modern yoga societies
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At the present moment, no one can meditate. The so-called meditation now popular in the West is humbug. It is very difficult to meditate in this disturbing Age of Kali [the age of quarrel and hypocrisy]. Therefore sastra [scripture] says, krte yad dhyayato visnum. In the Satya-yuga [the age of truth], when people used to live for one hundred thousand years, Valmiki Muni attained perfection by meditating for sixty thousand years. But now we have no guarantee that we are going to live for sixty years or even sixty hours. So meditation is not possible in this age. In the next age [the Treta-yuga], people performed rituals, as they are described in the Vedic sastra. Tretayam yajato makhaih. Makhaih means performing big, big sacrifice. That requires huge amounts of money. In the present age people are very poor so they cannot perform these sacrifices. Dvapare paricaryayam-in the Dvapara-yuga [the age just prior to the present age] it was possible to worship the Deity opulently in the temple, but nowadays in the Kali-yuga, that is also an impossible task. Therefore, the general recommendation is kalau tad dhari-kirtanat: in this Age of Kali one can attain all perfection simply by chanting the holy names of the Lord. The Krsna conscious movement is meant to spread chanting. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu inaugurated this movement of chanting and dancing. It has been going on for the last five hundred years. In India it is popular, but in the Western countries have just introduced it five or six years ago. Now people are taking to it they are feeling happy. This is the process.
(More...) The so-called yoga societies in big cities may be successful in earning material benefit, but they are not at all suitable for the actual practice of yoga. "Sacred place" refers to places of pilgrimage. In India the yogis, the transcendentalists or the devotees all leave home and reside in sacred places such as Prayag, Mathura, Vrndavana, Hrsikesa, and Hardwar and in solitude practice yoga where the sacred rivers like the Yamuna and the Ganges flow. But often this is not possible, especially for Westerners. The so-called yoga societies in big cities may be successful in earning material benefit, but they are not at all suitable for the actual practice of yoga. One who is not self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot practice meditation. Therefore, in the Brhan-naradiya Purana it is said that in the Kali-yuga (the present yuga or age) when people in general are short-lived, slow in spiritual realization and always disturbed by various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting the holy name of the Lord.
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