96 THE PATH OF PERFECTION :
kleso ‘dhikataras tesam
avyaktasakta-cetasam
avyakta hi gatir duhkham
dehavadbhir avapyate |
‘‘For those whose minds are attached to the .unmanifested, CHAPTER EIGHT
impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very
troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult ' .
for those who are embodied.” Failure and Success in Yoga
In the temple, the devotee tries to concentrate on the form of
Krsna. Concentrating on nothingness, on void, is very difficult, 5 . . . .
and naturally the mind is very flickering. Therefore instead of con- Suppose I give up my business, my ordinary occupation, and
centrating on the void, the mind searches out something else. The begin to practice yoga, real yoga, as explained herein by Lord Sri
mind must be engaged in thinking of something, and if it is not Krsna. Suppose I practice, and somehow or other I fail, I cannot
thinking of Krsna, it must be thinking of mdyd. Therefore, properly complete the process. What, then, is the result? This is
pseudomeditation on the impersonal void is simply a waste of Arjuna’s very next question.
time. Such a show of yoga practice may be materially lucrative, but . ; .
useless as far as spiritual realization is concerned. I may open a _ aruna uvaca
class in yogic meditation and charge people money for sitting ayatih sr aanavopeto h
down and pressing their nose this way and that, but if my students Yogac ca eee ht
do not attain the real goal of yoga practice, they have wasted their aprapya yoga-samsiddhim —
time and money, and I have cheated them. kam gatim krsna gacchati
. Therefore one has to concentrate his mind steadily and con- ~ caus . . oe .
stantly on the form of Visnu, and that is called samadhi. In Krsna “Arjuna said: What is the destination of the man of faith who does
consciousness, the mind is controlled by engaging it constantly in not persevere, who in the beginning takes to the process of self-
the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Unless one is realization but who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and
engaged in Krsna consciousness, he cannot steadily control the thus does ie rear perfection urea . Be. 637) ath
mind. A Krsna conscious person easily achieves the result of yoga B e pa 10 Th ee vation, ieee escri k in the
practice without separate endeavor, but a yoga practitioner cannot hagava “gita. The basic principle of sell-realization is knowing
achieve success without becoming Krsna conscious. that ‘Iam not this material body but am different from it, and my
“ happiness is in eternal life, bliss, and knowledge.”’ Before arriving
at the point of self-realization, one must take it for granted that he
is not this body. That lesson is taught in the very beginning of
Bhagavad-gita: the living entity is not this material body but some-
thing different, and his happiness is in eternal life.
Clearly, this life is not eternal. The perfection of yoga means
attaining a blissful, eternal life full of knowledge. All yoga systems
97
