Prabhupada: (Hindi)

Nitai: Oṁ namo bhagavate vasudevaya. (etc.)

Prabhupada: (Hindi)

Nitai: (leads chanting, etc.) "The Personality of Godhead answered: The yoga system which relates to the Lord and the individual soul, which is meant for the ultimate benefit of the living entity, and which causes detachment from all happiness and distress in the material world, is the highest yoga system."

Prabhupada:

yoga adhyatmikaḥ; puṁsaṁ
mato niḥ;sreyasaya me
atyantoparatir yatra
duḥ;khasya ca sukhasya ca
[SB 3.25.13]

Everyone in this material world trying to mitigate or trying to become free from the distress. Duḥ;khasya. Atyantika-duḥ;kha-nivrtti. Atyantika means supreme. The struggle for existence in this material world is everyone is trying to get some happiness and minimize the quantity of distress. This is called struggle for existence. Generally, yoga practice is executed for getting some material profit: aṇima laghima prapti isita vasita mahima. Aṇima... The yogis, they have aṣṭa-siddhi-yoga, eight kinds of perfection. One can become smaller than the smallest or lighter than the lightest, bigger than the biggest, whatever he likes, he can get immediately, vasita, he can control over, he can create a planet even. These are some of the yoga-siddhis. But here it is said that the supreme yoga system is not to aspire for material happiness, neither to become distressed by the material inconvenience.

This is perfection of yoga. Everyone is trying to get out of the material distress and get some happiness, but anything material-happiness, so-called happiness, or so-called distress... Just like here, the fireworks is going on. (loud sound of firecrackers, etc., occurring intermittently in background) It is happiness for somebody, but it is distress for us. Is it not? They are thinking they are enjoying, and we are thinking it is inconvenience. So that is material way, happiness, one side happiness, another side distress. So both the happiness and distress, they are illusion. Illusion. There are many examples. Just like water; in summer season it is happiness, and in winter season it is distress. But the same water. Some water, at one time, it is happiness, and the same water, at one time, it is distress. The same son, when he is born, it is happiness, and the same son, when he's dead, it is distress. But son is the same.

So this material world is duality. You cannot understand happiness without distress, and you cannot understand distress without happiness. Therefore it is called relative world. You cannot understand son without understanding a father, and you cannot understand a father without understanding the son. And spiritual happiness is above this duality. Spiritual happiness. So that is the perfection of yoga. Yoga adhyatmikaḥ;. Adhyatma, atmika, atma, the soul, the happiness of the soul, that is real yoga. The happiness of the soul can be possible when the soul, individual soul, is with the Supersoul, or the Supreme Soul. Nityo nityanaṁ cetanas cetananam (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). There is the Supreme Soul, or Supreme Being. Amongst... There are many living beings. We are many. We living beings, or living entities, we are many. But the principal living being is Krṣṇa. The fire and the sparks: the sparks are illuminated when it is with the original fire. If the sparks fall down from the association of the original fire, it is extinguished, no more light. Similarly, our real happiness is when we enjoy with the Supreme Being. Supreme Being.

Just like Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa is not alone. Krṣṇa is always with His friends, either gopis or the cowherd boys, or with His father, with His mother. You'll never find Krṣṇa alone. Just like here is Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa is not alone. Krṣṇa is with His Radharaṇi and with His devotees. Just like a king. When we say that "The king is coming here," or "The president is coming here," so it means that president is not coming alone, but he's coming with his secretaries, with his ministers, with so many others. In England, the Queen has bodyguards. So similarly, when we... Yoga adhyatmikaḥ;. Yoga means connection, and atma, atma means this soul, actually, but sometimes atma means the mind, atma means the body also. So body has nothing to do with the Supreme Being, because Supreme Being is complete spirit. He has no material covering. One who thinks that Krṣṇa, the Supreme Being, has got a material covering, covered by maya, as we are, covered by maya, this material energy... Krṣṇa is not like that. Krṣṇa says, sambhavamy atma-mayaya [Bg. 4.6]. Krṣṇa does not say that "I come here as ordinary living being." Janma karma me divyaṁ yo janati tattvataḥ; [Bg. 4.9]. One has to learn how Krṣṇa takes birth. It is not ordinary birth. Had it been ordinary birth, then why we should observe the Janmaṣṭami ceremony? It is divyam, divine, transcendental. Everything of Krṣṇa is divine. And if we think Krṣṇa as like us, then according to the statement of the Bhagavad-gita, immediately we become a muḍha. Avajananti maṁ muḍha manuṣiṁ tanum asritam [Bg. 9.11].

