Date: 2004-07-14 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das

Hare Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

Today something interesting struck my in the morning, when suddenly the words "prayoga" and "upayoga" caught my attention. These two words are so very commonly used everyday especially in the Indian languages with the general meaning, "Application" and "Utilization". If we see, the root for both the words is "yoga". We all know by Srila Prabhupada's mercy that yoga means "the linking process", more clearly, "linking with the Supreme Lord."

In the word "prayoga", the prefix "pra" means "completely". So the word "prayoga" essentially means that " we have to use everything exclusively in the service of the Lord." In other words, it refers to "yukta- ". The word 'upayoga' also means pretty much the same, may be slightly different. But what essentially we can understand from this analysis is that, all these words like prayog, upayog etc were originally coded in relation with performing to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. With the passing of years, the meanings got twisted around and we can see that these words are used in so many places in so many ways without any relationship with Krishna or Bhakti.

Another interesting extension of this same root is the word "prayojana". "yojana" comes from the root "yuj" which again means "linking". This word is also very commonly used in most of the Indian languages with the general meaning of "necessity", "gain", "use" etc generally in statements like "What is the use ?". The also use this word with the same meaning but centered around Krishna. We can see one example from Srila Prabhupada's purport for SB 10.8.45.

"Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained to Sanatana that there are three purposes in the . One is to understand our relationship with Krsna (sambandha), another is to act according to that relationship (abhidheya), and the third is to reach the ultimate goal (prayojana). The word prayojana means "necessities," and the ultimate necessity is explained by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. prema pum-artho mahan: the greatest necessity for a human being is the achievement of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Another most common but slightly different reference to this word we can see in the Bhagavatam verse 1.2.7:

vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.

In the word-word Srila Prabhupada translates "prayojitaḥ", as "being applied". In other words, Bhakti is meant to be applied. Therefore Srila Prabhupada so beautifully translated the word Bhakti as "devotional service".

We can see how nicely these words were originally meant to be used and understood and how far away have we gone in their usage, what to speak of understanding them?

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Kalacakra Krsna das. Yoga - Part 1

Date: 2016-06-03 Author: Amogha-drk Krishna das

Dear Prabhus and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

In our Hare Krishna movement, the word yoga is defined in no unclear terms. For us it means to connect with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, by means of devotional service. Devotional service means that a person puts himself in the role of a devotee (bhakta) of the Lord by following the process of bhakti-yoga as given in the Pancharatric Vaishnava scriptures like the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. schedules the life of a devotee into 5 parts,

1) to prepare oneself personally for serving the Lord by means of cleanliness, proper clothing etc. (abhigamana), 2) to collect material things to be spiritualized in the service of the Lord (upadana), 3) glorifying the Lord by scriptural study, giving instructions, etc. (svadhyaya), 4) worshiping the Lord with affection (ijya), all the way by 5) concentrating on the Lord in (yoga).

The last point is important, because to achieve eternal meditation (samadhi) on the Supreme Lord is explicitly stated by the most authorized scripture in the Vedic cannon to be goal of yoga. This is the soul's natural state as a servitor ( dasa) of Krishna. In Srimad Bhagavatam verse SB 3.24.28:

bahu-janma-vipakvena samyag-yoga-samādhinā draṣṭuṁ yatante yatayaḥ śūnyāgāreṣu yat-padam

After many births, mature , by complete trance in yoga, endeavor in secluded places to see the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

To constantly see the lotus feet of the Lord means that one has now entered the stage of dāsyarasa, or transcendental enjoyment in the service of Krishna which is experienced by the eternal soul, existing beyond material births. But today, the term yoga has other connotations which we, Krishna willing, will discuss further in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Amogha-drk Krishna das Norway. Yoga - Part 2

Date: 2016-06-04 Author: Amogha-drk Krishna das

Dear Prabhus and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled Yoga wherein we saw that yoga means to link with Supreme Lord Krishna by the process of devotional service.

For most people in the Western hemisphere, yoga is a nice workout. Its mystical side, what to speak of its spiritual goal, has remained largely unrecognized. Because the need for a good system of exercise and health in the west, yoga has naturally been appreciated most on those terms, focusing on postures done from a seat (), along with breathing techniques (prānāyama). But they are not the all-in-all in yoga, as Srila Prabhupada points out in his purport to verse 4.4.25 of Srimad Bhagavatam. "Before practicing the real yoga system, one has to practice the sitting postures because this helps in the breathing exercises which control the airs going upwards and downwards... No one in this age can attain the perfectional stage of such yoga, but people indulge in practicing sitting postures, which is more or less a gymnastic process."

