Yoga as Work in Devotion
13
There are some  yogīs  who perform  yoga  for a profit, but that is not real  yoga . Everything must be engaged in the service of the Lord. Whatever we do as an ordinary worker, or as a  sannyāsī , or as a  yogī , or as a philosopher must be done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When we are absorbed in the thought of serving Kṛṣṇa and when we act in that consciousness, we can become real  sannyāsīs  and real  yogīs .
For those who are taking the first step up the staircase of the  yoga  system, there is work. One should not think that simply because he is beginning  yoga  that he should stop working. In  Bhagavad-gītā  Kṛṣṇa asks Arjuna to become a  yogī , but He never tells him to cease from fighting. Quite the contrary. Of course one may ask how a person may be a  yogī  and at the same time a warrior. Our conception of  yoga  practice is that of sitting very straight with legs crossed and eyes half-closed staring at the tip of our nose and concentrating in this way in a lonely place. So how is it that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna to become a  yogī  and at the same time participate in a ghostly civil war? That is the mystery of  Bhagavad-gītā : one can remain a fighting man and at the same time be the highest  yogī , the highest  sannyāsī . How is this possible? In Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One simply has to fight for Kṛṣṇa, work for Kṛṣṇa, eat for Kṛṣṇa, sleep for Kṛṣṇa and dedicate all activities to Kṛṣṇa. In this way one becomes the highest  yogī  and the highest  sannyāsī . That is the secret.
In the Sixth Chapter of  Bhagavad-gītā , Śrī Kṛṣṇa instructs Arjuna how to perform meditational  yoga , but Arjuna rejects this as too difficult. How then is