So actually Krṣṇa is the original Supreme Being, original spirit soul. We are simply minute part and parcel of Krṣṇa. Exactly the same example: just like the fire and the small sparks. You can see. This fireworks is going on. The fire is there, and there are small sparks. So long the fire and the small sparks are together, they are illumination. Similarly, if we connect with Krṣṇa, then we are illuminated. As Krṣṇa is illuminated, we are also illuminated, although we are small. But if we fall down from Krṣṇa, the original fire, we become extinguished. Our spiritual power, our spiritual illumination, becomes extinguished. Therefore yoga system means again connecting the link. That is called yoga. Yoga, the Sanskrit word, means connect, and viyoga means disconnect.

So here it is... Kapiladeva... Kapiladeva is Bhagavan. Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhagavan has no mistake. Bhagavan... Narayaṇaḥ; paraḥ; avyaktat. Even Saṅkaracarya says that Bhagavan, Narayaṇa, He does not belong to this material world. Narayaṇaḥ; avyaktat paraḥ;. So when we speak of Bhagavan, or the sastra says Bhagavan, Bhagavan means above material understanding, divyam, above material understanding, paraḥ;, above material understanding. So here it is said bhagavan uvaca. Even he does not say, Vyasadeva, that kapiladeva uvaca. No. Similarly, in the Bhagavad-gita also, Vyasadeva says... Krṣṇa says actually. But Vyasadeva says, bhagavan uvaca. Bhagavan means above the defects of this material world. That is Bhagavan. Bhagavan is not subjected to the deficiencies of this material world. There are four deficiencies in the material world. Just like we are concerned, in the material world, we are not perfect because we commit mistake, bhrama. We are illusioned. Bhrama pramada. And vipralipsa, we try to cheat others. I have no knowledge; still, I become teacher or preacher. That is cheating. We have no perfect knowledge. Therefore our principle is to teach what Bhagavan says. We don't manufacture teaching. This is not our business. As they manufacture... They say, the ordinary, I mean to say, so-called scholars and learned men, they give their opinion... Especially in the Western world, there are so many philosophical speculations, each one giving his own mental gymnastics. That philosophy is not perfect. We have to take ideas from Bhagavan. That is perfect.

Therefore here it is said, bhagavan uvaca. If we take instruction from Bhaga... Why we are reading Bhagavad-gita? That is very common practice. Because it is perfect. There is no mistake, there is no illusion, there is no cheating, there is no imperfection of the senses. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, vedahaṁ samatitani: [Bg. 7.26] "I know everything—past, present and future." Maṁ ca veda na kascana: "But nobody understands Me." That is our position. God knows everything. Krṣṇa knows everything. But we do not know what is God. That is our position. We do not know. Isvaraḥ; sarva-bhutanaṁ hrd-dese arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. Isvara, God, Krṣṇa, is situated in everyone's heart. Sarvasya cahaṁ hrdi sanniviṣṭaḥ;: [Bg. 15.15] "I am entered in everyone's heart." Everyone's heart—not only the human being, but also animals or anything. Aṇḍantara-stha-paramaṇu-cayantara-sthaṁ govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami [Bs. 5.35] **. He is within the atom. Therefore because He is within me, within you, and within everything, He knows everything. Therefore Krṣṇa says, vedahaṁ samatitani [Bg. 7.26]. He knows everything. So because He knows everything, therefore we have to take lesson from Bhagavan. What Bhagavan says, if we take, that is perfect knowledge.

There is a parampara system, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita, Fourth Chapter: evaṁ parampara-praptam imaṁ rajarṣayo viduḥ; [Bg. 4.2]. So our business, Krṣṇa conscious people, our business is very easy. Because we don't manufacture ideas. We take the idea and the words delivered by the Supreme Person, Krṣṇa, or His incarnation, or His representative. His representative does not say anything which the master does not say. Representative is very easy. You can become representative of Krṣṇa if you do not interpret Krṣṇa's words in your whimsical way. Krṣṇa says, mattaḥ; parataraṁ nanyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: [Bg. 7.7] "There is no more superior authority than Me." And if you take it as it is, and if you speak to the people that "There is no more superior authority than Krṣṇa," then you become guru. You become guru. You don't change. Then you become guru. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed this. Amara ajñaya guru haña tara' ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. His, He was preaching. So He was preaching everyone, from country to country. Of course, He did not go outside India. Within India. And He was instructing that "You learn from Me and teach your people within this village, within this country." Amara ajñaya guru haña tara' ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Ei desa means "this country, or this place where you are living." Then? Amara ajñaya guru haña. You become guru. So one may think that "I am illiterate. I have no education. I am not born in very high family. How I can become guru?" So Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that "It is not very difficult." Yare dekha tare kaha krṣṇa-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Bas. You become guru. You simply speak whatever Krṣṇa speaks. Then you become guru.