There are many hatha-yoga postures like standing (uttḥishṭa sthiti), sitting (upavistha sthiti), twisting (parivrtta sthiti), standing on the head (sirśāsana) and vinyasas or flowing movements. There are subtle tubes in the body called nadis which must be purified (nādiśuddi) by the practice of pranayama. Yogis say that when the nadis are impure, prana cannot pass through the middle suśumna nādi channel. His Divine Grace mentions in his purport to verse 4.25.16, " The yogic process for controlling the air within the body and the different nerves is called suśumna, the path of liberation."

The suśumna nādi is the most important pathway of the subtle body, which when pure, is utilized by the for deep meditation. But first he has to withdraw the senses from sense objects (pratyāhāra). Pratyāhāra is to divert ones sensual activities from outward to inward. It is only after pratyāhāra one can enter deep meditative concentration, which helps gain cooperation with the internal energy; in the subtle body represented by a servant of Krishna known as Kundalini-; which, when properly dealt with, reconnects us with the internal energy of the Lord. This is called kundalini-yoga. In his book "Light of " His Divine Grace says, "Because the living entity is classified as marginal energy and is of the same quality as the internal energy, it is quite natural for him to cooperate with the internal energy. But when the living entity prefers to cooperate with the external energy, he is put into difficulty. By the process called pratyāhāra (diversion), yoga diverts our energies from the external to the internal." (Page 38)

Our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj says that when we lovingly vibrate and sing the Hare Krishna , the shlokas from scriptures like Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, then all the good effects of pranayama and other āsanās are in-built in it. And not only that these transcendental sound vibrations are pleasing to the mind and soul and does not have any rigorous rules and technicalities like the other .

Krishna willing, we will discuss the process of kundalini-yoga further in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Amogha-drk Krishna das Norway. Yoga - Part 3

Date: 2016-06-11 Author: Amogha-drk Krishna das

Dear Prabhus and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam we learn how Maharaja Prthu performed kundalini-yoga, sitting in a special posture called muktāsana, which facilitates directing one's life energy upward, penetrating six material energy centers (chakras) by yogic force.Sb 4.23.13-14:

evaṁ sa vīra-pravaraḥ saṁyojyātmānam ātmani -bhūto dṛḍhaṁ kāle tatyāja svaṁ kalevaram sampīḍya pāyuṁ pārṣṇibhyāṁ vāyum utsārayañ chanaiḥ nābhyāṁ koṣṭheṣv avasthāpya hṛd-uraḥ-kaṇṭha-śīrṣaṇi

In due course of time, when Prthu Maharaja was to give up his body, he fixed his mind firmly upon the lotus feet of Krishna, and thus, completely situated on the brahma-bhuta platform, he gave up the material body. When Maharaja Prthu practised a particular yogic sitting posture, he blocked the door of his anus with his ankles, pressed his right and left calves and gradually raised his life air upward, passing it on to the circle of his navel, up to his heart and throat, and finally pushed it upward to the central position between his two eyebrows.

However, Srila Prabhupada points out in the purport to the above verse that, "Those who are in Krishna can return to Godhead without even practicing the muktāsana process." This is so because, "t he bhakti-yogi, practicing bhakti-yoga, is always situated on the brahma-bhuta stage (brahma-bhuyā ya kalpate)."

Here Prabhupada refers to the Bhagavad-gita (14.26), wherein Krishna uses a similar word, brahma-bhuyāya ("the state of "): "One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."

In the Srimad Bhagavatam verse 4.30.20, the actual experience of brahma-bhuta is given as follows:

navyavad dhṛdaye yaj jño brahmaitad brahma-vādibhiḥ na muhyanti na śocantina hṛṣyanti yato gatāḥ

Always engaging in the activities of devotional service, devotees feel ever-increasingly fresh and new in all their activities. The all-knower, the Supersoul within the heart of the devotee, makes everything increasingly fresh. This is known as the Brahman position by the advocates of the Absolute Truth. In such a liberated stage [brahma-bhuta], one is never bewildered. Nor does one lament or become unnecessarily jubilant. This is due to the brahma-bhuta situation.

Thus we can rest assured with Srila Prabhupada's final conclusion in regards to kundalini-yoga is in purport of Srimad Bhagavatam verse 4.23.14 - "Consequently a devotee need not feel sorry for not having practiced the kundalini-cakra, or not penetrating the six cakras one after another." Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Amogha-drk Krishna das Norway.