The Yoga of the Bhagavad-gita

Aum namo bhagavate vasudevaya.

Haribol.

So, this is a continuation in the series that we’re doing on Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. And tonight, we will speak on the yoga of the Bhagavad-gita.

So, when we use the word yoga, of course, there’s very common understanding now that yoga is fundamentally the… People show up with the yoga mat and the yoga pants. This is what it’s all called. And they do yoga, which is some postures, asana. But in reality, this was not actually the meaning of yoga. Somebody may say, well, what we’re doing is hatha yoga. But in reality, going to a class once a week or even at home every day and just doing some asana is not actually hatha yoga. Hatha yoga was a much more complex system, and it had a lot other things added to it: codes of living, your aspirations which were to seek liberation or to acquire the ashta-siddhi, the eight mystical powers. That’s why people traditionally did this. So that is not really the meaning of yoga.

The title, we’re speaking on Yoga in the Bhagavad-gita, and what might surprise a lot of people is the word yoga, or variations of it, appear over 100 times in the Bhagavad-gita. In 700 verses you’ll have the word mentioned over 100 times. And of course that should tell you that, oh, so the whole yoga thing is a very significant, it’s a really important part of the message of the Bhagavad-gita.

So, when we look at the meaning of the word, there are different commentators and people that offer different translations and meanings to the word. And in reality, in many cases, people have some philosophical idea or they have some personal philosophy which they use to try and lend some interpretation to what the word actually means. What we’re going to discuss now is the meaning of the word “yoga”, both in relation to a Sanskrit dictionary that gives very clear meanings to words, but also within the context of the Bhagavad-gita itself.

And just as a side point, this is a bigger problem than people realize, if you want to actually get some clarity on what the Bhagavad-gita is all about and what yoga is all about. So, my initiating spiritual master, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, when he first came to America, he had not yet printed the Bhagavad-gita that he had written commentary on. And so he was often asked by people, “Can you suggest to me which Bhagavad-gita we should be using and reading?” And I’ll just read you some statements from him that he put in the introduction so you can understand the framework of what we’re addressing.

So, he stated,

“As far as I have seen, not only in America but also in India, none of them [meaning the different translations and commentaries out there], none of them can be strictly said to be authoritative because in almost every one of them the commentator has expressed his own opinions without touching on the spirit of the Bhagavad-gita as it actually is. The spirit of the Bhagavad-gita is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita itself. It is like this. If we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the directions written on the label. We cannot take the medicine according to our own whim or the direction of a friend. It must be taken according to the directions on the label or the directions given by a physician. So similarly, Bhagavad-gita should be taken or accepted as it is, directed by the speaker himself. The speaker of the Bhagavad-gita is Lord Sri Krishna. He is mentioned on every page of the Bhagavad-gita as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or Bhagavan.”

So that gives you some sort of context. If we really want to get to the heart of the matter and to understand this spiritual message, then anybody who is just lending a personal interpretation is not going to give you a clear understanding of the message as it was actually spoken in the Bhagavad-gita itself.

So, the root of the word yoga is the Sanskrit word yuj. Yuj. It means, in the dictionary, to join, to unite, to connect, to add, to bring together, to join oneself to whatever, to come into union or conjunction with or to yoke.

This word “yoke,” the English word, is actually derived from the word yoga. What is a yoke? Not the one in the egg. The Y-O-K-E. The yoke was a device that was used usually with work animals who were pulling a wagon or ploughing the fields. And if it was oxen, they would have this shape like this, a piece of wood that would fit over the neck of the oxen and the one standing next to it, would go over their neck. Then it was tied in place so they can’t go in separate directions. They both have to move in the same direction. This was the yoke. And so this is the principal meaning of the word yoga, is this reuniting or this reunion of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul.

And so when we think of the word “yoga,” if it references this act of reunification, of coming together, then when we understand the yoga system, there is kind of like a bigger picture of what that yoga system is. So, the definition, “It is the joining or uniting of the individual spirit-soul or the atma with the Supreme Soul or the Paramatma. The word param means supreme.”

The Bhagavad-gita is a critical part, an important part of Vedic literature. It is also sometimes referred to as the Gita Upanishad. The word “Bhagavad-gita” literally means the song of God, the song of Bhagavan.

The Vedic literature, this vast body of spiritual teaching, was not narrow-minded. It was not fanatical. It was very broad and pragmatic and very inviting. And so the goal of the Vedas and the ancient sages was to actually offer a variety of pathways for different human beings in different situations to reunite with their transcendental source. That was the focus of Vedic teaching.