So anyone who does not speak what Krṣṇa has spoken, he's not guru. He's a rascal. He cannot be guru. He is guru who speaks only what Krṣṇa has spoken. This is the shastric injunction.

ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro
mantra-tantra-visaradaḥ;
avaiṣṇavo gurur na syad
vaiṣṇavaḥ; sva-paco guruḥ;

This is the definition of guru, that one brahmaṇa, born in brahmaṇa family and very educated, mantra-tantra-visaradaḥ;, very expert in reciting Vedic mantras... That is the duty of brahmaṇa, veda-mantra. So mantra-tantra-visaradaḥ;. But avaiṣṇava, if he's not Vaiṣṇava, or if he's not follower of the instruction of Viṣṇu or Krṣṇa, avaiṣṇavo gurur na syat, he cannot become guru. And vaiṣṇavaḥ; sva-pacaḥ;. Sva-pacaḥ; means the dog-eater. That is considered the lowest of the mankind, dog-eaters, means caṇḍala, bhaṅgis. He becomes gu..., he can become guru. How? If he's Vaiṣṇava, he is devotee of Viṣṇu or Krṣṇa. So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu... That is His mission.

yare dekha, tare kaha 'krṣṇa'-upadesa
amara ajñaya guru haña tara' ei desa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]

So if we simply take the words of Bhagavan and preach, then it is very easy for us to become, each and every one, to become guru. Not to exploit. No. But to give knowledge. And what is that knowledge? What Krṣṇa has spoken. That's all. So even one is not very learned scholar, Sanskrit scholar, everyone has got this ear. He can hear from Krṣṇa and Krṣṇa's representative and assimilate what is spoken by Krṣṇa, and he can repeat the same. Then he becomes guru. That is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He said,

bharata-bhumite haila manuṣya-janma yara
janma sarthaka kari' kara para-upakara
[Cc. Adi 9.41]

To become guru means para-upakara. People are in the darkness, so they have to be enlightened. That is the Vedic injunction. Uttiṣṭhata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata. Now, people, from animal kingdom we are getting this human body. So up to animal body we are sleeping, kota nidra jao maya-pisacira kole, in the lap of this material nature. Now this human form of body is meant for getting out. So the mission is to awaken people to Krṣṇa consciousness. To awaken people to Krṣṇa consciousness. Jiv jago jiv jago, gauracanda bole. Gauracanda, means Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is speaking to everyone, "Oh, the living entity, get up! Get up!" Kota nidra jao maya-pisacira kole: "How long you shall sleep?"

So the, here is the same thing. Yoga adhyatmikaḥ; puṁsam. This is the prime business, to connect yourself again, again, your soul, with the Supreme. Yoga adhyatmikaḥ; puṁsaṁ mato niḥ;sreyasaya me. He is giving... He says that "This is My instruction, that one should be awakened to Krṣṇa consciousness and connect himself again with Krṣṇa." That is adhyatmika-yoga. Not to show some gymnastic magic. No. This is the best yoga Krṣṇa has also said in the Bhagavad-gita,

yoginam api sarveṣaṁ
mad-gatenantar-atmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo maṁ
sa me yuktatamo mataḥ;
[Bg. 6.47]

The first-class yogi is he... Who? Yoginam api sarve... There are many yogis. There are many different types of yoga system, and all the yoga systems are discussed in the Bhagavad-gita, haṭha-yoga, karma-yoga, jñana-yoga, raja-yoga, so many yoga systems. But the real yoga system, the first-class yoga system, is to revive your connection with Krṣṇa. That is first class. Here it is also said, yoga adhyatmikaḥ; puṁsam. Adhyatmika. We are living entities, soul. We are now... We are disconnected, but we have forgotten. Disconnection cannot be. That is not possible. But it is covered. Nahaṁ prakasaḥ; sarvasya yogamaya-samavrtaḥ; [Bg. 7.25]. There is yoga and there is a yogamaya. Yogamaya means forgetfulness. So Kapiladeva... Kapiladeva is Bhagavan. He is advising, Bhagavan, that "This is first-class yoga." Adhyatmikaḥ;. Adhyatmikaḥ;, about the soul.

