definition yoga

Yoga means to inquire. 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-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.    (More...)

We are eternally connected with the Supreme Lord, but somehow or other we are now in material contamination. Therefore, we must take up a process to go back again to the spiritual world. That linking process is called yoga. The actual translation of the word yoga is "plus," which is just the opposite of minus. At the present moment we are minus God, or minus the Supreme. When we make ourselves plus-connected-then our human form of life is perfected. During our lifetime we have to practice approaching that point of perfection, and at the time of death, when we give up this material body, that perfection has to be realized. At the time of death, one must be prepared. Students, for instance, prepare for two to five years in college, and the final test of their education is the examination. If they pass the examination, they get a degree. Similarly, in the subject of life, if we prepare for the examination at the time of death and pass it, then we are transferred to the spiritual world. Everything is examined at the time of death.    (More...)

When a person is fully engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he is pleased in himself, and thus he is no longer engaged in sense gratification or in fruitive activities. Otherwise, one must be engaged in sense gratification, since one cannot live without engagement. Without Krsna consciousness, one must be always seeking self-centered or extended selfish activities. But a Krsna conscious person can do everything for the satisfaction of Krsna and thereby be perfectly detached from sense gratification. One who has no such realization must mechanically try to escape material desires before being elevated to the top rung of the yoga ladder.    (More...)

The word mat-parah is most significant in this connection. How one can become a mat-parah is described in the life of Maharaja Ambarisa. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana, a great scholar and acarya in the line of the mat-parah, remarks: "mad-bhakti-prabhavena sarvendriya-vijaya-purvika svatma drstih sulabheti bhavah." "The senses can be completely controlled only by the strength of devotional service to Krsna." Also the example of fire is sometimes given: "As the small flames within burn everything within the room, similarly Lord Visnu, situated in the heart of the yogi, burns up all kinds of impurities." The Yoga-sutra also prescribes meditation on Visnu, and not meditation on the void. The so-called yogis who meditate on something which is not the Visnu form simply waste their time in a vain search after some phantasmagoria. We have to be Krsna conscious-devoted to the Personality of Godhead. This is the aim of the real yoga.    (More...)

When a devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord, it is called the attainment of yoga. The English equivalent to the word "yoga" is "linking up." So actual linking up with Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, begins when the devotee renders service unto Him. Devotees situated in the transcendental rasa of servitorship render their particular service whenever there is an opportunity. Sometimes they sit down in front of Krsna to receive orders. Some persons are reluctant to accept this level of devotional service as actual bhakti-yoga, and in some of the Puranas also this servitorship in devotional service to Krsna is not accepted as the actual bhakti-yoga system. But in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it has been clearly indicated that the servitor relationship with Krsna is the actual beginning of yoga realization.    (More...)

When we speak of yoga we refer to linking up our consciousness with the Supreme Absolute Truth. Such a process is named differently by various practitioners in terms of the particular method adopted. When the linking up process is predominantly in fruitive activities, it is called karma-yoga, when it is predominantly empirical, it is called jnana-yoga, and when it is predominantly in a devotional relationship with the Supreme Lord, it is called bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga or Krsna consciousness is the ultimate perfection of all yogas, as will be explained in the next verse. The Lord has confirmed herein the superiority of yoga, but He has not mentioned that it is better than bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is full spiritual knowledge, and as such, nothing can excel it. Asceticism without self-knowledge is imperfect. Empiric knowledge without surrender to the Supreme Lord is also imperfect. And fruitive work without Krsna consciousness is a waste of time. Therefore, the most highly praised form of yoga performance mentioned here is bhakti-yoga, and this is still more clearly explained in the next verse.    (More...)