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Yoga frees from the three tapas

A spiritual discourse on the fivefold path of human evolution.

"The first point is to know: I am a human being. This is the greatest protection for people, a safeguard for the truth of humanity and against negative karmas."

"The mission of human life is to know oneself, that I am the Ātman. I am pure consciousness. This kind of Sādhana is the door from Nara to Nārāyaṇa, which means developing from human qualities to divine qualities."

Swami Ji delivers a teaching structured around five key points: recognizing one's humanity, identifying the qualities that define it (like compassion and forgiveness), cultivating those qualities through practice (Sādhana), and realizing the ultimate goal of Self-realization. He contrasts animalistic tendencies with human and divine qualities, using stories and analogies—including a meeting at the Kumbha Melā and the parable of the fox and grapes—to illustrate the perils of spiritual stagnation and the importance of humility and persistent practice to overcome the threefold sufferings (Trītapas) of life.

Filming location: Wien, A.

DVD 338

The first point is to know: I am a human being. Do you understand? I am a human being. This does not mean you should discriminate against other creatures. You do not discriminate. But for the sake of protecting other beings, and to protect yourself from actions that harm the environment and others, this awareness is essential. It means that when we are conscious and think, "I am a human," and the time comes to act, we use this self-awareness to ask: "As a human, can I do this, or should I not?" This is the greatest protection for people, a safeguard for the truth of humanity and against negative karmas. It is a very simple path: I am a human being. I spoke briefly about what was shared from her book. For example, when one kills an animal for food—a rabbit, a fish, or something similar—one should think, "I am a human being. Is it right that I do this?" Simply by noticing that one is a human being. Secondly, what makes me a human being? Biologically, the differences between other creatures and humans are minimal. They are also created from the five elements. We are also created from the five elements. We belong to this planet; we belong to this nature. We have feelings; other creatures also have feelings. But what makes me human? Here comes the question of quality: animal quality and human quality. The animal qualities are aggression, violence, pain, fear, not being aware of what one eats. There are many qualities that animals have which humans should not possess. So, which qualities make me human? What are those qualities? Forgiveness, understanding, compassion, love, helping, Tyāga (renunciation), Virāgya (non-attachment), Śraddhā (faith). Now, animals also possess faith, love, or confidence. Your dog, your cat, your cow, your horse, your little mouse, your little bird—all of them have love for you, love towards you, Śraddhā for you. But human qualities are not only for particular persons or only for humans, but for all creatures. So, what are the qualities that make me human? Now, how to cultivate those human qualities and how to overcome, purify, or liberate yourself from negative or animal qualities. Unless you transcend these qualities, your consciousness, your tendencies, your feelings will always descend. That is why, for us humans, in all faiths and cultures, beliefs, prayers, meditations, mantras, good deeds, acts of help, childhood, and ambition exist. These are the universal principles. These are the human principles. Then we can say, where there is love, there is God. Because when we develop these qualities within ourselves and move beyond the animal qualities, then it is the door to the Supreme, Nara to Nārāyaṇa. Nara means the human being, and Nārāyaṇa means God. This is the door from humans to God: to develop the pure human qualities. That is why we train. We train to be healthy in order to do good things. We are healthy in order to think mentally, to decide, to show ourselves what we know, and to be ready to save, rescue, and understand others. For that, we must practice the Sādhana: the sacred diet, Āsanas, Prāṇāyāma, Satsaṅga, Bhajana, Kīrtana, Mantra, and so on. This will save our human qualities. The fifth point was: what is the goal of human life? This is the mission of human life. The mission of human life is to know oneself, that I am the Ātman. I am pure consciousness. This kind of thinking, this kind of Manana (contemplation), this Sādhana, is the door from Nara to Nārāyaṇa, which means developing from human qualities to divine qualities. There are the animal qualities, then the human qualities, and from the human qualities we come to the sacred qualities. These sacred qualities are more refined, more transparent, even though one lives in this physical body. You live in this physical world, but the nature of your thinking, your speech, your humanity in this world, and what happens in your consciousness—that is the Divine. The Divine is the answer. To understand the Divine is the answer to the mission of human life. These five points are very clear: 1. I am a human being. 2. What makes me human? 3. What are the human qualities? 4. How can one improve the human qualities? 