18 ;
THE PATH OF PERFECTION Mastering the Mind and Senses 19

said, ‘‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”’ If we have no Krsna
conscious engagement, we will engage in sense gratification or
fruitive activity. If a child is not trained or educated, he becomes
spoiled. If one does not practice the yoga system, if he does not at-
tempt to control his senses by the yoga process, he will engage his
senses in their own gratification. When one is gratifying his
senses, there is no question of practicing yoga.

Without Krsna consciousness, one must be always seeking
self-centered or extended selfish activities. But a Krsna conscious
person can do everything for the satisfaction of Krsna and thereby
be perfectly detached from sense gratification. One who has not
realized Krsna must mechanically try to escape material desires
before being elevated to the top rung of the yoga ladder.

One may compare the yoga system to a stepladder. One yogi
may be situated on the fifth step, another yogi may be on the
fiftieth step and yet another on the five-hundredth step. The pur-
pose, of course, is to reach the top. Although the entire ladder
may be called the'yoga system, one who is on the fifth step is not
equal to one who is higher up. In Bhagavad-gita, Sri Krsna delin-
eates a number of yoga systems— karma-yoga, jndana-yoga, dhyadna-
yoga, and bhakti-yoga. All of these systems are connected with
God, Krsna, just as the entire ladder is connected to the topmost

_floor. This is not to say that everyone practicing the yoga system is
situated on the topmost floor; only he who is in full Krsna con-
sciousness is so situated. Others are situated on different steps of
the yogic ladder.

mind is the central point of yoga practice, dtmd refers here to the
mind. The purpose of the yoga system is to control the mind and
to draw it away from attachment to sense objects. It is stressed
herein that the mind must be so trained that it can deliver the con-
ditioned soul from the mire of nescience.

In the astdanga-yoga system, these eightfold yogas—dhyana,
dharand, etc.—are meant to control the mind. Sri Krsna explicitly
states that a man must utilize his mind to elevate himself. Unless
one can control the mind, there is no question of elevation. The
body is like a chariot, and the mind is the driver. If you tell your
driver, ‘‘Please take me to the Krsnatemple,”’ the driver will take
you there, but if you tell him, ‘‘Please take me to that liquor
house,”’ you will go there. It is the driver’s business to take you
wherever you like. If you can control the driver, he will take you”
where you should go, but if not, he will ultimately take you
wherever he likes. If you have no control over your driver, your
driver is your enemy, but if he acts according to your orders, he is
your friend.

The yoga system is meant to control the mind in such a way
that the mind will act as your friend. Sometimes the mind acts as a
friend and sometimes as an enemy. Because we are part and parcel
of the Supreme, who has infinite independence, we have minute,
or finite, independence. It is the mind that is controlling that inde-
pendence, and therefore he may either take us to the Krsna tem-
ple or to some nightclub.

It is the purpose of this Krsna consciousness movement to fix
the mind on Krsna. When the mind is So fixed, he cannot do any-
thing but act as our friend. He has no scope to act any other way.
As soon as Krsna is seated in the mind, there is light, just as when
the sun is in the sky, darkness is vanquished. Krsna is just like the
sun, and when He is present, there is no scope for darkness. If we
keep Krsna on our mind, the darkness of mdyd will never be able
to enter: Keeping the mind fixed on Krsna is the perfection of
yoga. If the mind is strongly fixed on the Supreme, it will not allow
any nonsense to enter, and there will be no falldown. If the mind
is strong, the driver is strong, and we may go wherever we may
desire. The entire yoga system is meant to make the mind strong,

uddhared dtmanatmanam
natmanam avasadayet

atmaiva hy atmano bandhur |
atmaiva ripur dtmanah

‘‘A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade him-
self. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy
as well.’’ (Bg. 6.5) The word atmd denotes body, mind, and soul—
depending on different circumstances. In the yoga system, the
mind and the conditioned soul are especially important. Since the

