We have been discussing about the transmigration of the soul. There are different kinds of transcendentalists who are called yogī: jñāna-yogī, dhyāna-yogī and bhakti-yogī. All the yogīs, they are eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The yoga system is meant for linking our connection. We are eternally connected with the Supreme Lord.
Somehow or other, we are now in material contamination. The . . . the process is that we have to go back again. So that linking process is called yoga. Yoga, the actual translation of the word yoga means plus, plus, just the opposite of minus. Now, at the present moment, we are minus God, or minus Supreme. So when we make ourself plus, connected, then our human form of life is perfect.
So at the time of death we have to finish that perfection. So long we are alive, we have to practice how to approach that point of perfection, and at the time of death, when we give up this material body, that perfection has to be realized. So for the last three days we have been discussing. Prayāṇa-kāle manasā 'calena (BG 8.10).
Prayāṇa-kāle means "at the time of death." Just like the students, they prepare two years, three years, five years in their college education, and the final test is their examination. And if they pass in the examination, they get the degree. Similarly, in our living condition, if we prepare for the examination at the time of death and we pass the examination, then we are transferred to the spiritual world.
So prayāṇa-kāle. The whole thing is examined at the time of death. Just the other day I recited one Bengali prov . . . proverb. This is a very common saying in Bengal. They say, bhajan kara pūjān kara mṛtyu-kāle haya; "Our, whatever you do for perfection, at the time of your death it will be tested." At the time of of your death.
So Bhagavad-gītā is describing what should we do at the, at the point of our death, when we are giving up this body, this present body. So for the yogīs, dhyāna-yogīs, this prescription is recited here, sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya mano hṛdi-nirudhya ca. Sarva-dvārāṇi means . . . this system is called pratyāhāra. In the technical language of yogic system it is called pratyāhāra. Pratyāhāra means "just the opposite." Now, the senses, my eye, my eyes are engaged in seeing the worldly beauty. Now I have to retract from enjoying that beauty, and I have to see inside the beauty. That is called pratyāhāra. Similarly, I have to hear the oṁkāra sound from within.
So all the senses are to be stopped in their external activities—that is the perfection of yoga—and concentrate the mind on Viṣṇu-mūrti. Mano hṛdi. The mind is very agitating, so it has to be fixed up on the heart. Mano hṛdi-nirudhya. Nirudhya means just arresting the mind within the heart. Mūrdhny . . . mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām. And in this way, when we transfer the air-life on the top of our head, that is the perfection of yoga. And a perfect yogī, then he fixes up where he shall go.
There are innumerable planets, and beyond the planets, there are spiritual world. So yogīs, they have got information. How they have got information? From the scriptures, from Vedic literature, they have got. Just like before I came to your country I got the description of your country from the books—similarly, we can have all the description of higher planets and the spiritual world. They are mentioned there.
The yogī know. The yogī knows everything, and he can transfer his self, any planet he likes. He does not require the help of any Sputnik. The Sputnik, they are trying for so many years, and they will go on trying for one hundred or one thousand years more. They'll never reach any planet. Be rest assured.
This is not the process. This is not the process to reach another planet. Maybe, by scientific process, one . . . one man or two man can reach, but that is not the general process. The general process is: if you want to transfer yourself any better planet, then you have to practice this yoga system or jñāna system, not bhakti system. Bhakti system is not meant for any material planet. That will be explained later on.
Those who are in devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, they are not interested in any planets of this material world. Why? Because they know, in any planet you can, you can raise yourself, you can elevate yourself, you can go there, but the four principles of material existence are there. What is that? Birth, death, disease and old age. Any planet you go. Your duration of life may be very, very longer than this earth, but death is there. Death is there. But those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or those who are otherwise, those who are not interested in this material life . . . material life means birth, death, disease and old age, and spiritual life means relief from this botheration—no more birth, no more death, no more ignorance, no more misery.
So those who are intelligent, they do not try to elevate in any planet of this material world. There are higher planets. You have got. You get a long duration of life. Just like we are trying to reach the moon planet, and actually, if we get entrance into the moon planet . . . it is very difficult to get entrance. But even if you get entrance, then a period of life will be, I mean to say, enhanced. Of course, not in this body. Perhaps if you enter with this body, instant death is sure. But if you enter into higher planets by this yoga system, then you get the suitable body of that planet.
Every planet has got a suitable body. You cannot enter any . . . just like you cannot live in the water with this body. You can make an experiment. You can live there, within water, say twenty-four hours or fifteen hours or sixteen hours. That's all. That's all. But the fish, the aquatic animals, they have got particular body. They are living whole life. Similarly, if you take out the fishes from water and put them on the land, oh, they will instantly die. As you see even in this planet that you have got to make your different kinds of body to live in a particular place, so similarly, if you want to enter into another planet, you have to prepare yourself to get that particular type of body.