5. What is my mission in my life? Only these five points can protect you from many, many dreams in this world war. The dreams we cause are of two kinds: one is individual, and the other is not individual. Individual problems can be avoided, but those that are not individual sometimes cannot be avoided. Someone is speaking ill of you. Someone is indebted to you. Someone is angry with you. Of course, that comes from outside. Someone has a personal interest in you, and when one is not capable of fulfilling it, one begins to say the grapes are too sour. The fox says the grapes are too sour, but in reality, it can't reach them because they are hanging too high. So, personal and impersonal problems. The personal problem arises from your existence here in this world: the weather, the political situation around the world, environmental issues, illnesses. There are three very beautiful words explained there, which mean the three Tapas. Every Jīva, every individual, every soul. "Soul" should not be understood or translated as "Self." Self, written with a capital letter, is the Ātman. The soul is the individual self. The soul is individual. The Ātman is universal. The soul has an individual destiny. The breath has only one unique, eternal, cosmic essence. The sun is incarnating. The sun is cursed, but the breath is the same everywhere. It must be cursed nowhere. That means Pūrṇa, that means compact. No grain in the universe is empty where Prāṇa is not present. Therefore, omniscient and omnipresent, the supreme, that which is within our self and beyond our self. Our goal is to realize this Self. But because of our destiny—destiny is again individual, since destiny is the product of your own actions, whether physical, mental, or intellectual (meaning verbally, or using the power of your wealth or your social position, what we nowadays call a dictator). There are two kinds of dictators. When you dictate a letter to your secretary, it should not be understood negatively. But there is another dictator who plays games at the cost of human life, whether on the political level or some other level. So it means the karma, personal karma, is returning. Therefore it is said, from king to pauper or from pauper to king, Paramātmā Bhagavān can make it happen. It is God who can make a king a beggar, and it is God who can make a beggar a king. This is in His hand, meaning in your destiny, and you never know when your divine and best destiny will awaken. Like a dark room—many, many rooms, all very dark with no windows; you cannot see anything. But suddenly you find the button to switch on the light, and with just one small, gentle press, the entire room is illuminated. Every room has a light. All darkness, all difficulties, everything vanishes. Similarly, from the jungle of our bad karmas, if we suddenly come to our best destiny, then we take everything on; everything is filtered; the system is complete. Therefore, this is the fate of the individual; he never knows when it may come. So you either say fate or you say God. From color to the king, from the king to color. We have seen this many times before. It was only two decades ago, or perhaps one and a half, fifteen years ago, that the President of Romania—now you know, when the President of Romania walked down the street, everyone said, "Oh my God, a personality," and so on. Who was allowed to say anything to him? No. He did not say that he had done it wrong. He would have land wherever he wished. He would have the house he desired. Many, many things. But the day came. He had to stand next to the wall, in front of the arrow. Could anyone have imagined, a few years ago or a year before, that something like this would happen to such a person? So it has happened in many, many stories. No one could think in their dreams that Ṣaddām Ḥusain's life would end like this. No one could think that the chancellors, the holy chancellors, would end life like this. For the chancellors, Kṛṣṇa must come. I remember a little story. Shall I tell it to you? There you are a great expert. A true story? Very good. The true story is always like that. My story is about five months old. This happened at the Kumbha Melā. Very clear, you understand me? Because I am speaking again in English, since the Germans do not understand anything anyway. I asked what I had spoken before Friday. So this is only 48 hours, not even 48 hours, and they have completely forgotten. So I say now, should I speak in English or should I speak in German? So it is, dear Austrians, I must be careful because I have to live here. After the lecture, I will go home, and I am here alone. What do you think about that? So it is then. They will say, "Master, you promised a seminar in Vienna." Okay, so to make it short and sweet, it happened at the Kumbha Melā. A self-made guru, so to speak, his holiness. He came wearing a crown like the god Kṛṣṇa and behaved one hundred percent like Kṛṣṇa. All around him were disciples who said, "He is Kṛṣṇa," and so on. He had four or five beautiful white horses and a magnificent carriage, like the ones seen in the Mahābhārata with Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. He came to our Kada and we spoke, and so on. The next day I went to a saint. He is also a very good friend, and the spirit is very drawn to Holy Gurujī. I also know him very well through Gurujī, and he is very, very kind, very wise; he speaks beautifully. I went to him and said, "I am in a hurry and must leave quickly," and so on. The midday sun was shining, and I was so