SB 03.28.01 yogasya laksanam vaksye... cited

Expressions researched:
"mano yenaiva vidhina" |"prasannam yati sat-patham" |"sabijasya nrpatmaje" |"yogasya laksanam vaksye"

SB Canto 3

SB 3.28.1, Translation and Purport:

The Personality of Godhead said: My dear mother, O daughter of the King, now I shall explain to you the system of yoga, the object of which is to concentrate the mind. By practicing this system one can become joyful and progressively advance towards the path of the Absolute Truth.

The yoga process explained by Lord Kapiladeva in this chapter is authorized and standard, and therefore these instructions should be followed very carefully. To begin, the Lord says that by yoga practice one can make progress towards understanding the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the previous chapter it has been clearly stated that the desired result of yoga is not to achieve some wonderful mystic power. One should not be at all attracted by such mystic power, but should attain progressive realization on the path of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, which states in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter that the greatest yogī is he who constantly thinks of Kṛṣṇa within himself, or he who is Kṛṣṇa conscious.

It is stated here that by following the system of yoga one can become joyful. Lord Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, who is the highest authority on yoga, here explains the yoga system known as aṣṭāṅga-yoga, which comprises eight different practices, namely yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. By all these stages of practice one must realize Lord Viṣṇu, who is the target of all yoga. There are so-called yoga practices in which one concentrates the mind on voidness or on the impersonal, but this is not approved by the authorized yoga system as explained by Kapiladeva. Even Patañjali explains that the target of all yoga is Viṣṇu. Aṣṭāṅga-yoga is therefore part of Vaiṣṇava practice because its ultimate goal is realization of Viṣṇu. The achievement of success in yoga is not acquisition of mystic power, which is condemned in the previous chapter, but, rather, freedom from all material designations and situation in one's constitutional position. That is the ultimate achievement in yoga practice.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

Prabhupāda: You have got book? (break)

Devotee: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees respond) (break)

Prabhupāda: Word meaning.

Devotee: (leads chanting of synonyms) "The Personality of Godhead said:. My dear mother, O daughter of the King, now I shall explain to you the system of yoga, the object of which is to concentrate the mind. By practicing this system one can become joyful and progressively advance towards the path of the Absolute Truth."

Prabhupāda:

śrī bhagavān uvāca

yogasya lakṣaṇaṁ vakṣye

sabījasya nṛpātmaje

mano yenaiva vidhinā

prasannaṁ yāti sat-patham

(SB 3.28.1)

So this word yoga is very popular in the Western countries. Practically everyone knows the word at least, yoga. And many so-called yogis come here, and I do not want to discuss. But yoga is a very nice process by which you can make your mind very peaceful, and then you can make progress towards spiritual life, sat-pathe. Our, there are two ways. One is called sat-patha, and one is called asat-patha. Asat-patha means..., asat means which will not exist. That is called asat. And sat means which will exist. The spirit will exist; matter will be finished. Now you have got this body. You have got this body. This body will be finished, everyone knows. But the spirit soul within the body, that will not finish. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). That is spiritual education in the beginning. We should understand what is spirit, sat. Asato mā sad gamaḥ. This is the Vedic instruction. "Don't make much progress on the path of nonpermanent things." This is Vedic injunction. Asato mā sad gamaḥ Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ: "Don't keep yourself in darkness. Make progress towards the light."

So here also the same thing is stated—that yoga process is to keep the mind in peaceful condition, tranquillity, and then you can concentrate your mind towards the Supreme Absolute. This is yoga process, not a gymnastic, a gymnastic āsana: yāma, niyama, aṣṭāṅga-yoga. Aṣṭāṅga, eight kinds of practices, āsana. Āsana, the generally the yogis come here to show you the āsana, how to sit in different posture. That is mechanical. That is also very nice to bring the mind under control. But real business is after your mind is controlled. These processes which generally the yogis demonstrate, that is the process of controlling the mind. The real meaning of yoga: yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. The authorities of yoga practice, they say the yoga practice means to control the senses. That is the yoga practice.

