4 , THE PATH OF PERFECTION Yoga as Action : 5
only devotional service to Lord Krsna, birth after birth, in other | tact with electricity, it becomes electrified, and if you touch it, you
words, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was prepared to endure material . will receive an electric shock.
miseries in one body after another. What, then, was Caitanya As soon as your body is spiritualized, material activity ceases.
Mahaprabhu’s desire? He wanted to engage in God’s service, and Material activity means acting for sense gratification. As you be-
nothing more, for that is the real perfection of yoga. come spiritualized, material demands dwindle until they become
Whether in the spiritual sky or the material sky, the individual nil. How is this possible? In order for an iron to act as fire, it must
spirit soul is constitutionally the same. It is said that he is one ten- femain constantly in contact with fire. In order for the material
thousandth part of the tip of a hair. This means that our position is ‘ body to become spiritualized, one must remain constantly in
that of a small particle. But spirit can expand. Just as we developa Krsna consciousness. When this material body is fully engaged in
material body in the material world, we develop a spiritual body in Spiritual activities, it becomes spiritual.
the spiritual world. In the material world, expansion takes place According to the Vedic system, the body of a high personality,
in contact with matter. In the spiritual world, this expansion is @ Sannyasi, is not burned but buried, because a sannyasi’s body is
Spiritual. considered spiritual, having ceased to engage in material ac-
Actually, the first lesson of Bhagavad-gita is, ‘tl am spirit soul. tivities. If everyone in this world engages fully in Krsna conscious-
! I am different from this body.’’ I am a living force, but this ma- ness and ceases to work for sense gratification, this entire world
| terial body is not a living force. It is dull matter, and it is activated will immediately become spiritual. Therefore it is necessary to
only because spiritual force is present. In the spiritual world, learn how to work for the satisfaction of Krsna. This requires a lit-
everything is living force; there is no dead matter. There, the body tle time to understand. If something is used for Krsna’s satisfac-
is totally spiritual. One may compare the spirit soul with oil and tion, it is spiritual. Since we are using microphones, typewriters,
the body with water. When oil is in water, there is a distinction, @tc., in order to talk and write about Krsna, they become spiritu-
and that distinction always remains. In the spiritual sky, there is alized. What is the difference between prasada and ordinary food?
no question of oil being placed in water. There everything is spirit. Some people may say, ‘“‘What is this prasdda? We are eating the
_  Theimpersonalists do not want to develop a body. They simply same food. Why do you call it prasdda?’’ It is prasdda because it
want to remain spiritual particles, and that is their idea of happi- has been offered for Krsna’s satisfaction and has thus become
ness. But we bhakti-yogis (Vaisnavas) want to serve Krsna, and Spiritualized.
therefore we require hands, legs, and all the other bodily parts. In- In a higher sense, there is no matter at all. Everything is spiri-
deed, we are given these bodies in order to serve Krsna. Just as we tual. Because Krsna is spiritual and matter is one of the energies of
develop a material body in our mother’s womb, we can similarly Krsna, matter is also spiritual. Krsna is totally spiritual, and spirit
develop a spiritual body in the spiritual world. comes from spirit. However, because the living entities are mis-
The spiritual body is developed through the practice of Krsna using this energy—that is, using it for something other than
consciousness. This material body is spiritualized by this bhakti- Krena’s purposes—it becomes materialized, and so we call it mat-
yoga process. If you place an iron within fire, the iron becomes so ter. The purpose of this Krsna consciousness movement is to
hot that it also becomes fiery. When the iron is red hot, it acquires reapiritualize this energy. It is our purpose to respiritualize the
all the qualities of fire. If you touch something with that iron, that whole world, socially and politically. Of course, this may not be
iron will act as fire. Similarly, although this body is material, it can possible, but it is our ideal. At least if we individually take up this
become spiritualized through Krsna consciousness and act as tespiritualization process, our lives become perfect.
spirit. Although copper is just a metal, as soon as it comes in con- In Bhagavad-gitd (9.22) Krsna says that He provides for His
> ~ |
