24 The Perfection of Yoga
the Lord is the killer of the demon Madhu. It is
notable that God’s names are innumerable, for He is
often named according to His activities. Indeed, God
has innumerable names because He has innumerable
activities. We are only parts of God, and we cannot
even remember how many activities we engage in
from our childhood to the present. The eternal God
is unlimited, and since His activities are also unlimit-
ed, He has unlimited names. of which Krsna is the
chief. Then why is Arjuna addressing Him as
Madhusidana when, being Krgna’s triend, he could
address Him directly as Krsna? The answer is that
Arjuna considers his mind to be like a great demon,
such as the demon Madhu. If it were possible for
Krsna to kill the demon called the mind, then Arjuna
would be able to attain the perfection of yoga. “My
mind is much stronger than this demon Madhu,”
Arjuna is saying. “Please, if You could kill him, then
it would be possible for me to execute this yoga
system.” Even the mind of a great man like Arjuna
is always agitated. As Arjuna himself says:
caiicalam hi manah krsna
pramathi balavad drdham
tasyaham nigraham manye
vayor iva suduskaram

“For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and
very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it is, it seems to
me, more difficult than controlling the wind.”
(Bg. 6.34)

It is indeed a fact that the mind is always telling
us to go here, go there, do this, do that—it is always