So, given that people exist in different states of consciousness—I mean just like in this world, not everybody likes a particular sport. You’ve got some people, if golf comes on the TV, some people are just like fanatically there, just, “Sshh, you guys, we’re watching!”. And other people are just like, “What?!” And maybe rugby comes on or basketball comes on and people are really—certain people are gravi—We all have different tastes. We all have different types of consciousness. And this was understood.

And so different methods of yoga, if I can use that term, may be prescribed for different people to help them to grow spiritually. And so because of this, you see, wow, a quite mind-boggling array of different types of yogas known by different terms. You have raja-yoga, hatha-yoga, buddhi-yoga, astanga-yoga, sankhya-yoga, jnana-yoga, dhyana-yoga, kriya-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. So these are names for different practices that are in fact all part of one bigger direction where people are heading in a spiritual direction.

So, I’ll just read something also from a commentary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

“When we speak of yoga, we refer to linking up our consciousness with the Supreme Absolute Truth. Such a process is named differently by various practitioners in terms of the particular method that’s been adopted. When the linking up process is predominantly in fruitive activities, it is called karma-yoga.”

So, I’ll just pause there. So, this term that is often used, “fruitive activities,” it means when people are motivated to work or to engage in activity with a desire to get some particular result. They are engaged for that purpose, to get that result. That is the focus. And so when people have that kind of—and let me just say, it pretty much epitomizes everybody in this world. Why do people go to work? For the money. Do people go to work because they love it so much? They tell the boss, “Oh, it’s okay, you don’t have to pay me. I just love working here, and I feel so fortunate to…” No, everybody’s there for the money. And if the money stops, they stop. They don’t work anymore.

So this focus of doing things in order to get something, there is a form of yoga that helps people in that condition come to a higher state of consciousness. It’s called karma yoga. And it is focused upon both the serving of others and serving of God.

When it is predominantly empirical, it is called jnana yoga. So jnana means knowledge. And so you’ve got some people that are just all the time in their head thinking, trying to figure stuff out, trying to imagine something better, and what can we do to get to a better situation, but always just thinking, those that are more philosophically inclined. They are provided the opportunity to connect with the process known as jnana yoga to help direct that tendency towards a spiritual outcome.

And when it is predominantly in a devotional relationship with the Supreme Lord, it is called bhakti yoga. So for those whose heart is naturally drawn to selfless service and to want to be pleasing to God, the nature of their consciousness and heart is easily directed by the process known as bhakti yoga to achieve a spiritual outcome.

So, the higher understanding was that these different yoga practices were not different standalone paths, which you will kind of see in the world now. If somebody has adopted a certain type of practice, “Oh, I’m an ashanga yogi,” “Oh, I’m into karma yoga, I’m a karma yogi,” and like that’s the whole picture for them. But in reality, the higher perspective was that these are like rungs on a ladder. You know, on a ladder you’ve got the things that you step on, the rungs of the ladder. And so these different practices were to help gradually elevate a person to the highest spiritual position.

So, in the—just as an example that this is actually the message of the Bhagavad-gita, we have a verse that states,

“Only the ignorant speak of karma-yoga and devotional service [or bhakti-yoga] as being different from the analytical study of the material world [sāṅkhya]. Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both.” [Bhagavad-gītā 5.4]

So, this was the higher understanding, that all of these things—This sankhya yoga that’s mentioned here is a very ancient process where the sages would really look, and practitioners, would look at the world and try to understand the nature of the material energy so that they could really understand what truly is spiritual. And it was a very deep and profound process. But what’s stated here, that even if one chooses that path, and they follow it to its natural conclusion—once you come to understand that I am an eternal spiritual being, I am not this body, I am not the material elements, then what are you going to do? Then it will be to seek what is the actual purpose for my existence. What is it that is going to be most natural for me? What’s going to bring me the ultimate happiness and peacefulness in my life?

So, the overall goal of all yoga practice was what somebody might call union with God. But instead of the word God, somebody might say union with the Divine, or they may say the union with the Absolute Truth, or union with a higher, transcendent reality. You can say any of those different things, and it doesn’t make any difference, that all of these things give us a little insight that regardless of the terminology people are using, they are desiring the same thing. They are seeking to achieve or to attain the same thing, but they may not know what exactly that is.

In the Vedas we understand that that highest truth manifests in three ways. One way is a vast ocean of spiritual light and energy called the Brahmajyoti.

Another way it is manifest is in the form of God as He is interacting with the material world, so He is pervading the material world, but Who primarily sits within the heart of each living being, within the region of the heart, in a divine form and presence Who can guide the individual living beings. This is called Paramatma, the Supreme Soul.

