BHAGAVAD-GITA 6:11-12

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 6:11-12

 

sucau dese pratisthapya

sthiram asanam atmanah

naty-ucchritam nati-nicam

cailajina-kusottaram

 

tatraikagram manah krtva

yata-cittendriya-kriyah

upavisyasane yunjyad

yogam atma-visuddhaye

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

sucau--in a sanctified; dese--land; pratisthapya--placing;

sthiram--firm; asanam--seat; atmanah--his own; na--not; ati--too;

ucchritam--high; na--nor; ati--too; nicam--low; caila-ajina--of soft

cloth and deerskin; kusa--and kusa grass; uttaram--covering;

tatra--thereupon; eka-agram--with one attention; manah--mind;

krtva--making; yata-citta--controlling the mind; indriya--senses;

kriyah--and activities; upavisya--sitting; asane--on the seat;

yunjyat--should execute; yogam--yoga practice; atma--the heart;

visuddhaye--for clarifying.

 

TRANSLATION

 

To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay

kusa grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft

cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low and should be

situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly

and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses

and activities and fixing the mind on one point.

 

PURPORT

 

"Sacred place" refers to places of pilgrimage. In India the yogis, the

transcendentalists or the devotees, all leave home and reside in

sacred places such as Prayaga, Mathura, Vrndavana, Hrsikesa and

Hardwar and in solitude practice yoga where the sacred rivers like the

Yamuna and the Ganges flow. But often this is not possible, especially

for Westerners. The so-called yoga societies in big cities may be

successful in earning material benefit, but they are not at all

suitable for the actual practice of yoga. One who is not

self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot practice

meditation. Therefore, in the Brhan-naradiya Purana it is said that in

Kali-yuga (the present yuga, or age), when people in general are

short-lived, slow in spiritual realization and always disturbed by

various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting

the holy name of the Lord.

 

harer nama harer nama

harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

 

"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is

chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no

other way. There is no other way."

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.