One translation of the word yoga is plusthat is, just the opposite of minus. At the present moment, due to our materially contaminated consciousness, we are minus God. When we add God to our lives, when we connect with Him, life is perfected. This process has to be finished at the time of death; therefore as long as we are alive, we have to practice approaching that point of perfection so that at the time of death, when we give up this material body, we can realize the Supreme.

This process by which the yogi closes the doors of the senses is technically called pratyahara, meaning just the opposite. Presently, our senses are engaged in seeing worldly beauty. Just the opposite means retracting the senses from that beauty and seeing the beauty inside. Hearing is concentrated on the omkara sound that is within. Similarly, all the other senses are withdrawn from external activity. The mind is then concentrated on the visnu-murti within the heart (manah hrdi nirudhya). The word nirudhya means confining the mind within the heart. When the yogi has thus withdrawn his senses and concentrated his mind, he transfers the life air to the top of the head and decides where he should go. There are innumerable planets, and beyond these planets is the spiritual world. The yogis obtain information of these planets from the Vedic literatures, just as, before coming to the United States, I obtained information about this country from books. Since all the higher planets in the spiritual world are described in the Vedic literatures, the yogi knows everything and can transfer himself to any planet he likes. He does not need a material spaceship.

Scientists have been trying for many years to reach other planets with spaceships, but this is not the process. Maybe by this means one or two men can reach a planet, but that is not the general process. It is not possible for everyone. Generally, if one wants to transfer himself to a higher planet, he practices this jnana-yoga system. Not the bhakti-yoga system. The system of bhakti-yoga is not used for attaining any material planet.

The devotees of Krsna are not interested in any planet within this material universe, because they know that on all planets the four basic miseries existbirth, old age, disease, and death. In the higher planets, ones life span may be much greater than on this earth, but death is ultimately there. Therefore those who are in Krsna consciousness are not interested in material life but spiritual life, which means relief from these fourfold miseries. Those who are intelligent do not try to elevate themselves to any planet within this material world. To attain a higher planet, one has to prepare a particular type of body to enable one to live on that planet. We cannot attain these planets by artificial, materialistic means, because a suitable body is necessary to live there. We can stay within water only a short while, but fish are living there their entire lives. But the fish does not have a body suitable for living on the land. Similarly, to enter a higher planet, one has to prepare a suitable body.

In the higher planets, six of our months are equal to one of their days, and the inhabitants of these planets live ten thousand years. This is all described in the Vedic literatures. Although the life span on these planets is very long, there is ultimately death. After ten thousand years, twenty thousand years, or millions of yearsit doesnt matterdeath is ultimately there.

In the very beginning of Bhagavad-gita, however, we learn that we are not subject to death.

The spirit soul is a very minute particle within the body. It cannot be seen like the external body, but it is sustaining the external body. The object of the sat-cakra system is to locate the soul at the topmost part of the head. From there, one who is perfect in dhyana-yoga can transfer himself to a higher planet at will. That is the perfection of this type of yoga. The dhyana-yogi is somewhat like a traveler who thinks, Oh, let me see what the moon is like, then I will transfer myself to higher planets. He goes from here to there in the universe, just as on earth travelers go from New York to California or Canada. But a Krsna conscious person is not interested in such interplanetary travel within the material universe. His goal is service to Krsna and transferral to the spiritual sky.

One who is intelligent naturally thinks, I am permanent and eternal. Why should I be interested in things that are not permanent? Actually, no one wants an existence that is temporary. If we are living in an apartment and the landlord asks us to vacate, we have to do so, whether we want to leave or not. However, if we move to a better apartment, we are not sorry. It is our nature, however, to want to remain wherever we live. That is because we are permanent and want a permanent residence. Our inclination is to remain. Therefore we dont want to die. We dont want the miseries of birth, old age, disease, and death. These are external miseries inflicted by material nature, and they attack us like some fever. In order to extricate ourselves, we have to take certain precautions. To get rid of these miseries, it is necessary to get rid of the material body, because these miseries are inherent in material existence.

Thus by vibrating om and leaving the material body thinking of the Supreme Lord, the yogi is transferred to the spiritual world. Those who are not personalists, however, cannot enter into the spiritual planet of Lord Sri Krsna. They remain outside, in the brahmajyoti effulgence. Just as the sunshine is not different from the sun globe, the brahmajyoti effulgence of the Supreme Lord is not different from the Supreme Lord. The impersonalists are placed in that brahmajyoti as minute particles. We are all spiritual sparks, and the brahmajyoti is full of these spiritual sparks. In this way, the impersonalists merge into the spiritual existence; however, individuality is retained, because the spirit soul is constitutionally an individual. Because the impersonalists dont want a personal form, they are placed and held in the impersonal brahmajyoti. There they exist just as atoms exist within the sunshine. The individual spiritual spark remains within the brahmajyoti as if homogeneous.

