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Yoga As Meditation On Kṛṣṇa
In India there are sacred places where  yogīs  go to meditate in solitude, as prescribed in  Bhagavad-gītā . Traditionally,  yoga  cannot be executed in a public place, but insofar as  kīrtana—mantra-yoga , or the  yoga  of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mantra : Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—is concerned, the more people present, the better. When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was performing  kīrtana  in India some five hundred years ago, He organized in each group sixteen persons to lead the chanting, and thousands of persons chanted with them. This participation in  kīrtana , in the public chanting of the names and glories of God, is very possible and is actually easy in this age; but as far as the meditational process of  yoga  is concerned, that is very difficult. It is specifically stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  that to perform meditational  yoga  one should go to a secluded and holy place. In other words, it is necessary to leave home. In this age of overpopulation it is not always possible to find a secluded place, but this is not necessary in  bhakti-yoga .
In the  bhakti-yoga  system there are nine different processes: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deity in the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Kṛṣṇa as friend and sacrificing for Him. Out of these,  śravaṇam kīrtanam , hearing and
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