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THE PATH OF PERFECTION
but everywhere:  goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ . He is like the sun, which is millions of miles away and yet is still present within this room.
In conclusion, the person who works in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the perfect  yogī , because his mind is always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa's activities.  Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ . In the  Vedas  we also learn,  tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti : "One can overcome the path of birth and death only by understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa." Thus perfection of  yoga  is the attainment of freedom from material existence and not some magical jugglery or gymnastic feat to befool innocent people.
In this system of  yoga , moderation is required; therefore it is stated that we should not eat too much or too little, sleep too much or too little, or work too much or too little. All these activities are there because we have to execute the  yoga  system with this material body. In other words, we have to make the best use of a bad bargain. The material body is a bad bargain in the sense that it is the source of all miseries. The spirit soul does not experience misery, and the normal condition of the living entity is his healthy, spiritual life. Misery and disease occur due to material contamination, disease, infection. So in a sense, material existence is a diseased condition of the soul. And what is that disease? The answer is not a great mystery. The disease is this body. This body is actually not meant for me. It may be "my" body, but it is a symptom of my diseased condition. In any case, I should identify with this body no more than I should identify with my clothes. In this world, we are all differently dressed. We are dressed as red men, brown men, white men, black men, yellow men, etc., or as Indians, Americans, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc. All these designations are not symptomatic of our actual position but of our diseased condition. The  yoga  system is meant to cure this disease by connecting us again with the Supreme.
We are meant to be connected with the Supreme just as our hand is meant to be connected to our body. We are part and parcel of the Supreme, just as the hand is part and parcel of the body. When the hand is severed from the body, it is valueless, but when it is joined to the body, it is invaluable. Similarly, in this material
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condition, we are disconnected from God. Actually, the word  disconnected  is not precise, because the connection is always there. God is always supplying all our necessities. Since nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa, we cannot be disconnected from Him. Rather, it is better to say that we have forgotten that we are connected to Kṛṣṇa. Because of this forgetfulness, we have entered the criminal department of the universe. The government still takes care of its criminals, but they are legally disconnected from the civilian state. Our disconnection is a result of our engaging in so many nonsensical activities instead of utilizing our senses in the performance of our Kṛṣṇa conscious duties.
Instead of thinking, "I am the eternal servant of God, or Kṛṣṇa," we are thinking, "I am the servant of my society, my country, my husband, my wife, my dog, or whatever." This is called forgetfulness. How has this come about? All these misconceptions have arisen due to this body. Because I was born in America, I am thinking that I am an American. Each society teaches its citizens to think in this way. Because I am thinking that I am an American, the American government can tell me, "Come and fight. Give your life for your country." This is all due to the bodily conception; therefore an intelligent person should know that he is suffering miseries due to his body and that he should not act in such a way that he will continue to be imprisoned within a material body birth after birth. According to  Padma Purāṇa , there are 8,400,000 species of life, and all are but different forms of contamination—whether one has an American body, an Indian body, a dog's body, a hog's body, or whatever. Therefore the first instruction in  yoga  is, "I am not this body."
Attaining liberation from the contamination of the material body is the first teaching of  Bhagavad-gītā . In the Second Chapter, after Arjuna told Śrī Kṛṣṇa, "I shall not fight," the Lord said, "While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead." (Bg. 2.11) In other words, Arjuna was thinking on the bodily platform. He wanted to leave the battlefield because he did not want to fight with his relatives. All his conceptions were within the bodily atmosphere; therefore after Arjuna accepted Śrī