Square 50: Plane of austerity (tapa-loka)

Square 50 in Leela is the Plane of austerity, tapa-loka, the sixth of the seven lokas on the board's central spine. It stands for penance, sustained work on oneself and meditation. Players often reach it by the arrow from square 28, Apt religion, which Johari describes as one's own dharma lifting the player straight to the sixth row.

What square 50 means

For Johari, tapa-loka is the plane of penance and hard work on the self. Tapas literally means heat: the inner heat produced by discipline, by staying with a practice when it is no longer easy. The player who reaches this square is not resting on talent but refining attention through effort and meditation.

Johari adds that the being of the sixth chakra reveals the Divine to others. Austerity here is not a private achievement or a display of willpower. Its fruit is a clarity that others can feel and use.

Square 50 is the central plane of row 6, The Time of Penance, and belongs to the Ajna chakra, the third eye. It sits on the spine of the board, the middle column that holds the lokas from 5 Bhu-loka to 68 Vaikuntha. That central place makes it the keynote of the whole row: every square around it is a form of penance, discernment or its risks.

The square also carries a warning. Two squares further on lies 52, the Plane of violence, where zeal turns hard. Austerity that becomes self-torment, or a reason to judge others, has lost its point. The lesson of square 50 is a discipline chosen freely, held with faith, and free of the need for reward.

On the board

Square 50 sits in the centre of row 6, The Time of Penance. One arrow ends here: the arrow of Apt religion from square 28, which carries the player from row 4 directly to the sixth row. A player can also arrive by an ordinary throw from the squares below. Square 50 itself has no arrow and no snake, so the next throw moves the player on by count.

Arrows arriving here: 28 Apt religion.

The Bhagavad Gita and this square

Gita 17.14 describes austerity of body, speech and mind, and calls it sattvic only when practised with faith and without craving for reward, never as self-torment. Arjuna's penance, and his humbling meeting with Shiva disguised as the Kirata hunter, shows tapas that ends not in pride but in grace received.

Austerity can be of body, speech and mind. It is sattvic when done with faith and no craving for reward, not as self-torment.

Gita 17.14 · Arjuna's penance and the Kirata

Questions to reflect on

• Which discipline would set me free?
• Is my effort an offering, or a way of proving something?
• Where has my discipline become harsh with me or with others?