38
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 1]
slightest from His transcendental position. So, for the benefit of men who are unable to accept the Lord in His personal eternal form, Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī how to fix the mind on Him in the beginning, and the Gosvāmī replied in detail as follows.
TEXT 23
श्रीशुक उवाच
जितासनो जितश्वासो जितसङ्गो जितेन्द्रियः । स्थूले भगवतो रूपे मनः सन्धारयेद्धिया ॥२३॥
śrī śuka uvāca
jitāsano jita-śvāso
jita-saṅgo jitendriyaḥ
sthūle bhagavato rūpe
manaḥ sandhārayed dhiyā
śrī śuka uvāca—Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; jitāsanaḥ—controlled sitting posture; jita-śvāsaḥ—controlled breathing process; jita-saṅgaḥ—controlled association; jitendriyaḥ—controlled senses; sthūle—in the gross matter; bhagavataḥ—unto the Personality of Godhead; rūpe—in the feature of; manaḥ—the mind; sandhārayet—must apply; dhiyā—by intelligence.
TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered, One should control the sitting posture, and regulate the breathing process by the yogic prāṇāyāma and thus control the mind and the senses, and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virāṭa rūpa].
PURPORT
The materially-absorbed mind of the conditioned soul does not allow him to transcend the limit of the bodily conception of self, and thus the yoga system for meditation (fixing the mind upon the Supreme, controlling the sitting posture and breathing process) is prescribed in order to mold the character of the gross materialist. Unless such materialists are