Hatha-yoga (Conv and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"hatha yoga" |"hatha-yoga"

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

You cannot perform haṭha-yoga in this age. You do not follow the rules and regulations. You are simply bluffed. Do you know what is the rules and regulations of haṭha-yoga factually?

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Devotee: Can haṭha-yoga hinder or help Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or is it...?

Prabhupāda: Hinder. Yes. Because it is useless, simply wasting time. You cannot perform haṭha-yoga in this age. You do not follow the rules and regulations. You are simply bluffed. Do you know what is the rules and regulations of haṭha-yoga factually?

Devotee: Not actually.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You have to select a secluded place. Haṭha-yoga is not practiced in assembly of so many men. Just you go to a haṭha-yoga class. There are hundreds of members practicing, and he is collecting money, five dollars per seat. And you are thinking, "I am practicing." That is useless waste of time and money. Haṭha-yoga is not practiced in that way. You have to practice in a secluded place, alone. Do you do that?

Devotee: Yes. Not... No. I guess I don't.

Prabhupāda: It is very difficult in this age. Then you have to restrain yourself in so many things. Complete free from sex life. You have to eat under certain direction, you have to... So many things there are. These rules are not followed. Simply they have got some bodily gymnastic sitting posture. They are thinking, "I am practicing." No. That is one of the items. So all the items cannot be observed in this age. Therefore it is wasting.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

There are many impediments, especially in this age of hypocrisy, to practicing haṭha-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, and jñāna-yoga, but there is no such problem in executing karma-yoga or bhakti-yoga.

Room Conversation with Educationists -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Today's so-called yoga practice, which involves various sense pleasures, is contradictory. A yogī indulging in sex and intoxication is a mockery. Even those yogīs who are attracted by the siddhis (perfections) in the process of yoga are not perfectly situated. If the yogīs are attracted by the by-products of yoga, then they cannot attain the stage of perfection, as is stated in this verse. Persons, therefore, indulging in the make-show practice of gymnastic feats or siddhis should know that the aim of yoga is lost in that way. The best practice of yoga in this age is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is not baffling. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is so happy in his occupation that he does not aspire after any other happiness. There are many impediments, especially in this age of hypocrisy, to practicing haṭha-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, and jñāna-yoga, but there is no such problem in executing karma-yoga or bhakti-yoga.