Yoga as Rejected by Arjunaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Perfection of Yoga 1: Yoga as Rejected by Arjuna
There have been many yoga systems popularized in the Western world, especially in this century, but none of them have actually taught the perfection of yoga.
Yoga as Work in Devotionplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigYoga as Work in Devotion
We have heard the names of so many different yogas and yogīs, but in Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says that the actual yogī is he who has surrendered himself "fully unto Me."
In India there are sacred places where yogīs go to meditate in solitude, as prescribed in Bhagavad-gītā. Traditionally, yoga cannot be executed in a public place, but insofar as kīrtana-mantra-yoga, or the yoga
Throughout Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa was encouraging Arjuna to fight, for he was a warrior, and fighting was his duty. Although Kṛṣṇa delineates the meditational yoga system in the Sixth Chapter, He does not stress it or encourage Arjuna to pursue it as his path. Kṛṣṇa admits that this meditational process is very difficult:
This material world is a world of duality---at one moment we are subjected to the heat of the summer season and at the next moment the cold of winter. Or at one moment we’re happy and at the next moment distressed. At one moment honored, at the next dishonored. In the material world of duality, it is impossible to understand one thing without understanding its opposite. It is not possible to understand what honor is unless I understand dishonor. Simi…
It is not that Bhagavad-gītā rejects the meditational yoga process; it recognizes it as a bona fide method, but it further indicates that it is not possible in this age. Thus the subject in the Sixth Chapter of
We have heard many times of the yoga system. The yoga system is approved by Bhagavad-gītā, but the yoga system in Bhagavad-gītā is especially meant for purification. The aim is threefold: to control the senses, to purify activities and to link oneself to Kṛṣṇa in a reciprocal relationship.
The Perfection of Yogaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Perfection of Yoga
It is a fact, therefore, that in the progress of the living entity toward the perfection of yoga, birth in a family of yogīs or devotees is a great boon, for such a birth gives one special impetus.