As living entities, we all want enjoyment. We do not simply want existence. We are constitutionally sac-cid-anandaeternal (sat), full of knowledge (cit), and full of bliss (ananda). Those who enter the impersonal brahmajyoti cannot remain there eternally with the knowledge that Now I am merged. I am now one with Brahman. Although there is eternality and knowledge, bliss (ananda) is lacking. Who can remain alone in a room year after year reading some book and trying to enjoy himself? We cannot remain alone forever. Eventually we will leave that room and look for some association. It is our nature to want some recreation with others. The impersonalists, dissatisfied with the loneliness of their position in the impersonal effulgence of the Lord, therefore return again to this material world. This is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.2.32):

The impersonalists are like astronauts in search of a planet. If they cannot rest in some planet, they have to return to earth. It is herein stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah) that the impersonalist must return to the material world because he has neglected to serve the Supreme Lord with love and devotion. As long as we are on this earth, we should practice to love and serve Krsna, the Supreme Lord; then we can enter His spiritual planet. If we are not trained up in this way, we can enter the brahmajyoti as an impersonalist, but there is every risk that we will again fall down into material existence. Out of loneliness, we will search out some association and therefore return to the material world. What we actually want is the eternal association of the Supreme Lord. This is our constitutional position of eternality, knowledge, and pleasure. If we are alone, if we do not associate with the Supreme Lord, that pleasure is lacking. For want of pleasure, we feel uncomfortable. For want of pleasure, we will accept any kind of association, any kind of pleasure. Therefore, out of a kind of desperation, we will say, All right, then let me have material pleasure again. That is the risk the impersonalists take.

In the material world, the highest pleasure is found in sex. That is but a perverted reflection of the pleasure experienced with Krsna in the spiritual world. Unless there is sex present in the spiritual world, it cannot be reflected here. However, we should understand that here the reflection is perverted. Actual life is there in Krsna. Krsna is full of pleasure, and if we train ourselves to serve Him in Krsna consciousness, it will be possible at the time of death to transfer ourselves to the spiritual world and enter into Krsnaloka, Krsnas planet, and enjoy ourselves in the association of Krsna, the reservoir of all pleasure.

Krsnas planet is described in Brahma-samhita (5.29) in this way:

The conclusion, therefore, is not to try to elevate ourselves to any material planet, because the same miserable conditions of birth, old age, disease, and death exist in all of them. Scientists are very proud of scientific advancement, but they have not been able to check old age, disease, and death. They can manufacture something to accelerate death, but nothing that can stop death. That is not within their power.

Those who are intelligent are interested in putting an end to birth, old age, disease, and death and entering into a spiritual life full of eternality, bliss, and knowledge. The bhakti-yogi knows that such a life is possible through practice of Krsna consciousness and remembrance of Krsna at the time of death.

Krsna consciousness means always living with Krsna in His spiritual planet. Because we are conscious of Krsna, we are already living with Him. We simply have to wait to give up this material body to go there. For one who remembers Krsna without deviation, He is easy to obtain. Tasyaham sulabhah partha.: I become very cheap for them. For one who takes to Krsna consciousness, the most valuable thing becomes very easy to obtain. Because one is engaged in bhakti-yoga, Krsna becomes easily available. Why should we try so hard to attain Krsna, when Krsna Himself says, I am easy to obtain? We have only to chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare twenty-four hours daily. There is no fast rule and regulation. We can chant in the street or on the subway, in our home or in our office. There is neither expenditure nor tax.

Actually Krsna, being omnipotent, is unconquerable, but it is said that He is not only obtained but conquered through pure devotional service. As stated before, it is generally very difficult to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore one of His names is Ajita, meaning, He whom no one can conquer. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.3), Lord Brahma prays to Ajita,

In this verse, the words jnane prayasam refer to theosophists and philosophers who are trying year after year and life after life to understand God, or the Absolute Truth. Their attempts are like those of the frog in a well trying to comprehend the vastness of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Even our attempts to measure outer space are futile, to say nothing of the attempt to measure God. Such attempts are doomed to failure; therefore Srimad-Bhagavatam recommends that we abandon all attempts to measure the Supreme. It is completely useless to try to understand God by our limited knowledge, and an intelligent man understands this. We should become submissive and try to understand that our position is that of a very insignificant segment in this creation. The words namanta eva indicate that we are just to become submissive in order to understand the Supreme from a reliable source. And what is that source? San-mukharitam: from the lips of realized souls. Arjuna is understanding God directly from the lips of Krsna, and we have to understand God through the lips of Arjuna or his bona fide representative. We can understand the transcendental nature of God only from a reliable source. That source may be Indian, European, American, Japanese, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever. The circumstances are not important. We just have to try to understand by hearing and then try to put the process to practice in our daily lives. By becoming submissive, hearing from the right source, and trying to apply the teachings in our daily lives, we can become conquerors of the Supreme. For one who does this, Lord Krsna becomes easily available. Ordinarily, God realization is very difficult, but it is very easy for one who submissively hears (sruti-gatam).

There are two processes by which we can acquire knowledge: one is the ascending process (aroha-pantha), and the other is the descending process (avaroha-pantha). By the ascending process, one attempts to understand God by his own effortsby philosophizing, meditating, or speculating. According to the descending process, one acquires knowledge simply by hearing from an authority, from the bona fide spiritual master and the scriptures. As far as the ascending process is concerned, it is stated in Brahma-samhita (5.34),

This should be our attitude. We should not think, I want to see God. O God, please come and stand before me. Be like my servant. But since God is no ones servant, we have to oblige Him by our love and service. We all know how difficult it is to see the king or president of a country. It is practically impossible for an ordinary man to get an interview with such an important person, to say nothing of having this important person come and stand before him. Yet people are demanding that the Supreme Personality of Godhead come and stand before them. It is our nature to hanker after Krsna, because He is the most attractive, most beautiful, most opulent, most powerful, most learned, and most famous person in the universe. Everyone hankers after these qualities, and Krsna is the reservoir of all these qualities, and He possesses them in full. Krsna is the reservoir of everything (raso vai sah); therefore when we hanker after beauty or power or knowledge or fame, we should just turn our attention to Krsna. Then we will automatically get whatever our hearts desire.