tired. I said, "But he absolutely wants me to give a lecture there, and so many people are sitting." I said, "It is my time, I'm very tired, I must have a rest." He said, "In many lives you have already slept; now remain awake." That was lovely; he is very kind, very nice. There were some European students with me, as I said, bodyguards. Also, in these mass media, so many people, millions of people all around. So Hanuman Purī from Croatia, the bodybuilder—he has muscles, very big and so on. He is sitting next to me; he can’t quite get into the meditative position, he’s just sitting there and he says, "Welcome to Swāmījī." There are a few others, about three or four people. I said, "This is Swami Adhikāraṇānjī, you know him; this is a Bhagavad Gītā." I said, "Today I met or encountered a man who claims to be Kṛṣṇa." Ah, Adhikāraṇānjī said, "I am very pleased to hear that. Yes, it is wonderful to have Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa killed Kaṃsa and says, 'We will bring Kṛṣṇa and Hanumanpurī.' He is to fight with Hanumanpurī. Then we see who is Kṛṣṇa and who is the illusion." So, reality is quite different. Kṛṣṇa has the pulpit, or the time comes when the weeping energy arrives to cleanse the path of negative energy. In the 14th chapter, God Kṛṣṇa speaks in the 12th and 13th. "Whenever the dark times come and Dharma is suppressed and Adharma rises, O Arjuna, I come to destroy Adharma and to uphold Dharma." Thus the time arrives. Raṅg is Rājā, Rājā is Raṅg. God can do all this. For all of us, it is a time. For spiritual people, it is a very interesting point. There comes a time when spirituality constantly rises, ascends. Then suddenly a Kuṣaṅga (bad company) or laziness arises and stops you from doing this spiritual work on yourself. When something is said or read, the thought always comes, "Well, I know that, I know that." As a student, I often said in Vienna—today I do not want to say her name in the video—she says, "I already know that, go away." And so, your spiritual development is finished. All of you sitting before me, hundreds, and I know exactly in which year, month, or day your spirituality declined again. When spiritual development no longer makes any progress, then you drive into a dark hole, but you still do not know that you have driven into a dark hole. Day by day, spirituality fades away. In your mind, you still consider yourself spiritual. In your mind, you think you know everything. But that is not enough. For him, the sun is like the sun in the center of the sky. And now, the afternoon is coming. That means the sunset, the setting is near, not far away. In this life, spirituality can be lost through negative attachments, hearing negative chatter, disappointment, laziness, ego, and so on. Therefore, Holy Gurujī has often given a beautiful example. When a tree—a mango tree, an apple tree, a cherry tree—bears fruit, then they are humble. Always be humble, go deeper, so that you can easily receive the fruits. That means, the more wisdom you possess, the more humble you are. The tree knows that it is my fruit, but I renounce my fruit. Anyone can have it; the tree offers its own possession. It is a part of this tree, but the tree offers it to others: "Please take it. It is too far for you? Then I bow before you." The more wisdom and spiritual knowledge you possess, and the more you work on your spirituality, you should be more humble and let your words carry meaning, spiritual meaning, and not just dry intellect, or as one might say, negative intellect. It is nicely written there; Johari has a book, Cosmic Play. You think I will say this is a cosmic play; I am not talking about play, but about the principles, as he has well written. I tell you, for yoga teachers there is lifelong teaching contained within this one book, within this play, because all kinds of qualities were described. Positive intellect leads you directly into the Cosmic, into consciousness, into liberation. Negative intellect leads you in a different direction, to Peggy Feuer or I don’t know what else is written. Therefore, it is very beautiful to read every principle. You don’t have to play, but I can also play, which is also beautiful. It is very well done. And beautiful is beautiful. You must not say, "No, I do not know this." So, self-inquiry meditation, self-inquiry meditation, deliberately, intentionally, given this name and made it a technique: not "Who am I?" but "How am I?" When you see how you are—your laziness, your selfishness, your clever thoughts—but that is not right. Therefore you enter into Trītapas: Ādhibhautika, Ādhidaivika, and Ādhyātmika. In these Trītapas, your soul constantly suffers, eternally, as they say, like a blazing fire. The word "purgatory" comes from the three Tapas. Gurujī often mentions in his bhajans and in many other bhajans: "Mañjanā sabhā dukkha bhan prabhudīpa nirañjanā sabhā dukkha bhan." In this mantra, "Mañjanā" means illumination; in this mantra, "Śrīdīpa" means illumination. "Nirañjanā sabhā dukkha bhan prabhudīpa nirañjanā sabhā dukkha bhan." The sin of all these three Tapas—"Tap" means heat; here heat signifies difficulties, problems. So these three Tapas, with time, will be destroyed. Experience happiness, experience supreme happiness, supreme bliss. Unshakable bliss, supreme joy. "Avichal" means immovable; "Chal" means changeable, and "Avichal" means immovable, everlasting. "Param" means highest in the