Learning about Parvati’s divinity and heritage (that in her previous life as Sati
she was already the consort of Lord Shiva, that she herself had sought to be Shiva’s
consort in her next life, the present one, at the time of death, and that she was thus an
eternal partner of Shiva and therefore is sure to succeed in her Tapa), all the family
members and her friends felt reassured and comforted. Their sense of despair and
gloom was dissipated, and they became calm. (Doha no. 73)
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caupā’ī.
ura dhari umā prānapati caranā. jā'i bipina lāgīṁ tapu karanā. 1.
ati sukumāra na tanu tapa jōgū. pati pada sumiri tajē'u sabu bhōgū. 2.
Enshrining the holy feet of her beloved Lord (Shiva) in her heart, she (Uma/Parvati)
went to the forest and began doing Tapa (to attain her beloved Lord)^1. (1)
Her body was very delicate and fragile, not at all suitable for Tapa. Inspite of
this, she invoked the holy feet of her husband (Lord Shiva) in her heart, and
remembering him she discarded all thoughts of comfort and pleasures that are
associated with the body and related to the world^2. (2)
[Note—^1 Uma had decided that Shiva would be her eternal husband, and this
determination made her all the more resolute and firm in doing Tapa.
Her Tapa was different from the Tapa done by others to propitiate the chosen
deity. While the rest of the world does Tapa to seek some reward, whether it is
worldly or spiritual, some kind of blessing from the worshipped deity by way of a
boon or two, or for fulfilment of some other kind of desire that is otherwise difficult
or almost impossible to achieve, Uma did Tapa to be an ‘eternal companion of the
deity’.
Her interaction with the deity, in this case Lord Shiva, was not for some moments
when the Lord appears before his devotee, grants him or her some boon, and then
vanishes from sight. She wanted to be with her deity for the rest of her life. And so
this Tapa was special because the desire that needed to be fulfilled was also unique.
Consequentially, the intensity and dimension of Uma’s Tapa also had to be special
and different from the way others did Tapa. In other words, her Tapa was more severe
and its sufferings were more intense as compared to the Tapa done by others.
When examined closely we observe that when Manu and Satrupa did Tapa to
request Lord Vishnu to become their son, which resulted in the Lord incarnating as
Lord Ram to became the son king Dasrath (Manu) and queen Kaushalya (Satrupa),
the couple had to do severe Tapa that matched that done by Uma. Refer: Ram Charit
Manas, Baal Kand, from Chaupai line no. 1 that precedes Doha no. 144—to Chaupai
line no. 4 that precedes Doha no. 145.
(^2) Tapa involves stern self-restraint, and overcoming all temptations for comfort
and pleasure. As we shall be reading shortly below, all desires to please the gross
organs of the body, such as the desire of tongue to eat delicious things, the desire of
the skin to seek physical comofort, and so on are to be overcome if one were to
succeed in Tapa. This exercise of exemplary self-restraint and self-denial is treated as
an ideal way of offering that is made to the deity worshipped during a religious
sacrifice. Tapa is a sacrifice of one’s own self, an exercise that is far better and more
effective than making offerings of things that are bought by money, that may cause
harm or pain to others (such as animal sacrifices or forcing others to donate against
their wishes), and that is done by professional priests for monetary considerations.