Yoga Process

The Yoga system as it is described in The Bhagavad-gita is different from the bogus Yoga system which is going on in the West these days. The Yoga systems which have been introduced into the West by so-called yogis are not bona fide. Yoga is difficult: the first thing is to control the senses. That is the position of the yogi: he is not allowed to indulge in sex life. If you indulge in intoxication, if you indulge in meat eating, and if you indulge in gambling and sporting-all nonsense-you cannot at the same time become a yogi. I was astonished when a yogi came here, having advertised in India that you can be a yogi even though you may be addicted to drinking. This is not the Yoga system. This is not standard. You can call it Yoga, but it is not the standard Yoga system.

The Yoga system is especially difficult for this age. In the Srimad Bhagwatam we understand that yogic transcendental meditation means to concentrate one's attention on the Superself, Vishnu. He is situated in your heart. And, in order to concentrate your attention, you have to control the senses. The senses are working just like infuriated horses. If you cannot control the horses of your carriage, it will be dangerous. Just imagine that you are seated in a carriage and your horses are so furious that they are dragging you to hell. Then what is your position?

The Yoga system means to control these senses. The senses are also compared to serpents: The serpent does not know who is its friend and who is its enemy. It bites anyone. And, as soon as the serpent bites, the result is death. Similarly, if the uncontrolled senses work in their own way, then you should know that you are in a dangerous position.

It has been said that, when one becomes too sensuous, he loses his temper, he loses his identity, he forgets himself. Infuriated by the senses, a man will attack even his children, even his daughter. Therefore, for those who are advancing in spiritual life-not only for them but for everyone-the Shastra, the scripture, says that you should not sit in a secluded place even with your mother, even with your daughter or your sister. Why? Because the senses are so strong that if they become infuriated, you will forget whether she's mother, sister or daughter.

You may say that this may be true only for some foolish persons, but Shastra says no-you should not sit in a secluded place even with your mother, sister or daughter, because the senses are so strong that, even though you may be very moral, you may still be attracted by sex.

Our position in this world, our suffering in this world, is due to the body. This body is the cause of all miseries, and the ultimate goal of life should be to get out of this material body, and be situated in the spiritual body. This is a foreign atmosphere. The soul is free spiritually, but it has been conditioned by this material atmosphere. And the body is of this matter.

A human being is fit to enquire as to whether I am this body or something else. This can be understood very easily. I am not this body, because at the time of death the body remains-although everyone cries, "Oh, the poor man is gone!" The man is lying there. Why do you say he is gone? He is lying there. At that time, we can come to our senses, that the body is not the man. The real man is gone. The childhood body is changed to the youthful body, and the childhood body is gone. Similarly, the boyhood body is gone, and you'll have to accept a body like mine an old man's body.

The body is changing. Not only year after year, but at every second the body is changing. Still, you are situated there. This is very simple to understand. And because the body is there, we are suffering. Everyone is trying to get out of suffering, in any field of action: in the economic field, in the political field, or any field of activity, social or national, everyone is trying to get out of misery. There is no other activity. Either nationally or socially, individually or collectively-we are all suffering, and this suffering is due to the body.

Yoga means to enquire, What am I? If I am not this body, then what am I? I am pure soul. Now, if my bodily activities or sensual activities are incorrect, I will not be able to understand myself. Therefore, the purpose of Yoga is to understand oneself-what I am-and The Bhagavad-gita says that we are all grand fools. Why fools? Since we have this body, we are fools. If somebody invites you to come to his apartment, but you know it is full of danger, do you think you would like to go there? "Oh no," you will say. "I am not going there. If it is full of danger, why shall I go?" Similarly, don't you think that the body is full of danger? Then, why are you going there, taking repeated birth? When you are flying in a plane, you are always fearful that there may be a crash. And what is this crashing? It is due to the body. The soul cannot be affected by crashes. But you are always afraid.

The soul is ever-existing, and the body will not exist. And because you are existing and the soul has accepted the non-existing body, therefore you suffer.

The problem, then, is how to get out, just as you try to get out of a fever. The fevered condition is not your permanent life. Permanent life is enjoyment, but due to the fever you cannot enjoy life. When you are sick you cannot go out, you have to rest and take so many medicines and formulas. But we don't want that-"Why should I be a sick person?" But you are diseased. Similarly, we should always know that this bodily conditional stage of the pure soul is a diseased condition. And anyone who does not understand this truth, that "I am pure soul," is defeated in all his activities.

Lord Jesus Christ taught like that: If you lose your soul and gain the whole world, what do you gain? People do not know what they are, and yet they work just like madmen. Just see, all these people are working, and they are madmen. They are not Americans or Indians, Germans or Japanese. They are nothing of the kind. They have been given a chance to come to this naughty place, this Earth; and so, being born in a particular place they have a particular kind of body-and they are mad after that.