Tapas in the Bhagavadgita

The word tapas, derived from the root tap ‘to generate heat’, is generally recognised in the sense of some prescribed act of afflicting the physical body, senses and mind, in order to destroy desire (tapah krcchradikaram; vaidham klesa-janakam karma; kamanasanam tapah; etc.). Professor Minoru Hara, has taken up for study this spiritual subject in his paper ‘Tapas in the Bhagavadgita’. While analysing the contents of the verses thereof the author draws our attention to the striking parallels he could find in works like the Mahabharata, Buddhcarita, Kumarasambhava and Sakuntala, and he is not tired of citing the concerned passages thereform. In this way Professor Minoru Hara’s treatment at the seemingly dry subject, tapas, has become an absorbing one.