On tapah from the Keno Upanishad

Tapah is the burning away of the dross, the burning away of one’s accumulated impurities or distractions. Once one begins to understand, that the Inner Self or the Supreme Being is not touched by any of the ups and downs of the world and its emotions, one has become a little richer. Slowly the disturbances begin to subside. Ultimately, the burning away of the ego takes place.

The supports of Brahman are Tapas, Dama and Karma, meaning ‘Giving up’, ‘ Self-control’ and ‘Work’. There is a great difference between Sattva and Tamas. In Sattva, one finds no reason to do anything. In laziness, one does not want to do anything.

The study of the Upanishads is a great effort. Working towards a great goal requires great effort. Karma here means ‘ the work towards the attainment of the Supreme Being.’ Dama, here, means not letting the mind take control of you. It is no longer dissipated or running here and there. It is calm and settled. So Tapas, Dama and Karma are the foundation for knowing Brahman.

The Vedas, which we study, are the units of the Supreme Being because they describe the different approaches to and different angles and visions of looking at the Supreme Being.

Satyam or Truth is its final abode. To find this Satyam, first one has to be free of all the Asatyam that one has for so long imagined to be true. Swami Vivekananda put this very aptly. “We have been hypnotised by Maya, Now we need to dehypnotise ourselves”.

In various Upanishads, the states of Satyam and Asatyam have been compared to a dream. If you have a lengthy dream in which you are unhappy, you wake up and think, ‘Thank God it was a dream and I am safe.’ In the dream state you believed it was the truth but when you awoke, it was not.

The waking state is the state of Satyam, which is the reality of this world. However, please note, even this worldly reality is only for the time being. You will soon find that that is also Asatyam and not the Truth.

So, the realisation of Brahman, is like waking up from all dreams.
When one has woken up from all dreams, one says, ‘All the joys and sorrows of that dream are over. Now I am in the abode of Truth which is Sat Chit Ananda.’