Yoga Technique

The Supreme Lord continues His description of the yoga process in verses 13-15. "One should hold one's body, neck, and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an unagitated, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life. By meditating in this manner, always controlling the body, mind and activities, the mystic transcendentalist attains to peace, the supreme nirvana which abides in Me."

We can clearly see that the yoga process is one of renunciation of material activity. It is a spiritual process and must be followed per prescription if one is to reach the goal. The prescription is given in Bhagavad-gita. Nowadays, many are taking to the yoga process seeking improvement in their health or a stronger body. They are simply wasting their valuable time because they still must grow old, get sick and die. No living entity in the material universes escapes birth, death, old age and diseases. Even the demigods who administer these universes according to Krsna's supervision and energy must die. It is an obvious fact that the great majority of time we have in this life is spent suffering. If I do not investigate the cause of this cosmic manifestation and the reason for this suffering and devote all my time to self-realization to transcend this material platform of existence, then I have wasted my life.

When we are sick with a 107 degree fever, the process of cure is not to reduce this to 104 degrees, or to 101 degrees, or to 99 degrees. The cure is to be 98.6 degrees all the time. So one should find this out. We are all sick in material existence. Our nature is pure consciousness, pure spirit soul, blissful and full of knowledge, but we are preoccupied, mind and body, with lustful contamination, bondage to material energy. And the more we are bound to bodily attachment, the more there is pain. It is as though we are drowning under the huge waves of the ocean. Now those who are practicing the yoga exercises are only temporarily relieving the heavy deluge. They think they are enjoying themselves, but this is not true, for they are still in the middle of the ocean, stranded, and the waves are pounding a little less hard, that's all. This is not enjoyment, for they are still bound by their condition. So in the next lifetime, or the next, or whenever, this will catch up with them, and they will have to work off more and more sinful reaction.

Where is the sin? The sin is that the yoga process is given by Krsna for realizing Him. It should be executed properly. He tells us that a yogi must renounce sense gratification. But the yogis of today are practicing it primarily to sharpen their senses for enjoyment. The materially contaminated senses of the gross body form the network that will bring the soul farther and farther into misery, farther down the evolutionary ladder in his later lifetimes. Forgetfulness of Krsna is sinful activity.

Therefore, everyone is urged to overcome the desire for personal sense gratification by working in transcendental devotional service to Krsna. Such a state is always blissful. The more we want merely to gratify this body and mind (subtle body), then the more we are becoming contaminated with lust, which is like an itch, and the more we scratch, the more we itch. It is insatiable. One day we will realize the corrupt nature of the material consciousness, and we will endeavor to come out of that sick state.

After Krsna describes the sahkhya-yoga system of renunciation and control of the mind through solitary meditation upon Him, Arjuna says, "O Madhusūdana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady." (Gita 6.33) His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada points out here that Arjuna, although favorably endowed in many ways, "belonged to the royal family and was highly elevated in terms of numerous qualities. He was a great warrior, he had great longevity, and above all he was the most intimate friend of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Arjuna had much better facilities than we do, yet he refused this system of yoga."

The quality of man has degenerated so much since then that but for one or two great, great souls, no one should seek spiritual advancement through such yoga processes, for he will simply be wasting his valuable time which could be much better spent in Krsna consciousness. Five thousand years ago, 700,000,000 men fought on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. Arjuna was one of the greatest generals. The leaders of each side mastered armies of 300,000,000 and 400,000,000 men. They were stationing each man, and the positions of all these men were contained in their minds. We must often strain to remember what we did one hour ago, we could never consider positioning such massive armies. The reason men are becoming so corrupt in this age is due to the features of the Kali age. Material energy is becoming more and more attractive. It is an age of rapid spiritual decline. What is the binding force in Kali-yuga?

In the Third Chapter of Bhagavad-gita the Lord says, "It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.

"As a fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly the living entity is covered by different degrees of lust.

"Thus, a man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

"The senses, the mind, and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him."

So the lust is veiling the real knowledge (cit) of the soul, which is pure and knows Krsna in full Krsna consciousness. If the mind is too caught up in this lust, it is bewildered. But by transcending the material platform of consciousness, one can burn lust away. Then the true, eternal reality, in all its bliss and knowledge, will shine throughout. How can this transcendence be achieved? Become a perfect yogi.

Who is the perfect yogi? In Chapter Six, the Supreme Lord says, "And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all."

Prabhupada writes in his purport that this verse clearly indicates the bhakta or devotee. The bhakti-yogi is higher than all the other yogis, including those who work without fruitive result for themselves (karma-yogis), those who engage the mind in philosophical speculation (jnana-yogis), those who meditate on the om syllable (raja-yogis), and those who meditate on the Supersoul expansion of Krsna, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, within the heart and who are following the eightfold system of classic yoga (astahga-yogis). The bhakta is not only in a more ecstatic state of trance, but he is also a more highly realized yogi. This is because he understands his eternal position of rendering transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord, Krsna.