Sanskrit language. "Ānandam" means bliss, the highest bliss. As long as these three Tapas have not cleansed your Saṃskāras, your Karma, your Destiny, your spirituality will not progress. You might be thinking now, "Well, Swāmījī always says that." Of course, you may not understand anything now, but at the end of this life, you will again say, "Yes, Swāmījī, what you said is true now. But what can I do?" He will say, "Go through." Most of the time, it is difficult. He said, "Yes, it is." Such is spiritual development. For example, when a Sannyāsī, a Swāmī becomes a monk: as long as they have not received initiation, Sannyāsa Dīkṣā, they have a spiritual development. Then, when the Sannyāsa Dīkṣā comes, they say, "Well, I am Swāmījī." Well, finished. That means now it goes downward. You should say, "Now I have awakened, and now my task has begun." As long as the man has not married, he danced before his wife like a dog. After the wedding, he came home, sat on the sofa, and said, "Now I am a man; I have a wife." Very soon he will give the order to her. Psychologically, now this wedding, the highest point in his lifetime—now the afternoon must come; the sun is descending. Therefore it is very important, whether a man or a woman or a spiritual seeker, a practitioner, to constantly remain in their consciousness: consciousness of "I am a human being," what makes me human, what qualities does a human have, how can I further develop these qualities, and what does it mean for me and my life that I have the task, my mission, to fulfill in this life? That is why Gurujī often has a Jñāna and a Bhajana here. Satsaṅga: good conversations, inspiration, and freeing people more, giving wisdom. Satsaṅga is the only protection for us. And Kuṣaṅga is unfortunately like an atomic bomb; it can destroy everything within seconds, fractions of a second—all your beautiful spiritual work that you have done, that you have worked on yourself. From there, the new stage: Trītapas. Trītapas: the difficulties with other living beings, difficulties from this weathering and illnesses, and the difficulties with the spiritual and other beings in these planes. We live indoors; the mosquitoes bother you. Many, many living beings disturb us greatly, and many diseases, infections, and many such things, also mental ones. So we can complain to our mind that we are healthy. "I am completely full. And how is your mind?" "Full." Very good. So, three Tapas. To be free from these three Tapas: Śmaraṇa (remembrance). That's why now one can meditate more, one can work more, one can read more, one can give more Satsaṅga. There are many things, but whatever you do, you should keep two things in mind or have one goal. One is that you do not forget your spiritual goal. Secondly, that all who come to you and meet you, you should do something for them and help them to progress and rise higher. In life, there are many more Kuṣaṅgas than treasure singers. Holy Gurujī said, in this world there are more crows. Whole flocks of crows are flying, but there are very few swans. So, there are more possibilities that we encounter the crows and delve deeper into the darkness. But devotional singing and spiritual people, like all of you sitting here, you are all illuminated. I am glad that everyone is enlightened. This illumination will one day become enlightenment. Illumination is in your words, and illuminated is also in your consciousness, in your inner self. So both: your words are full of nectar, your words are full of wisdom, meaning full of light. Your words are filled with understanding. The name is Kṛpā (grace), and you are angry. What kind of Kṛpā are you? The name is Dayā (compassion), but you have despair within yourself and in others. What kind of Dayā are you? The name is Hṛdaya-Kamala (heart-lotus), but it has, how shall I say, sunk without water. So, this is it: you must realize the Name. Your name is Sūrya (sun), and you have darkness in your thoughts. The name is Yogānanda, and I won’t even say the words. Therefore, everything else is realization. The name is Ekta (unity), and does so many crazy things. The true meaning of the name is that one must unite all. The name is Rukmiṇī. Oh my God, what a beautiful name. And does such things and suffers herself. If Rukmiṇī has Kṛṣṇa, and yet she suffers, then she is no longer Rukmiṇī. So she must pay more attention to Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will be fine. Where is the Kṛṣṇa Purī today? This is it. All is well, all is perfectly clear. That means, free from the Trītapas. Then we move on to our divine qualities. Our destiny, no matter who we are—everyone has their destiny. Saints also have destiny. God Rāma, when he was in Laṅkā, also says, "What fate has brought me here?" When Jesus could no longer go on, he said, "Father, why me? What have I done? What is my destiny?" Did he have to be crucified? He was on a cross. And we all, we are constantly on a cross. We seek: in which direction should we go now? You know, the cross, this symbol of the Triśūla of Śiva. When Śiva straightens the Triśūla, two sides form a cross. This Triśūla is also a Trītapa; these Triśūlas can remove your Trītapas. Methodological symbols have a very great significance and bear a resemblance across world cultures. Our spiritual development is very important.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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