Tapasya
A discipline imposed by the will for any spiritual end is tapasya. §
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Tapasya: a discipline aiming at the realisation of the Divine.
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Mental tapasya: the process leading to the goal.
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Vital tapasya: the vital undergoes a rigorous discipline in order to transform itself.
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Integral tapasya: the whole being lives only to know and serve the Divine.
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Perfect tapasya: that which will reach its goal.
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No life can be successful without self-discipline.
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To be a man, discipline is indispensable.
Without discipline one is only an animal.
One begins to be a man only when one aspires to a higher and truer life and when one accepts a discipline of transformation. For this one must start by mastering one’s lower nature and its desires.
9 March 1972
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It can be said that all discipline whatsoever, if it is followed strictly, sincerely, deliberately, is of considerable help, for it makes the earthly life reach its goal more rapidly and prepares it to receive the new life. To discipline oneself is to hasten the arrival of this new life and the contact with the supramental reality.