466
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 9]
PURPORT
Yoga  means concentration of the mind  d etached from all other subject matter. And actually such concentration is  samādhi , or cent percent engagement in the service of the Lord. And one who concentrates his attention in that manner is called a  yogī . Such a  yogī  devotee of the Lord engages himself twenty-four hours daily in the service of the Lord so that his whole attention is engrossed with the thoughts of the Lord in ninefold devotional service, namely hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, praying, becoming a voluntary servant, carrying out orders, establishing friendly relationship, or offering all that one may possess, in the service of the Lord. By such practice of  yoga  or linking up in the service of the Lord, one is recognized by the Lord. Himself, as it is explained in the  Bhagavad-gītā  concerning the highest perfectional stage of  samādhi . The Lord calls such a rare devotee the best amongst all the  yogīs . Such a perfect  yogī  is enabled by the divine grace of the Lord to concentrate his mind upon the Lord with a perfect sense of consciousness, and thus by chanting His holy name before quitting the body the  yogī  is at once transferred by the internal energy of the Lord to one of the eternal planets where there is no question of material life and its concomitant factors. In material existence a living being has to endure the material conditions of threefold miseries, life after life, according to his fruitive work. Such material life is produced by material desires only. Devotional service of the Lord does not kill the natural desires of the living being, but they are applied in the right cause of devotional service. This qualifies the desire to be transferred in the spiritual sky. General Bhāṣmadeva is referring to a particular type of  yoga  called  bhakti-yoga , and he was fortunate enough to have the Lord directly in his presence before he quitted his material body. He therefore desired that the Lord stay before his view in the following verses.
TEXT 24
स देवदेवो भगवान् प्रतीक्षतां
कलेवरं यात्रदिदं हिनोम्यहम् ।
प्रसन्नहासारुणलोचनोल्लस-
न्मुखाम्बुजो ध्यानपथश्चतुर्भुजः ॥२४॥
sa deva-devo bhagavān pratīkṣatām
kalevaram yāvad idam hinomy aham
prasanna-hāsāruṇa-locanollasan
mukhāmbujo dhyāna-pathaś catur-bhujaḥ