Tapas, coordination of Thought, Word and Deed

Your heart is the ceremonial altar; your body is the fire place; your hair is the holy grass, darbha; wishes are the fuel-sticks with which the fire is fed; desire is the ghee that is poured into the fire to make it burst into flame; anger is the sacrificial animal; the fire is the tapas you accomplish. People sometimes interpret tapas as ascetic practices like standing on one leg, and so on. No, tapas is not physical contortion. It is the complete and correct coordination of thought, word and deed.
When all words emanating from you are sweet, your breath becomes Rig Veda. When you restrict what you listen to and prefer only sweet speech, all that you hear becomes Saama gaana.
When you do only sweet deeds, all that you do is Yajur homa. Thus, you will be performing every day the Vedhapurusha Yajna, the yajna which propitiates the Supreme Vedic Being.
Baba (thought for the day)

To integrate holiness in our daily life is a skill. I don’t feel like skilled at all. It began when I was twenty being focused on the higher self and my life is conditioned by it. It means whatever I can do to get more freedom I have to do, because it feels heavy.


 

True sacrifice consists in sharing with others one’s wealth, strength and qualities, which are derived from society. - Baba

It is tapas but not physical contortion. It means not losing the focus, but also to accept that the coordination of thought, word and deed sometimes is possible and sometimes not.

It is a constant going in that direction, but it means not being there. It is just a right direction and being able to integrate what is not fitting to keep the direction. It is the direction of perfection but it is not reaching that, it is a path and becoming more human on the way.
In the good moments it feels light and okay, and if it is not good, it seems heavy and burdened.
Becoming living Veda is not just a state, but developing consciousness and inner growth, it is a path and sometimes it feels light and easy and sometimes we are tired and it is difficult, but it always goes in the right direction until we think we go in the right direction and it turned around.
The direction is given, it is not really possible to change it, but maybe it would be possible to forget it just to feel better about it. 
Because with time it gets heavy and it can turn into the opposite and it is possible that we miss it.
I guess that is always possible and even more so after long years of tapas. Therefore, the years on the spiritual path are no guaranty that we progress. Time is working against us and loading heavily.
As the experience and understanding are growing our ability to take it seems to get less. It is not easy.
In the beginning it seemed easy, but that didn't last very long and it changed and since it never has been easy again.
To think of it feels already heavy and to forget it seems easy, but that is not real, it just feels like that.
To think of it the right way can be fulfilling if it is based on dedication and to forget it can lead into anxiety... and that is just the opposite of how it feels.