees now, more or less. I had to sit on the floor, which is not easy for my lower back, but I managed by changing my position a few times. There were many questions today, and Ganga Maa answered them wisely.
Question: What is tapas?
Amma: The word meaning of tapas is tapah — something which is burning out. Austerity, we say. It comes in different levels for each one.Tapas means that you are somehow not leaving your true nature, and in whatever possible way you are holding on to that truth in every aspect of your life. The ultimate tapas is abiding in the Self. And the Self is ever in it — eternally in tapas.
Sometimes the disciplines and the sadhanas we do towards spiritual abidance are also called tapas. There are outward tapas and inward tapas too. Seemingly outward and inward, but it is all inward only — bahya tapas, antarika tapas.
See, doing Girivalam may look like an outward tapas because your body moves. But even while doing that something else is happening within you. So just by looking at an action you cannot say what is happening within someone.
Every action — even satsang — is a tapas. When that tapas is extended through twenty-four hours, when every aspect of your life is filled with that presence and that purity and clarity, that is tapas.
Because just jnanam, knowledge, is not enough to make it ours. It is like buying and spending. Whatever we buy we should preserve. Whatever we receive we should preserve throughout. That is tapas.
That is why sometimes you can see people where knowledge is given — even the highest truth is given — and they go on doing the same things and nothing happens in their whole life. Little by little it goes away. Only with tapas is it established.
So if somebody says, “I have the truth, I know the truth — why is nothing happening to me?” then yes, somewhere we are missing it. Somewhere it is leaking out. That is all.
After Satsang, I stopped for a chai opoosite of the Ashram. I did some shopping on the way back home, bananas and oranges, curd, coke and snacks. At home, I was texting with Karuna. I had a question about his flight confirmation. My flight wasn’t confirmed yet. So we met at Sheshadri Ashram in the small Restaurant. We had a Thali, and he said that his flight is confirmed now. I had to wait for my confirmation.
When I came out of the Ashram, I suddenly saw Florence coming out of the Ashram. I haven’t seen her since we met for the first time in front of Shiva Mantra Residency. We planned to go to the German Bakery. My scooter seat was so hot that I was walking. It’s only 100 meters from there. Florence had lunch, and I had a lemon soda. It was nice meeting her again; it felt pleasant for me in her presence.
I dropped Florence in front of the Ashram. It was just past 14:00, so the Ashram had opened again. In the meantime, my flight was confirmed. Back home, I booked the other flights, with SpiceJet from Chennai to Mumbai, and with Aegean Airlines from Cairo via Athens to Lisbon. I sent the flight confirmation to Shanti Travel. I was glad that this part was done. Just my Visa extension was still pending. Later Iwas in the Ashram and joined the reading. From there, I drove to Shanti Travel and asked him to upload the file to FRRO. We thought it should be confirmed next week, as tomorrow would be Sunday.
Driving back, I stopped at Sarala’s Cafe to pick up my laundry and have a pumpkin soup with chapatis. It was a successful day solving these technical issues.
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