And the third way of understanding or experiencing this Highest Truth is in the personal feature of the most extraordinary and beautiful Personality of Godhead who is looking always to engage in unlimited loving relationships and connections with the individual souls.

So, from the higher perspective, we can—although I gave you a list before of so many different kinds of yoga, and even then there can be others that are added to it—but from the Bhagavad-gita, it more or less lumps the different forms of yoga into four categories of yoga. The first is called the yoga of action. This is called karma yoga. And then you have the yoga of knowledge, which is called jnana yoga, and the yoga of meditation, which is called dhyana yoga. And then the yoga of love, which is spoken of as bhakti yoga.

In this world, everybody has a goal. Even the drunk has a goal, and the drug addict has a goal: “Where can I get some more money to buy the particular substance I’m abusing?” Somebody’s goal is to own a house and a car. Somebody else’s goal is to have a family. Somebody else wants to be a great artist. Somebody wants to be a great singer. So, everybody has some goal in their life that they’re sort of chasing after, seeking to try and achieve.

In the Bhagavad-gita, one of the important messages is that, yes, all those things that you consider desirable, you may think are worthwhile chasing after and working so hard to get, but once you get them, what is the experience? Is it like, “Aah, now everything is perfect”? As soon as we get what it is we want, we’re looking for something else. Correct? We’re always looking for something else.

And so, in the Bhagavad-gita, the message is that thing that will completely fulfill you and satisfy you is the condition of yoga. When you are actually intimately linked with the transcendent truth, the ultimate reality or God, when you are intimately connected, then you will come to a position of not being in want of anything. And therefore, Krishna advises that by all means you should become a yogi.

So, He states in one verse,

“A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī.” [Bhagavad-gītā 6.46]

And of course, when you hear that, in the context of what I was talking about, it’s sort of like, we have an idea or a concept of a yogi, what we think a yogi is, and they’ve got to dress in a certain way and behave in a certain way. But no, no, that’s not the actual meaning of yoga or a yogi. One that is a yogi is one that has achieved an intimate union with God.

You were going to ask something?

Audience member: Can you explain an ascetic?

Acharya das: An ascetic, okay. An ascetic is those who choose to be tremendously austere and live like a monk. An empiricist is somebody who is chasing knowledge, wanting to be better at knowing so many things or finding a way to discover answers and what’s this all about and trying to do it philosophically. So he’s just talked about those who want to follow a pathway of being like a monk, an ascetic, and those who want to try and think their way through things, or the fruitive worker who is chasing after money or power or position or recognition to be the perfection. Krishna is saying, “No, that ain’t going to work. It’s better that you actually become a yogi, and that is your goal.”

So the next wonderful revelation that we will see in the Bhagavad-gita is that yoga, or the condition of yoga, or how to become a yogi doesn’t mean that you have to stop doing what you’re doing. Meaning, if I am a husband, if I am a wife, if I am a parent, if I am a child, if I am a friend of someone, if I’m engaged in an occupation now, a job and everything, I don’t have to stop any of that, that I must instead learn to turn what I am doing into a spiritual practice.

So, I’ll just read three or four verses here that will maybe expand our understanding of what yoga means, to become a yogi, or to achieve the condition known as yoga. So, in the first verse I’ll read,

“Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.” [Bhagavad-gītā 2.48]

So, this was Arjuna’s big dilemma. This whole Bhagavad-gita takes place, the conversation, on a battlefield. There’s this monumental battle that’s going to take place. You’ve got these two vast armies led by two halves of a bigger family, and it’s a fratricidal war in that regard. And Arjuna asked Krishna to bring the chariot down into the middle of the armies, and up the—so he could see who he was up against and look at who’s on his side. And the experience that he had after that, he fell apart. Even though he was a great hero, he was a very brave person, he completely collapsed emotionally. He started shaking. He said he was crying. He couldn’t even hold his bow. His hands were trembling. He said he felt like his body was on fire. And he’s going, “What good can come from this?” And his proposal was, “I’m not going to do this. I’m going to go to the mountains and live as an ascetic, a sannyasi and a yogi, that’s what I should do.”

And the whole Bhagavad-gita, you have Krishna explaining to Arjuna, that’s running away. That is not spiritual perfection. If you can do this job, because you are ksatriya, you are a warrior, and of the princely class, you have an obligation to serve the population by protecting them and providing an environment where everybody is safe and things are running in an orderly fashion and providing opportunity for them to seek spiritual things. That’s your duty. And if you abandon that duty, that is not spiritual. That’s going in the opposite direction. That is selfish. What you should do is perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. You’re not doing it because you want to win, you’re going to do it because it needs to be done, and it can be performed as an act of service both to God and to your fellow beings.

