6 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Yoga as Action 7
devotees by giving them what they lack and preserving what they
have. People are very fond of saying that God helps those who
help themselves, but they do not understand that helping yourself
means putting yourself under Krsna’s protection. If one thinks,
‘Oh, I can help myself. I can protect myself,’ one is thinking
foolishly. As long as my finger is attached to my body, it is useful,
and I may spend thousands of dollars to preserve it. But if this
finger is cut off, it is useless and is thrown away. Similarly, we are
part and parcel of Krsna, and helping ourselves means putting
ourselves in our proper position as His parts and parcels. Other-
wise we are only fit to be cast away. The finger can help itself only
when situated properly on the hand and working on behalf of the
entire body. If the finger thinks, “‘I will separate myself from this
body and simply help myself,’’ that finger will be cast away and
will die. As soon as we think, ‘‘I shall live independently of
Krsna,”’ that is our spiritual death, and as soon as we engage in
Krsna’s service, as His part and parcel, that is our spiritual life.
Therefore, helping oneself means knowing one’s actual position
and working accordingly. It is not possible to help oneself without
knowing one’s position.

Service means activity, for when we serve someone, we are
acting. When we serve Krsna, we are preaching Krsna conscious-

_Ness, or cooking, or cleansing the temple, or distributing books
about Krsna, or writing about Him, or shopping for foodstuff to
offer Him. There are so many ways to serve. Helping Krsna means
acting for Him, not sitting down in one place and artificially
meditating. Krsna consciousness means activity. Whatever assets
we have should be utilized for Krsna. That is the process of bhakti-
yoga. Krsna has given us a mind, and we must utilize this mind to
think of Krsna. We have been given these hands, and we must use
them to wash the temple or cook for Krsna. We have been given
these legs, and we should use them to go to the temple of Krsna.
We have been given a nose, and we should use it to smell the
flowers that have been offered to Krsna. Through the process of
bhakti-yoga, we engage all these senses in the service of Krsna,
and in this way the senses are spiritualized.

In Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was refusing to act, and Krsna was in-

spiring him to engage in activity. The entire Bhagavad-gitd is an
Inspiration to work, to engage in Krsna consciousness, to act on
Krsna’s behalf. Krsna never tells Arjuna, ‘‘My dear friend Arjuna,
don’t concern yourself with this war. Just sit down and meditate
upon Me.”’ This is not the message of Bhagavad-gitd. We are not
to refrain from all activity, but only from those activities that im-
pede our consciousness of Krsna. Meditation means stopping all
nonsensical activity. Those who are advanced in Krsna conscious-
fess are constantly working for Krsna.

A mother tells only her bad child to sit down and do nothing. If
a child can do nothing but disturb his mother, the mother says,
“My dear child, just sit down here and keep quiet.”’ But if the
child can work nicely, the mother says, ‘‘My dear child, will you
please help me do this? Will you go over there and do that?”’ Sit-
ting still in one place is just for those who do not know how to
work sensibly. As long as the child sits in one place, he does not
false havoc. Sitting still means negating nonsense; it is not posi-
tlve activity. In negation, there is no life. Positive activities con-
stitute life, and positive activity is the message of Bhagavad-gita.
Spiritual life is not ‘‘Don’t do this.”’ Spiritual life is ‘Do this!” In
Order to act properly, there are certain things that one must know
not to do; therefore certain activities are forbidden. The whole
Bhagavad-gita, however, is ‘‘do.”’ Krsna says, ‘‘Fight for Me.’ At
the beginning of Bhagavad-gitd, when Arjuna told Krsna, “‘I will
not fight,’ Sri Krsna said,

kutas tva kasmalam idam
visame samupasthitam

anarya-justam asvargyam
akirti-karam arjuna

‘“*My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you?
They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive
values of life. They lead not to higher planets, but to infamy.”
(Bg. 2.2) Krsna directly tells Arjuna that he is speaking like a non-
Aryan—that is, like one who does not know the spiritual values of
life. So Krsna consciousness does not mean sitting down idly.

