Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Radhanath Swami on Tapasya

The human form of life should not be wasted in sense gratification as this is available to the dogs and hogs also. Human life is meant for tapasya or austerity, becuase this will bring about the awakening of real joy and and happiness. And what i stapasya?Tapasya means to act according to the responsible occupation that we may have in our life but to never perform any activity that is harmful for our future spiritual development. According to Rupa Goswami perfection of tapasyais to accept what is favourable for devotional service and reject what is unfavourable for devotional service.

34 comments:

  1. Radhanath Swami has himself shown through his personal example about how one should be willing to practice austerity in one's pursuit of God consciousness. He gave up the material opulence & comforts provided by his USA-based parents & went to the Himalayas to meditate upon The Supreme Lord. I really like Radhanath Swami because he genuinely practices what he preaches.

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  2. For acheiving any thing higher in life; some tapasya is always required. And here for acheiving the highest goal in life, tapasya seems must

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  3. Thanks for sharing. Please pray that I can also render tapasya as per the instruction of Radhanath swami so as to perform my devotional service.
    Ranjeet

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  4. Very difficult feat to perform. We cannot do this without proper association.

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  5. Thanks Maharaj for guiding us on each and every aspect of our life so we dont forget actual goal of our life

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  6. Thank you Maharaj for this lesson. It also teaches me to be grateful.

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  7. Radhanath Swami is so kindly reminding us of one of the key principle of spiritual life here.

    It requires spiritual intelligence to properly discriminate between what is favourable and what is unfavourable.

    We are fortunate to have the guidance of the great souls and the holy texts to facilitate such critical decisions.

    I myself am realising at present how important it is to make the time to read these holy books and learn how to apply the teachings from a pure representative of God. Otherwise at times different points can seem contradictory. It takes a mature practitioner to reconcile all seeming contradictions in order to understand the essence and timeless principles.

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  8. Yogita JagannathanJuly 18, 2010 at 6:09 PM

    Tapasya is the foundation of spiritual life.... Radhanath Swami himself leads by example here.... by his simple life and so many austerities and tapasyas which he performed as we read in his Journey Home book.

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  9. "perfection of tapasya is to accept what is favourable for devotional service and reject what is unfavourable for devotional service" - Maharaj has made a wonderful statement stating the esssence of tapasya.

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  10. great message in nutshell..Radhanath Swami Maharaj is really expert in conveying amazing message in best way. Thank you maharaj

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  11. Without Tapasya nothing meaningful is acheived in life. But where and how to apply it, is quite vividly explained by Radhanath Swami

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  12. Without Tapasya nothing meaningful is acheived in life. But where and how to apply it, is quite vividly explained by Radhanath Swami

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  13. thanks radhanath swami your lec. satisfy's a soul

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  14. Radhanath Swami so beautifully explains what is tapasya for us quoting previous saints/teachers - such a simple formula.

    We can never imagine doing tapasya like that done in previous ages & are scared as soon as we hear this word. Tapasya - Image of a emaciated sage who is only bones comes to the mind!

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  15. Very nicely explained and clearly portrayed by HH Radhanath Swami. Radhanath Swami is a true spiritualist, who tries to follow 'as it is' the instructions of great souls and acaryas

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  16. Whole gist of spiritual practice and realization is giving out in this article

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  17. Thank you HH Radhanath swami for sharing such wonderful words of wisdom

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  18. Such practical Teaching , one can not renounce altogether hence the real Tapasya is to accept what is favourable for devotional service and reject what is unfavourable .

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  19. Radhanath Swami clarifies by quoting from a saint that austerity is not torturing oneself to test the limits of human endurance but simply discard what is unfavourable to developing love for God.

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  20. Every word makes more and more sense as we become more and more qualified to receive the mercy. Spiritual realizations are awarded when we serve great souls. That's what Narada Muni did by serving bhaktivedantas, to become one of the greatest saints himself. May I also get a chance to serve great souls like Radhanath Swami who never speak what they are not practising themselves.

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  21. Advaitachandra dasJuly 22, 2010 at 7:41 AM

    Wonderful definition of Tapoasya - to accept favorable and reject unfavorable to devotional service

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  22. Common beleif for tapasya is to give pain to the body.....what an expicilt meaning by Radhanath Swami "To accept & reject things favorable and unfavorable to devotional service"
    Ravi Garg

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  23. Radhanath Swami has very simply showed us the way to tapasya ...thank you

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  24. "Tapasya means to act according to the responsible occupation that we may have in our life but to never perform any activity that is harmful for our future spiritual development." Such an amazing definition of austirity

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  25. We are thankful to HH Radhanath Swami for revealing this great secrete. HH Radhanath Swami also follows what He preaches.

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  26. Yogita JagannathanJuly 25, 2010 at 7:08 PM

    Yes, what Radhanath Swami says is so true - we have seen in material life as well. To gain something higher, we have to do some austerity - like students have to forego so many allurements and study hard to gain good results. Then what to speak about gaining the highest benefit - self realisation, how much tapasya one has to perform.

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  27. Thank you Radhanath swami for this.

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  28. Very practical advice. Accept what ever is favorable and reject that's not.

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  29. Thank you Mahataj. Please give me your blessings so that I will be able to do some tapasya for Krishna

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  30. Dont know, how much it is useful. But I have observed that saintly people are always joyful and happy, may be because they do tapasya. and Radhanath Swami also is so joyful and happy, and he also has done Tapasya in himalaya as given in his book "Journey Home". That means, he is revealing the secret of how to become Joyful and happy.

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  31. these words of wisdom from HH Radhanath swami maharaj are nothing but his realizations and experiences

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  32. Radhanath Swami has so nicely defined austerity i.e. tapasya means to never perform any activity that is harmful for our future spiritual development.

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  33. Thank you Radhanath Swami for giving us this formula in trying to perform tapasya in our daily spiritual lives - Accepting the favorable and rejecting the unfavorable.

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