(טו) רַבִּי יַנַּאי אוֹמֵר, אֵין בְּיָדֵינוּ לֹא מִשַּׁלְוַת הָרְשָׁעִים וְאַף לֹא מִיִּסּוּרֵי הַצַּדִּיקִים. רַבִּי מַתְיָא בֶן חָרָשׁ אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי מַקְדִּים בִּשְׁלוֹם כָּל אָדָם. וֶהֱוֵי זָנָב לָאֲרָיוֹת, וְאַל תְּהִי רֹאשׁ לַשּׁוּעָלִים:
(15) Rabbi Yanai says: We do not have [the ability to explain] the tranquility of the wicked or even the suffering of the righteous. Rabbi Mattia ben Charash says: Be the first to greet every person, and be a tail to lions, and do not be a head to foxes.
(16) Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up, While the wicked are tripped by one misfortune.
Lois Nesbitt on Tapas in Yoga, August 2009
[Tapas is] the friction generated by going against the grain of habit, of complacency, of doing what’s easiest, of getting away with things. Tapas is the fervor of striving to be the best you can, which may mean shifting what you do and how you do it. So, if you are an intense, fiery person, the heat generated by a fiery practice like Ashtanga vinyasa may not truly be tapas for you; tapas for you might involve putting the breaks on compulsive, aggressive, ambitious behavior in all realms of your life—including what you do on the mat. I personally feel intense heat during the first few minutes of meditation; sitting still is such a challenge for me that it requires real tapas for me to stay put.
Swami Satchidananda said that tapas is self-discipline, not self-torture. Which raises the question of why you are practicing yoga at all, of intention. The Buddhists talk about right thinking and right action. Right effort is not the same as more effort. You don’t become a better yogi by doing more yoga or harder yoga; you become a better yogi by raising the bar of your intention to encompass something along the lines of enabling you to better serve the greater whole.
אבל ישראל נופלין ועומדין וכן הוא אומר אל תשמחי אויבתי לי כי נפלתי קמתי והוא שע"י הנפילה זה עצמו יהי' סיבה לקימה
ע"ד לשון חז"ל (מכות ז':) ירידה שהוא צורך עלי' שע"י הירידה יכול להיות העלי' יותר
וכן הוא אומר כי שבע יפול צדיק וקם שע"י הנפילה דייקא יהיה הקימה.
But Israel falls and stands as it says, "Do not rejoice over me, Oh my enemy! Though I have fallen, I rise again." This is that through the act of falling this is the reason that one rises.
This is the language of Chazal, "Downward motion for the sake of upward motion." That through the descent one can reach an even greater ascent.
Likewise it says, "Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up." That specifically through falling, he is able to get up. (Translation by Tzvi Pittinsky.)
...
From a letter written by R’ Yitzchak Hutner z”l (1904-1980; Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn) in response to a former student. The correspondent apparently had bemoaned the fact that he faced spiritual struggles; as quoted by R’ Hutner, he had written: “I will never forget the desire that I once had to succeed and to climb ‘from strength to strength,’ but now, my hope is lost.” The letter is found in Pachad Yitzchak: Igrot U’ketavim No. 128.
It is a terrible problem that when we discuss the greatness of our gedolim, we actually deal only with the end of their stories. We tell about their perfection, but we omit any mention of the inner battles which raged in their souls. The impression one gets is that they were created with their full stature.
For example, everyone is impressed by the purity of the Chafetz Chaim’s speech. [Ed. Note: The Chafetz Chaim led the battle against lashon hara and is held up as the model of how a Jew should speak.] However, who knows about all the wars, the battles, the impediments, the downfalls, and the retreats that the Chafetz Chaim experienced in his fight with the evil inclination?!
As a result [of this gap in our knowledge of gedolim], when a young man who is imbued with a [holy] spirit and with ambition experiences impediments and downfalls, he believes that he is not planted in the house of Hashem. This is because this young man thinks that being planted in Hashem’s house means experiencing tranquility of the soul “in lush meadows beside tranquil waters” [Tehilim 23:2].
However, know my friend, that the key for your soul is not the tranquility of the yetzer hatov, but the war against the yetzer hara. Your letter testifies that you are a faithful warrior in the army of the yetzer hatov. There is a saying in English, “Lose the battle and win the war.” You surely have stumbled and will stumble again, and you will be vanquished in many battles. However, I promise you that after you have lost those battles, you will emerge from the war with a victor’s wreath on your head.