8 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Yoga as Action 9

when we get tired, we take prasada. Is dancing difficult? Is chant-
Ing difficult? We don’t charge anything to dance in the temple. If
you go to a ballroom, you have to pay to enter, but we do not
charge. It is natural to enjoy music and dancing and palatable
foods. These are our recreations, and this is our method of
Meditation. So this yoga system is not at all laborious. It is simply
fecreation, susukham. It is stated in the Ninth Chapter of
Bhagavada-gita (9.2) that this yoga is susukham—very happy. “‘It is
everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.” It is natural, automatic,
and spontaneous. It is our real life in the spiritual world.

In Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, there is no anxiety.
Vaikuntha means ‘‘freedom from anxiety,’’ and in Vaikuntha the
liberated souls are always dancing, chanting, and taking prasdda.
There are no factories, hard work, or technical institutions. There
is no need for these artificial things. In Veddnta-siitra it is stated,
@nandamayo 'bhyasat: God is dnandamaya, full of bliss and
pleasure. Since we are part and parcel of God, we also possess
these same qualities. So the goal of our yoga process is to join with
the supreme dnandamaya, Sri Krsna, tojoin His dance party. Then
we will be actually happy.

On this earth we are trying to be happy artificially and are
therefore frustrated. Once we are situated in Krsna consciousness,
we will revive our original position and become simply joyful.
Since our actual nature is dnandamaya, blissful, we are always
searching for happiness. In the cities we are inundated with adver-
tlsements. Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and dance halls are al-
ways announcing, ‘‘Come on, here is dnanda. Here is pleasure.”
That is because everyone is searching for dnanda, pleasure. Our
eociety for Krsna consciousness is also announcing, ‘‘Here is
@nanda,”’ but our standard of pleasure is very different. In any
case, the goal—pleasure—is the same.

Most people are hunting for pleasure on the gross material
platform. The more advanced search for pleasure in speculation,
philosophy, poetry, or art. The bhakti-yogi, however, searches for
pleasure on the transcendental platform, and that is his only busi-
ness. Why are people working so hard all day? They are thinking,
“Tonight I shall enjoy. Tonight I will associate with this girl or

Krsna Himself does not sit down idly. All His pastimes are
filled with activity. When we go to the spiritual world, we will see
that Krsna is always engaged in dancing, eating, and enjoying. He
-does not sit down to meditate. Is there any account of the gopis
meditating? Did Caitanya Mahaprabhu sit down to meditate? No,
He was always dancing and chanting Hare Krsna. The spirit soul is
naturally active. How can we sit down silently and do nothing? It
is not possible. Therefore, after Sri Krsna outlined the sakhya-
yoga system in the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna frankly
said,

yo 'yam yogas tvaya proktah
samyena madhusudana
- etasyaham na pasyami
cancalatvat sthitim sthiram

‘**O Madhusidana [Krsna], the system of yoga which You have
summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the
mind is restless and unsteady.”’ (Bg. 6.33) Although Arjuna was
highly elevated and was Krsna’s intimate friend, he immediately
refused to take up this sarkhya-yoga system. In essence, he said,
‘It is not possible for me.”’ How could it have been possible? Ar-
-juna was a warrior, a householder, and he wanted a kingdom.
What time did he have for meditation? He flatly refused to prac-
tice this type of meditational yoga, saying that the mind is as dif-
ficult to control as the wind (Bg. 6.34). That is a fact. It is not
possible to control the mind artificially; therefore we must engage
the mind in Krsna consciousness. Then it is controlled. If Arjuna
found this process more difficult than controlling the wind, then
what of us? After all, Arjuna was not an ordinary man. He was
personally talking with the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna, and he
proclaimed the mind to be like a great wind. How can we control
the wind? We can control the mind only by fixing it on Krsna’s
lotus feet. That is the perfection of meditation.

No one really wants to sit down and meditate. Why should we?
We’re meant for positive activity, for recreation, for pleasure. In
Krsna consciousness, our recreation is dancing and chanting, and