Soul... First of all you have to understand what is soul. At the present moment, people are so much in darkness, they do not understand what is soul. Therefore Bhagavad-gita teaches first to understand what is the soul. What is the soul? Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Dehi, that soul. Dehi means the proprietor of the body. We are thinking, "I am this... I am this body." No, I am not this body; I am the proprietor of this body. That is real understanding of myself: "I am not this body." We say also, "This is my finger," "This is my head," "This is my leg." Nobody says, "I head," or "I finger." Nobody says. Everyone says, "My head." So I am the proprietor of this body. And then I am under the influence of maya. This body has been given by maya, the material energy.

prakrteḥ; kriyamaṇani
guṇaiḥ; karmaṇi sarvasaḥ;
ahaṅkara-vimuḍhatma
kartaham iti manyate
[Bg. 3.27]

And we have got different types of body. I have got this body, you have got another body, the dog has got another body, cat has got another body.

Why there are so many bodies? Why not one kind of body? That is also stated in the Bha...Karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ; asya. Karaṇam The reason is that the dehi within the body, the soul, he is associating with different types of the modes of material nature. Karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ; asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Therefore he is getting different types of body. It is naturally going on. You haven't got to aspire for your next body, different... But it must be different body. Tatha dehantara-praptiḥ; [Bg. 2.13]. You have to change this body, but Krṣṇa does not say what kind of body. That will depend on your qualification. Karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ; asya. Qualification. If you associate with sattva-guṇa, then urdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthaḥ; [Bg. 14.18], then you are elevated to the higher planetary system. Madhye tiṣṭhanti rajasaḥ;. If you are associating with the modes of passion, then you will remain here. And jaghanya-guṇa-vrtti-stha adho gacchanti tamasaḥ;: and if you associate with the tamo-guṇa, then you go lower and lower, abominable family, lower family, animal family, or trees, plants, like that. So the 8..., 8,400,000 forms of life is due to karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ; asya. And according to the body, there are distresses and happiness. You cannot expect in the dog's body the same happiness as a king or a very rich man is enjoying. Karaṇaṁ guṇa-sa... He has got the dog's body, he has got the king's body. Karaṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg. 13.22]. So this happiness or that happiness, this distress or that distress, they are all due to this material body. Therefore yoga means one has to transcend this happiness of body, distress or happiness. That is here said, that atyanta-uparatiḥ; yatra. If you connect yourself again with the supreme yoga—that is called real yoga—then you get rid of this so-called material happiness and distress, which is due to this body.

So that is wanted. That is adhyatmika. That is called bhakti-yoga, to reconnect our connection with Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa also comes to instruct that "You rascal, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekaṁ saraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. Just revive your connection with Me, you rascal. Give up all these manufactured so-called types of yoga and religion." Sarva-dharman paritya... That is Krṣṇa's instruction. That is the differ... That is the proof. Krṣṇa says the same thing, and Krṣṇa's representative or incarnation or guru says the same thing. That is the qualification of guru. Here Kapiladeva, although He is the incarnation of Krṣṇa, He's acting as the representative of Krṣṇa, as guru. He's saying the same thing. He does not say another thing. Yoga adhyatmikaḥ;. Yoga adhyatmikaḥ; puṁsaṁ mato niḥ;sreyasaya me. Niḥ;sreyasa means the ultimate benefit. Krṣṇa also says the same thing, that paraṁ guhyatamam: "I have instructed you so many things, but because you are My dear friend, I am just disclosing to you the most confidential thing." What is that? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekaṁ saraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. If you accept this principle, then you become actually transcendental to this so-called material happiness and distress. That is yoga.

We should not be captivated by the material distress, or we should not be very much aggrieved by the material distress, and we should not be very much happy for material happiness. These are bondage. Material happiness is not actually happiness. That is through distress. Just like we are trying to be happy, trying to be very rich, get some money. That is not very easily obtained. We have to undergo so much distresses. So actually, it is distress, but with the hope of getting some false happiness, we accept this distress. Actually, there is no happiness. Sukham atyantikaṁ yat tad atindriya-grahyam [Bg. 6.21]. So that atindriya means spiritual senses. If we purify our senses, come to the spiritual platform, sarvopadhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170], if we become purified, then when that senses are engaged, hrṣikeṇa hrṣikesa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate, then that is real happiness. When we are engaged in the satisfying of the senses of Krṣṇa, not these material senses, then that is called adhyatmika-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. So we have to learn bhakti-yoga from Kapiladeva. Gradually, He has begun the preliminary instructions.

Thank you very much. (end)

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