1174
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 28]
progress towards understanding the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the previous chapter it has been clearly stated that the desired result of  yoga  is not to achieve some wonderful mystic power. One should not be at all attracted by such mystic power, but should attain progressive realization on the path of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā , which states in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter that the greatest  yogī  is he who constantly thinks of Kṛṣṇa within himself, or he who is Kṛṣṇa conscious.
It is stated here that by following the system of  yoga  one can become joyful. Lord Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, who is the highest authority on  yoga , here explains the  yoga  system known as  aṣṭāṅga-yoga , which comprises eight different practices, namely  yama ,  niyama ,  āsana ,  prāṇāyāma ,  pratyāhāra ,  dhāraṇā ,  dhyāna  and  samādhi . By all these stages of practice one must realize Lord Viṣṇu, who is the target of all  yoga . There are so-called  yoga  practices in which one concentrates the mind on voidness or on the impersonal, but this is not approved by the authorized  yoga  system as explained by Kapiladeva. Even Patañjali explains that the target of all  yoga  is Viṣṇu.  Aṣṭāṅga-yoga  is therefore part of Vaiṣṇava practice because its ultimate goal is realization of Viṣṇu. The achievement of success in  yoga  is not acquisition of mystic power, which is condemned in the previous chapter, but, rather, freedom from all material designations and situation in one's constitutional position. That is the ultimate achievement in  yoga  practice.
TEXT 2
स्वधर्माचरणं शक्त्या विधर्माच्च निवर्तनम् ।
दैवाल्लब्धेन सन्तोष आत्मविच्चरणार्चनम् ॥ २ ॥
sva-dharmācaraṇam śaktyā  
 vidharmāc ca nivartanam  
 daivāl labdhena santoṣa  
 ātmavic-caraṇārcanam
sva-dharma-ācaraṇam —executing one's prescribed duties;  śaktyā —to the best of one's ability;  vidharmāt —unauthorized duties;  ca —and;  nivartanam —avoiding;  daivāt —by the grace of the Lord;  labdhena —with what is achieved;  santoṣaḥ —satisfied;  ātma-vit —of the self-realized soul;  caraṇa —the feet;  arcanam —worshiping.