PERFECTION OF YOGA

[Guest guest]

Yoga as Rejected by Arjuna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There have been many yoga systems popularized in the Western

world, especially in this century, but none of them have actually taught

the perfection of yoga. In the Bhagavad-gita, Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, teaches Arjuna directly the perfection of

yoga. If we actually want to participate in the perfection of the yoga

system, in Bhagavad-gita we will find the authoritative statements of the

Supreme Person. It is certainly remarkable that the perfection of yoga was

taught in the middle of a battlefield. It was taught to Arjuna, the

warrior, just before Arjuna was to engage in a fratricidal battle. Out of

sentiment, Arjuna was thinking, " Why should I fight against

my own kinsmen? " That reluctance to fight was due to Arjuna's

illusion, and just to eradicate that illusion, Sri Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita

to him. One can just imagine how little time must have elapsed while

Bhagavad-gita was being spoken. All the warriors on both sides

were poised to fight, so there was very little time indeed--at the

utmost, one hour. Within this one hour, the whole Bhagavad-gita was

discussed, and Sri Krsna set forth the perfection of all yoga systems to His

friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arjuna. At the end of this great discourse, Arjuna set aside his misgivings and

fought. However, within the discourse, when Arjuna heard the explanation

of the meditational system of yoga--how to sit down, how to keep the

body straight, how to keep the eyes half-closed and how to gaze at the

tip of the nose without diverting one's attention, all this being

conducted in a secluded place, alone--he replied,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yo 'yam yogas tvaya proktah

samyena madhusudana

etasyaham na pasyami

cancalatvat sthitim sthiram

O Madhusudana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical

and unendurable to me, for the mind is

restless and unsteady. (Bg. 6.33) This is important. We must always remember

that we

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

are in a material circumstance wherein at every moment our mind is subject to

agitation. Actually we are not in a very comfortable situation. We are always

thinking that by changing our situation

we will overcome our mental agitation, and we are always thinking that

when we reach a certain point, all mental agitations will disappear. But

it is the nature of the material world that we cannot be free from

anxiety. Our dilemma is that we are always trying to make a solution to our

problems, but this universe is so designed that these solutions

never come. Not being a cheater, being very frank and open, Arjuna tells Krsna

that the system of yoga which He has described is not possible for

him to execute. In speaking to Krsna, it is significant that Arjuna addresses

Him as Madhusudana, indicating that the Lord is the

killer of the demon Madhu. It is notable that God's names are innumerable,

for He is often named according to His activities. Indeed, God has

innumerable

 

 

 

 

 

 

names because He has innumerable activities. We are only parts of

God, and we cannot even remember how many activities we have engaged in

from our childhood to the present. The eternal God is unlimited, and

since

 

 

 

 

 

 

His activities are also unlimited, He has unlimited names, of

which Krsna is the chief. Then why is Arjuna addressing Him as

Madhusudana when, being Krsna's friend, he could address Him directly as

Krsna? The

 

 

 

 

 

 

answer is that Arjuna considers his mind to be like a great demon,

such as the demon Madhu. If it were possible for Krsna to kill the

demon called the mind, then Arjuna would be able to attain the

perfection of

 

 

 

 

 

 

yoga. " My mind is much stronger than this demon Madhu, "

Arjuna is saying. " Please, if You could kill him, then it would be

possible for me to execute this yoga system. " Even the mind of a great man

like Arjuna

 

 

 

 

is always agitated. As Arjuna himself says,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cancalam hi manah krsna

pramathi bala vad drdham

tasyaham nigraham manye

vayor iva suduskaram

for the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to

subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind. (Bg.

6.34) It is indeed a fact that the mind is always telling us to go here, go

there, do this, do that--it is always telling us which way to

turn. Thus the sum and substance of the yoga system is to control the

agitated mind. In the meditational yoga system the mind is controlled by

focusing on the Supersoul--that is the whole purpose of yoga. But Arjuna

says that controlling this mind is more difficult than stopping the

wind from blowing. One can imagine a man stretching out his arms trying to

stop a hurricane. Are we to assume that Arjuna is simply not sufficiently

qualified to control his mind? The actual fact is that we cannot

begin to understand the immense qualifications of Arjuna. After all, he

was a

 

 

 

 

 

 

personal friend of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is a

highly elevated position and is one that cannot be at all attained by one

without great qualifications. In addition to this, Arjuna was

renowned

 

 

 

 

 

 

as a great warrior and administrator. He was such an intelligent

man that he could understand Bhagavad-gita within one hour, whereas at

the present moment great scholars cannot even understand it in the

course of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a lifetime. Yet Arjuna was thinking that controlling the mind was

simply not possible for him. Are we then to assume that what was

impossible for Arjuna in a more advanced age is possible for us in this

degenerate age? We should not for one moment think that we are in Arjuna's

category. We are a thousand times inferior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moreover, there is no record of Arjuna's having executed the yoga system at any

time. Yet Arjuna was praised by Krsna as the only

man worthy of understanding Bhagavad-gita. What was Arjuna's great

qualification? Sri Krsna says, " You are My devotee. You are

My very dear friend. " Despite this qualification, Arjuna refused to

execute the meditational yoga system described by Sri Krsna. What then are we

to conclude? Are we to despair the mind's ever being controlled? No,

it can be controlled, and the process is this Krsna consciousness. The

mind must be fixed always in Krsna. Insofar as the mind is absorbed in

Krsna,

 

 

 

 

it has attained the perfection of yoga.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now when we tum to the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the Twelfth Canto we find Sukadeva

Gosvami telling Maharaja Pariksit that in the golden

age,the Satya-yuga, people were living for one hundred thousand years,

and at that time, when advanced living entities lived for such lengths

of time, it was possible to execute this meditational system of yoga.

But what was achieved in the Satya-yuga by this meditational process,

and in

 

 

 

 

 

 

the following yuga, the Treta-yuga, by the offering of great

sacrifices, and in the next yuga, the Dvapara-yuga, by temple worship, would

be achieved at the present time, in this Kali-yuga, by simply

chanting the

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

names of God, hari-kirtana, Hare Krsna. So from authoritative

sources we learn that this chanting of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna,

Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the embodiment

of the perfection of yoga for this age.

FOR THE COMPLETE BOOK 'PERFECTION OF YOGA' & 'THE BHAGWAT GITA AS IT IS' WRITE

TO ME AT chanu15 OR SIMPLY REPLY THIS MESSAGE W/OUT CHANGING THE

SUBJECT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

______________________________\

____

Looking for last minute shopping deals?

Find them fast with Search.

http://tools.search./newsearch/category.php?category=shopping