32 The Perfection of Yoga

yogt doesn’t have to worry about snakes. Having
acquired a good sitting place in a secluded environ-
ment, the yogi begins to purify the atma—body,
mind and soul. The yogi should not think, “Now I
will try to achieve some wonderful powers.” Some-
times yogis do attain certain siddhis or powers, but
these are not the purpose of yoga, and real yogis do
not exhibit them. The real yogi thinks, ‘‘I am now
contaminated by this material atmosphere, so now
I must purify myself.”

We can quickry see that contromng the mind and
body 1s not such an easy thing and that we cannot
control them as easily as we can go to the store and
purchase something. But Krsna indicates that these
rules can be easily followed when we are in Krsna
consciousness.

Of course everyone is motivated by sex life, but
sex life is not actually discouraged. We have this
material body, and as long as we have it, sex desire
will be there. Similarly, as long as we have the body,
we must eat to maintain it, and we must sleep in
order to give it rest. We cannot expect to negate
these activities, but the Vedic literatures do give
us guidelines for regulation in eating, sleeping, mating,
etc. If we at all expect success in the yoga system,
we cannot allow our unbridled senses to take us
down the paths of sense objects; therefore guide-
lines are set up. Lord Sri Krsna is advising that the
mind can be controlled through regulation. If we do
not regulate our activities, our mind will be more
and more agitated. It is not that activities are to be
stopped, but regulated by the mind always engaged