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

So Kapiladeva is addressing His mother, nṛpātmaje: "My dear princess, the daughter of King..." He is not addressing her (His) mother as the wife of Kardama Muni. Because she would be little puffed up that "I am the daughter of king." So..., and Kapiladeva knew how to flatter woman. (chuckles) So he addressed her (His) mother, nṛpātmaje, "My dear daughter of king." She felt very much proud, "Yes, I am daughter of king." So "I will speak to you about the symptoms of yoga system." Yogasya lakṣaṇaṁ vakṣye sabījasya. With authorized statement. He is Bhagavān, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whatever He speaks, that is authorized. You cannot argue, because for the..., for us, we are conditioned soul. We have got four defects—means we commit mistake, we become illusioned or bewildered, our senses are imperfect, and, because everything is imperfect, still we want to become teacher, that is cheating. I am imperfect. How can I teach? That is going on. A imperfect person is teaching about transcendental knowledge. Therefore people are being cheated. Our process is to take lesson from the perfect person and distribute it, just we are doing. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we are preaching what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all. Not that we have manufactured something new. No. That is not our business. How I can manufacture? I am imperfect. How can I manufacture? But the spiritual master who follows the perfect teacher, he is perfect. He is perfect because whatever he is speaking, that is the statement of the perfect person.

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

I have several times explained to you. One may be imperfect, just like a child, he is imperfect. But he has learned, he has asked his father, "My dear father, what is this?" The father has explained, "My dear child, this is microphone." So if he, if the child says, "This is microphone," then that is perfect, because he has learned it from his father, "This is microphone." So even though he is child, he is repeating the words of the father. He is fixed up, that "My father has told me this thing. It is perfect." He is convinced. So he says, "This is microphone." So, who will protest? Or how you can say, "How this child can say like..." Yes. He can say, provided he has taken the lesson from the father. This is the way. So our teaching, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is perfect because we have taken the lesson from Kṛṣṇa. Just try to understand how perfect we are. We don't say anything as "I think," "maybe," "perhaps." No. We never say. We say definite. Definitive information. Just like they are speculating Darwin's theory of evolution. We have got perfect knowledge from the śāstras: jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Now, we say there are 900,000 forms of life within the water. We have not gone within the water; neither as biologist we have studied. We have taken the perfect information from the perfect source. We say 900,000. This is called Vedic knowledge. This is perfect. Jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. This evolution theory is already mentioned. Darwin has taken this from this Vedic knowledge, and he has placed the whole thing in his imaginative way. Otherwise the evolutionary process is mentioned in the Vedic scripture. First of all aquatics, then plants and trees, then insect, then birds, then beasts, then human being. Now, in the human being form, because by gradual process of evolution we have got advance consciousness, the, I mean to say, subject matter is given to us. Now make your choice now again. Nature has given this opportunity whether you want to go the sat-patha or asat-patha; whether you are again wish to go to the cycle of evolution or if you want to make further progress. Further progress means this human form of life you can go to the higher planetary system. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). Yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). Now you can make your choice. You are now civilized, very advanced intelligence. Now whether you want to go to the cycle of evolution again or whether you want to stop this and go to your original position. These two things are there: sat-patha and asat-patha. If you make further progress this asat-patha, asat-patha asat. Asat means it will not stay.

So if you remain engaged in this bodily business, that is asat. Just try to understand what is asat. Asat means which will not stay. So everyone knows that this body will not stay. It will be ended today, tomorrow, or after years it will be finished. Therefore if you are simply engaged in the bodily concept of life, as people are generally engaged... People are thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am cat," "I am dog." Every living entity is simply thinking in bodily. That is asat-patha. If we remain on the bodily concept of life, then we are no better than the dogs and cats. But unfortunately modern civilization is going on on this bodily concept of life. That is asat-patha. But here the yoga system is being taught by Kapiladeva to His mother for... (break) The purpose is prasannaṁ yāti sat-patham. By the yoga practice, you have to make your mind very transparent, clean, and then you can go towards sat-patham, eternal life. That is being taught. So He will go on teaching.