The Yoga Process As Explained in Bhagavad-gita

Millions are taking up hatha-yoga as a regular routine, and after some time they want to know more about the origin of yoga and what else might be there besides asanas (bodily postures). The practice of yoga, although somewhat new to the West and just gaining traction here, is thousands of years old. The method and purpose of yoga are given in the Vedic literature, and numerous methods are described, hatha-yoga being but one part of one system – Patanjali’s astanga-yoga.

There is a lot more to yoga than asanas for the serious yogi. The specific goal is nothing less than coming face-to-face with the Supreme Lord – no simple feat! – and one cannot achieve that simply by some stretching exercises.

The Supreme Lord Himself describes the process, method and goal of yoga in the Bhagavad-gita, so let’s take a look at what He says there. I will make a few comments here and there in bracketed italics. This is taken from the sixth chapter entitled Sankhya-yoga:
To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusha grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should be neither too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses and activities and fixing the mind on one point.

[Kusha grass is a type of long grass that grows in tropical climates used as a cushion. The purpose of sitting on a deer skin, something that modern people may think of as being a product of violence, is that snakes, not uncommon in tropical forests, are repelled by deer skin.
The yogi is instructed to go to a sacred and secluded place. From this initial statement we can understand that it is not possible to seriously pursue the goal of yoga while living in modern cities.
Krishna gets right to the point by explaining that to practice yoga one must control their mind, senses, and activities in order to purify oneself. From what? From the conditioning of sense gratification.]

One should hold one’s body, neck and head erect in a straight line and stare steadily at the tip of the nose. Thus, with an undisturbed, subdued mind, devoid of fear, completely free from sex life, one should meditate upon Me within the heart and make Me the ultimate goal of life. Thus practicing constant control of the body, mind and activities, the mystic transcendentalist, his mind regulated, attains to the kingdom of God [or the abode of Krishna] by cessation of material existence.

[Here Krishna presents another major stumbling block for the modern yogi – total abstinence from sex – something almost impossible for most people today. Why? To purify one’s mind from the material conception of life. Sex is considered the golden handcuffs that bind people to bodily identification – something the yogi is trying to become free from.]

There is no possibility of one’s becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in transcendence – devoid of all material desires – he is said to be well established in yoga. As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent self.

[Here Krishna explains one side-effect of practicing yoga – becoming free from all material desires! This is not the goal in itself, but a symptom by which one can understand that they are making progress in yoga. Of course in modern society billions are spent on advertising specifically to increase our material desires, and in this way the innocent public is distracted from the goal of human life. But the mind of the yogi who has become free from desire is peaceful and can be continually focused on the object of meditation – the Lord in the heart.]

​In the stage of perfection called trance, or samadhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.

One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith. One should abandon, without exception, all material desires born of false ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind.

[Determination and faith are necessary to achieve any goal, and no less for yoga. Again, Sri Krishna admonishes to relinquish material desires and strictly control the senses that may be hankering for engagement.]

Gradually, step by step, with full conviction, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else. From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self. The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest perfection of transcendental happiness. He is beyond the mode of passion, he realizes his qualitative identity with the Supreme, and thus he is freed from all reactions to past deeds.

Thus the self-controlled yogi, constantly engaged in yoga practice, becomes free from all material contamination and achieves the highest stage of perfect happiness in transcendental loving service to the Lord. A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized person sees Me, the Supreme Lord, everywhere. For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost to him, nor is he ever lost to Me.

Such a yogi, who engages in the worshipful service of the Supersoul [the Lord in the heart], knowing that I [Krishna] and the Supersoul are one, remains always in Me in all circumstances. He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!

[Here is another concomitant factor of the yoga process – one sees everything from the spiritual perspective. The yogi does not see the body, but the soul within the body, that animates the body, and understands that everyone is spiritually equal.]

Arjuna said: O Krishna, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady. For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krishna, and to subdue it, I think, is more difficult than controlling the wind.

[Anyone who practices meditation can sympathize with this statement of Arjuna! But we are reassured by Krishna that success is possible by the right means.]

The Blessed Lord said: it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by constant practice and by detachment. For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by right means is assured of success. That is My opinion.

And when the yogi engages himself with sincere endeavor in making further progress, being washed of all contaminations, then ultimately, after many, many births of practice, he attains the supreme goal.

[This is no cheap thing! Success in the yoga system requires many, many births. Sri Krishna explains the yoga system in the Gita but then goes on to explain in this next verse that loving devotion to Him in bhakti-yoga is best, and the practitioner can achieve success even in this one life.]

A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi. And of all yogis, 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.