Navratri is time when one sees long queues of people outside temples waiting for their turn to make their request before God. Whenever we pray, we ask for pleasure, how many of us ask for pain? Pleasure and pain go hand in hand. Every pleasure comes with a pain and pain comes with pleasure. Usually we only indulge in pleasure, because of which pain is forced upon us in the form of disease and financial and relationship troubles. Earlier generations understood this dynamic and therefore used to inflict pain upon themselves to compensate for the pleasures they had indulged in. This pain usually comes in the form of service, charity and tapa. So, what is tapa? It is one of the five niyamas prescribed in Ashthang Yoga , where you heat the body by giving it pain. A basic purification, it is a means to throw out your negative karmas and expedite evolution. Fasting or upavaas done during the nine days of Navratri is a form of tapa. Do remember bhoga is a never-ending process; there is...
Journey of the spirit 'Sanatan Kriya'