“Tapas means literally ‘to burn’. It is a kind of penance to ‘heat’ the higher nature. It is sometimes in the form of a sunrise to sunset vow, such as repeating Om all day incessantly. These actions will produce a certain power that you can convert into any form you wish, spiritual or material. This idea of Tapas penetrates the whole of Hindu religion. The Hindus even say that God made Tapas to create the world. It is a mental instrument with which to do everything. ‘Everything in the three worlds can be caught by Tapas.’”
—Swami Vivekananda
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 7.25–6.
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 7.25–6.
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