Tapas is a variety of austere spiritual meditation practices in Indian religions. In Jainism, it means asceticism ; in Buddhism, it denotes spiritual practices including meditation and self-discipline; and in the different traditions within Hinduism it means a spectrum of practices ranging from asceticism, inner cleansing to self-discipline by meditation practices. The Tapas practice often involves solitude and is a part of monastic practices that are believed to be a means to moksha.
Tapasya - Jain meditation in progress.
Agni, the fire deity, is common at Hindu rituals such as weddings. Agni is considered a great tapasvin, and symbolizes the heat and patience necessary to recreate and incubate life.
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their practices or continue to be part of their society, but typically adopt a frugal lifestyle, characterised by the renunciation of material possessions and physical pleasures, and also spend time fasting while concentrating on the practice of religion or reflection upon spiritual matters, which is thought by some to allow the practitioner's core of consciousness to expand and connect with the infinite universal consciousness. Some individuals have also attempted an ascetic lifestyle to free themselves from addictions to things such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, entertainment, sex, food, etc.
Coptic icon of St. Anthony the Great, father of Christian monasticism and early anchorite. The Coptic inscription reads 'Ⲡⲓⲛⲓϣϯ Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ' ("the Great Father Anthony").
A Sufi Muslim ascetic (fakir) in Bengal during the 1860s
Chassidei Ashkenaz were a Jewish mystical and ascetic movement in medieval Germany.
The Buddha as an ascetic. Gandhara, 2nd–3rd century CE. British Museum