Have the right idea about you
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Having the right idea about you is very important, because based on that idea you are going to function.
Once I asked My Guru, Gurumātā Vibhūtānanda Puri, ‘Why is so much tapas required on the spiritual path? Why so much of austerity, facing difficulties, why is all this required?’
She laughed and said, ‘When you go through tapas, you will develop such an understanding about you, that even if small things come to you from society, you will feel that is a blessing. You will feel that even a small comfort that you receive from the world is a great blessing.’
Practicing tapas sets a standard about what you feel as you, or what you are qualified to receive from the world, so that you live forever in contentment. Tapas sets a standard about you in such a way that you are forever contented. Whatever comes into in your life will become a bonus for you. You will say, ‘Oh, compared to how I lived earlier, this is too much!’ This is one benefit of tapas.
Understand: the concept you have about you is the context you set for your life. Having and developing the right idea about you is very important, because it is based on that idea that you are going to function.
If you think you are the body, you will spend your whole life making everything comfortable for your body; the sensory pleasures. If you think you are the mind, you will make everything that is needed for mental pleasure. What is mental pleasure? When somebody praises you, awards you, rewards you, or your being recognized as one of the greatest persons in your field - these are mental pleasures.
If you think that your body is you, you won’t care about what others say, or about name and fame; you will do everything just for the sake of the pleasure of your body. When you think mental pleasures are more important, you won’t bother about your body. Mental pleasure becomes your first priority.
Therefore, have the right idea about you - that you are Consciousness! If you have the feeling that you are Consciousness, then whatever you do for yourself, and for others and for the world, everything is Living Enlightenment.
When you feel you are Consciousness, whatever you do to you is tapas. Even if you apply expensive sandal paste to decorate your body, and take a bath in almond milk, and drink somarasa (heavenly nectarine drink), and enjoy the best available comforts and luxuries of heaven, you are doing tapas.
The moment you know that you are Consciousness, whatever you do to yourself is tapas, and whatever you do to others is service.
