| In today’s times often tapa is confused with bhog. In fact, this problem arises particularly when a person starts progressing on the path of yog. Let me give you an example. A student of mine started having experiences soon after he started the practice. Then one day he asked me if he could go to Badrinath. As I never stop anybody, so he went to Badrinath. Meanwhile we had a trip to Hyderabad and of all the people only he was absent (which never happened before as he would never miss meeting me). When I enquired they told me that he is stuck in Badrinath as he was not able to get return tickets. After this when he was going via Delhi, he again wanted to meet me but again could not because of his flight timings.
So does this mean that these places should not be visited or have something wrong? No, certainly not. But, you should remember that these dharmic sthals have a specific purpose - they are not for bhog.The problem lies in the purpose of the visit. For what purpose you are going there is what matters. For instance, if you have to go from A to Z then the only way is to go step by step. You cannot jump directly from A to Z. There is only one route on the path of Yog. If you try to take more than one route then you’ll surely get lost, and keep going round in circles. This will be total wastage of your karmas and this janma. Places like Badrinath are for tapa, you should not go there for bhog. You may think that you are going for tapa but if you look closely you will find it is only for the purpose of bhog (sensory pleasure).
Also there are many people who stay for a while and after which they disappear for months together and then suddenly I see them again with tensed faces, by which I know some problem has appeared again in their life. They come with the thought that now I will solve their problems. Yog is not for solving problems. But despite my sincere attempts, this is not understood even by people who have been with me for years. Do remember Yog is not for Bhog.As soon as you come to some level, ie, from the turmoils of your life when you reach a state of some stability, your karmas tie you down right there. As a result you feel that what had to happen has happened and now everything is fine. So now I can relax. But what you don’t realise is the extent of the effort that has gone into bringing you to that level.
Let me give you another example: A gentleman was doing langars regularly and sometime later I found that he was no where around. After 3 months when he came back with a problem I asked him if he was doing any service or charity. To which he said - yes. Then I asked him how many langars had he done in the past 3 months. To which, he replied- “Since it was the rainy season and nobody came to eat, so I stopped having them.”
When you are searching for an excuse, you are basically, thinking that since everything is fine lets get out of here or how does it matter if I don’t have langars, after all it is such a small thing. Such a thought can come only to a person who has not remained hungry for even a single day. Only if you knew how it feels to be hungry even for a single day, you will never miss a langar ever! Also remember, if you are doing service and charity (yog) no problem can come even near you, it is just not possible. Yog is a perfect science, there are no exceptions to its laws.Yog is “Ek tatva nirantar abhyas” (continuous practice of that one), otherwise you are simply wasting your time. You make excuses because you are in bhog not yog. Even if you are 60 years old you will still say- “Just a couple of years more, once everything is stable then I will do yog.” But you do not see that with every passing year your body is becoming more and more unfit for Yog. Bhog will never leave you if you do Yog for Bhog.
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