Another verse,

“A man engaged in [loving] devotional service [to the Lord] rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.” [Bhagavad-gītā 2.50]

So here the message is, no, you’re not going to run away from work. Because of the nature of the body we have, we have responsibility. We should do it, not for ourself, not for personal gain, because I like it or don’t like it, I should do it because it is pleasing to God.

Another verse,

“When the yogī, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in Transcendence – devoid of all material desires – he is said to have attained yoga.” [Bhagavad-gītā 6.18]

So, yoga is the act of setting aside material desire. What is material desire? It’s about me. I’m going to do it because I want it. I want to get this. I want to try and enjoy this. This is material desire. But a yogi can engage in whatever station you are in life, whatever position, and engage in that activity with a desire for it to be pleasing to God.

Then finally,

“A person is said to have attained yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.” [Bhagavad-gītā 6.4]

So, when a person has come to this position of what is called yoga, they are not driven by, “Oh, I want this, it’s all about me.” I am doing it as an act of service.

As I mentioned, the different practices of yoga, the different what we might call types of yoga, are progressive, and they are meant for the purpose of bringing a person gradually higher. There was no fanaticism. There was no like, “Oh, you’re not good enough, sorry, you can’t do it. Why don’t you go home?” It was very compassionate.

And so, there’s a whole couple of verses here that I’ll read. And they have this perspective. It’s kind of like you should endeavour to reach this type of practice and to engage in this way, but if you can’t do that, then try this. At least do this one. Whoops, you think that’s too hard for you? That’s okay. Why don’t you do this? And, oh, even that is going to be hard for you? It’s all right. Let’s do this. Even that’s too hard? Okay. Let’s just start here, something really, really simple and easy. And gradually you will have the opportunity to grow spiritually.

So, Krishna states,

“My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.

 “If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage. [And] If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.” Bhagavad-gītā 12.9 -11]

—which means a person just engages in their activity in life, their job, whatever it is, and I’m not going to be focused on what I can get out of it. I’m just going to do it the best that I can, just learning to become not selfish and greedy is already helping somebody grow spiritually. So, I mean, you can see there, the bar is set here. This is perfection. You can’t do that. Okay, let’s try this one. Oh, can’t do that. Let’s, okay, listen. It’s alright. We’ll do this. Can’t do that. Ooh, okay. We’ve got you. You can do this. So this is very, very compassionate and kind.

“If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind.” [Bhagavad-gītā 12.12]

So, it’s very nicely presented, and it really expands the understanding and appreciation of what this word yoga means, that it’s not just a very limited thing that only certain people can do. It is something that everyone can engage in. You have to find what’s going to be your starting point. And when you go through the process, then you will grow in your understanding and experience.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna in three places is addressed as Yogesvara. So this is made of two words, yoga and isvara. Yogesvara. And it can mean that He is of Lord of Yoga, but it can also mean one who possesses inconceivable opulence and energy. But it is Krishna who is the focus of the yoga system and it is Him who is addressed as the Supreme Goal and the Master of Yoga with this wonderful name, Yogesvara. So we will find that in the Bhagavad-gita, it is Bhagavan, Sri Krishna, the personality of Godhead, who is identified as the object of a yogi’s meditation and of yoga practice.

One doesn’t have to jump in the deep end. One can start in the kiddie pool and kind of work their way up. It’s fine. It’s not an impediment. So how do we know that Sri Krishna is the goal of yoga as Yogesvara? It states in the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna states,

“Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.” [Bhagavad-gītā 18.65]

And in another verse,

“And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.” [Bhagavad-gītā 6.47]

So, when one comes to that position or that platform of transcendental love, one is understood to have achieved the highest attainment by yoga.

As I mentioned earlier, different people will take to different types of yoga practice. Some of them may choose to merge into this impersonal feature of God, this vast energy, Brahman, the Brahmajyoti. That is one goal. But when one achieves that, they do not experience the ecstatic wonderfulness of being able to see God face to face and engage with Him in an intimate, loving relationship.

So hopefully I’ve shared with you the big picture. Was it complicated? Well, manageable? Manageable. Thank you. Yeah.

So what we’ll do, I will—we’ll have a kirtan. This is the most potent yogic practice. The meditation upon and using transcendental sound is the surest and the most potent and effective means, or way, to attain self-realization and God-realization, even if it is done in small doses. It’s not that one has to be, from the get-go, deeply engaged in constantly chanting. Although in time, as one develops spiritually, they will be drawn to constantly recalling and even within their mind chanting these spiritual sounds.

So I’ll chant using the Mahamantra, the Hare Krishna mantra.