The yoga system, you will find that all the yogis formerly... Still in India there are many yogis. They come at Kumbhamela. We have seen some of them. They are some of them are 700 years old, and you'll see him just like a boy of 25 years. They are doing something, yoga. So they, rarely they come when there is some special function. In India there are four places. Just like in the modern days there are conferences of different parties, similarly, in India there are still about thirty hundred thousands of saintly persons. Not one, two. And they, not all, but at least, major portion of them, they meet together after twelve years in some particular places. There are four places. One at Prayāga. You have heard the name of Allahabad city. That is called Prayāga. And one at Hardwar, and at Kanchi. In this way they have got four places. That means every four years they have meeting. So in that meeting many yogis come. And when... Not in my this renounced order, when I was living for some time at Allahabad... Not some time. I lived there for thirteen years, at Allahabad. So I was seeing this Mela. Although it was taking at at least 12 years, I have seen twice or thrice. So these yogis, they are so calm and quiet and looking... Of course, I do not know. Somebody said this man is 700 years old, this man is 300 years old, but they look like young boys.
So they, such yogis, as it is recommended here, yogī yuñjīta satatam ātmānam. One who is actually ascendent on the yogic principles, his first function is that he remains alone. He has no society. He cannot remain in society. Yogī yuñjīta satataṁ rahasi sthitaḥ, ekākī. Ekākī means alone. Or more clearly it is stated. Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. Nirāśīḥ, there is no expectation that "By functioning yoga, I shall achieve this power." And aparigraha, and he does not take anything from anybody. Who is going to give him? He is ekākī, he is alone in a secluded place, in, sometimes in jungle, in forest, in mountain. And who is going to give him anything? He doesn't expect because he is firmly convinced that "For whom I have become yogi...I am not alone. My Paramātmā is always with me." He's a yogi of... Unless..., what kind of yogi he is? He is... Although he remains superficially alone, but he knows that "Wherever I go, my Paramātmā friend, who is sitting with me on my heart, He is with me. So I have nothing to fear. So I have nothing to fear." Yata-cittātmā. Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. He does not accept anything for anyone.
Now, just see the yogi, yogic principle, for this age, how much it is difficult for us. If we want to perform real yoga system, then it is very difficult. Nobody... We are sitting here, so many ladies and gentlemen, is it possible for us to live alone in a secluded place in a mountain? You have got in your, outside your New York City there are so many mountains and jungles. Can you live there alone? Oh, no. At the present moment, the modern way of our civilization, mode of our life... Just like I am a sannyāsī, I am renounced order of life, but still, I have come to a city, New York City, the largest city of the world. From Bombay city or Calcutta city I have come. So life has become so changed that in this age actually what is called yoga, it is not possible. It is not... First condition is that ekākī yata-cittātmā, he should remain alone, he should perform yoga system alone, not in with friends and many other yogis. No. Yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. And he should have no desire in his mind. And aparigraha. He does not want anything from anybody, anybody else. This is the first condition.
Then next condition:
- śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
- sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
- nāty-ucchritaṁ nātinīcaṁ
- cailājina-kuśottaram
- (Bg. 6.11-12)
The yogi has to fix up his sitting place. What is that? Śucau deśe. He should select a place which is very, very pure. Now, that means a place like Hardwar. Our young friend, Mr. Howard, he has been to Hardwar. He has seen how nicely that place is. River Ganges is flowing and very nice, calm, quiet. You'll find three miles after, four miles after, one yogi is sitting nicely there and meditating. That is yoga system. You see? So śucau deśe, in a place where..., the sanctified place. So these places are especially selected, just like Hardwar, Kanchi and Prayāga. They are, from time immemorial, in Vedic age, those places are sanctified. Just like this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Dharma-kṣetre, the land of religiosity. Even war was performed. Because this war was not ordinary war. That was religious war. Religious war. This Kurukṣetra battle, that was religious war. Don't you find in the warfield where Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is present, do you think it is ordinary war? No. It is not ordinary war. And it was performed in a place which is called dharma-kṣetra. So sometimes war is also performed in terms of religiosity. That is prescribed. That is required.