Trial by Fire: The Panchatapas🔗

One of the severest forms of tapas to be undertaken by Swami was the panchtapas. So extreme was this penance that none but the most courageous even attempted it. But so relentless was Swami in his pursuit of Truth that he undertook this penance unflinchingly. In order to maintain a state of continual awareness, he would sit in meditation encircled by blazing fires, while a pot of live embers smouldered on his head. In this position, he would perform the dreaded traatak meditation, where the practitioner had to stare unblinkingly at the sun, following its movement across the sky from sunrise to sunset. Trusting well-wishers to keep the fires going, he would meditate from dawn to dusk without a moment's respite. When questioned as to why so young a man should endure so harsh a penance, Swami exclaimed candidly, “The fire within me burns so fiercely, I can tolerate it no longer! My sole hope is that these fires outside may help quench the fire blazing within.”

(Today, the intense energy imbibed by Swamiji's eyes during those arduous times of meditation give them the power to literally 'burn' diseases away, just by focusing a high-energy beam on that spot. Anybody who has practised the Ajna meditation with Swamiji, or even watched him heal and energise people and articles with his eyes, can bear witness to the awesome powers his eyes can unleash when he desires. If the world is today receiving the benefits of Swamiji's healing powers, we must thank the young boy who staked his life upon this quest.)

PHOTOGRAPH OF SWAMIJI'S PALM