By Dada Vedaprajinananda

One of the biggest obstacles to spiritual growth is our preoccupation with our own petty egos, and one of the best ways to surmount this obstacle is the yogic practice of Tapah.

A very literal interpretation of Tapah is “to practice penance to reach the goal.”* The word “penance” might bring up images of religious ascetics of the middle ages flagellating themselves with whips but that is not what the yogis are talking about.

Simply put, when you stop thinking about your own personal problems and difficulties and instead seek to take the problems of others on your own shoulders you are undergoing a useful kind of penance. The person you are serving gets benefit, and you too get a spiritual reward.

No matter what kind of meditation you do, you are likely to end up spending a considerable amount of time thinking about your personal problems.  You might be trying to meditate on a mantra, and all of a sudden you start thinking of a problem you had at work, or about someone who insulted you, about bills you have to pay and so many other mundane matters connected to you.

However, if, for example, you spend several hours running a soup kitchen for homeless people, figuring out how to cook the food, distribute the food and making sure that many people benefit from the service, you will get lost in that work and for a moment at least, you may stop thinking of your own problems.

Try it. Exhaust yourself with some kind of social service and then sit for your meditation practice. You may feel a bit “lighter” after doing the service and it should be beneficial to your spiritual practice (Biostable).

One thing to keep in mind when practicing Tapah is that you should render service to those who really need help.  If you go though much trouble in serving a rich person, you may get some feeling of internal purification but it is not the best kind of activity to be engaged in.  In order to practice Tapah properly you have to use your intellect and discretion to see who really needs your help and then you have to take practical steps to carry out the service.

The regular practice of selfless service is an important part in the journey towards self-realization.

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*See Guide to Human Conduct by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti for a discussion on Tapah.