Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c14.2

c14.2

DISSATISFACTIONS with life arose far back in India; and the ascetic¹ and the mechanisms of the austere life, are in evidence in the earliest literature. The Dīkṣa rite,² for example, includes elements which are already in the *Rig Veda* ascetic in form. And even then the contradiction of natural desire, mortification of the body by unnatural inhibitions of all its desires (the conception of *tapas*) occupies a large place. Early the term tapas, applies to ascetic practices in general. The efficacy of the endurance of discomforts and of the difficulties of performance are recognized. The enducement of ecstatic states, of hysteria, of trance and of excitements through drugs and sex stimulation likewise are then known. These point toward mystic union with Reality and the acquisition of unusual powers. Tapas engendered strength, great in the extreme, involving mystic and creative power. Creation itself had its rise in tapas.³ In the *Brāhmaṇas* Prajāpati practices tapas in order to acquire creative powers. In those writings also is found the recognition of the efficacy of asceticism in the pursuit of knowledge. ‘Heaven is established on the air, the air on the earth, the earth on the waters, the waters on truth, the truth on the mystic love (of the sacrifice) and that on tapas.’⁴ In the *Śatapata Brāhmaṇa* and afterwards, the gods create the worlds through the power of tapas.⁵ Further on, while some of the earlier *Upaniṣads* express doubts on the matter,¹ in the later (verse) *Upaniṣads*, from the *Kena* on, its value for the attainment of knowledge is recognized and is often insisted upon.² The *Jābāla* upholds an extreme asceticism and asks that men root out all desires.³ Rhys Davids says that the nearer we get to Buddhism, the greater the importance we see attached to *tapas* (self-torture). Nowhere else in the world, he says, has the art of pain been so much studied as in India.