Question: Why are there different types of yoga if the primary aim of all of them is to get in touch with our true nature?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Everything about yoga and spiritual life is concisely explained in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. In Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna took the form of a Jagad Guru and gave transcendental knowledge to the world.
In the beginning of Srimad Bhagavad-gita Arjuna surrenders to Krishna wholeheartedly. He prays, «My Lord, I am fully surrendering to You now. I do not know and cannot understand what is good or what is bad for me. Please reveal transcendental knowledge in my heart.» Krishna took His chair as Arjuna’s Guru and enlightened Arjuna with transcendental knowledge in a very clear and broad way. In the 700 verses of Srimad Bhagavad-gita everything is explained; all types of knowledge and yoga are explained by Krishna Himself in His form as Jagad Guru.
The scripture Srimad Bhagavad-gita is Vedavyas’ record of Krishna’s instructions to His dearmost friend Arjuna, but Arjuna was actually an instrument used by Krishna to express the essence of yoga and transcendental knowledge to the whole world. Krishna actually spoke Srimad Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of the conditioned souls of this world, and we see now how famous Srimad Bhagavad-gita is all over the world. If anyone will read Srimad Bhagavad-gita and try to follow Lord Sri Krishna’s advice as though Krishna is his own Guru, then he must be benefitted. If anyone fully surrenders to Krishna in this way, Krishna will never cheat him. Rather, Krishna will always be merciful to him, and all obstacles will be removed from his spiritual life.
In the early portion of Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains that yoga means practices for progress in life, practices for sympathetic and harmonious dealings with nature. Krishna begins His explanation of yoga by giving inspiration to everyone to avoid selfish action and instead take up yoga. Krishna says:
Durena hy avaram karma buddhi-yogad dhananjaya
buddhau saranam anvichchha krpanah phala-hetavah48
«You are an eternal jiva-soul. You have natural capacity for thinking, feeling, and willing. You cannot avoid those aspects of your existence. If you use your natural conscious property to exploit the material nature, you will not be fulfilled; you will be a miser destined to suffer helplessly. By your nature you are always active, so do something positive, otherwise you will always be the cause of harm to yourself and others.»
In this verse Krishna encourages everyone to take up buddhi-yoga [the yoga of wisdom]. Buddhi-yoga is the first form of yoga mentioned in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and buddhi-yoga is the basis of all the forms of yoga Krishna goes on to describe: karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, hatha-yoga, dhyana-yoga, abhyasa-yoga, bhakti-yoga, and so on. Krishna explains:
buddhi-yukto jahatiha ubhe sukrta-duskrte
tasmad yogaya yujyasva yogah karmasu kausalam
[«A wise person engaged in buddhi-yoga abstains from both good and bad actions in this world and simply engages in yoga because yogah karmasu kausalam: yoga is the art of action.»]
Buddhi-yoga is a very wide idea. It is the basis of yoga itself, and all other forms of yoga are expressions of buddhi-yoga.
When Arjuna first asks Krishna how to practise buddhi-yoga, Krishna begins by giving Him advice about karma-yoga [pious activity].
karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur ma te sango ’stv akarmani
Krishna explains that the karma-yogi has the right to perform his prescribed duty but not to enjoy the fruits of his actions. The karma-yogi should not be motivated to do his duty because of the fruits it produces, and he should not be inclined to give up action. Rather he should be motivated by the desire to be in proper harmony with the environment and its Controller.
yajnarthat karmano ’nyatra loko ’yam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya mukta-sangah samachara
Krishna advises that by performing actions as a sacrifice, rather than an attempt to exploit the environment, the karma-yogi will attain great piety and happiness. Action offered as a sacrifice to the Lord is called yajna. Yajno vai Visnuh: sacrifice means Visnu, the Lord. All sacrifice, and therefore all action (karma), is actually meant to satisfy Visnu, and any action that is not offered to the Lord is the cause of bondage and suffering in this world.
After explaining karma-yoga Krishna says:
Sarvam karmakhilam partha jnane parisamapyate
«The perfection of pious activity (karma-yoga) is its culmination in transcendental knowledge (jnan).»
Through karma-yoga one is enlightened and receives proper knowledge. Without practising karma-yoga, that is, engaging in sacrifice and service, transcendental knowledge will not actually appear in the heart. But when someone offers themselves properly and opens their heart then they are enlightened and can practise jnana-yoga [the yoga of knowledge].
Through jnana-yoga one understands the entangling nature of material existence and then pursues liberation from samsara [the cycle of birth and death] and realisation of Brahma [the Absolute]. Krishna advises persons who become firmly established in knowledge and the practice of jnana-yoga to practise meditation through astanga-yoga (dhyana-yoga). When one practises astanga-yoga one meditates, striving to remove one’s consciousness from the outside world and attain to a vision of the Supreme Soul who is subtly present everywhere throughout existence.
In this way Krishna explains how selfless action (karma-yoga) leads to the yogas of knowledge, renunciation, and meditation (jnana-yoga and dhyana-yoga). After describing these processes Krishna presents His final teaching about yoga practice.
tapasvibhyo ’dhiko yogi jnanibhyo ’pi mato ’dhikah
karmibhyas chadhiko yogi tasmad yogi bhavarjuna
yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah49
«A yogi is superior to persons engaged in physical austerities and dry renunciation (tapasvis), superior to persons of knowledge (jnanis), and superior to persons of mundane action (karmis). Therefore one should be a yogi. The best of all yogis is the devotee, the bhakti-yogi, who holds Me within his heart with full faith, and always engages in My service. He is most intimately united with Me.»
Here Krishna clearly expresses, through direct comparison, that the bhakti-yogi is the highest type of yogi. Within Srimad Bhagavad-gita gradual levels of development in spiritual practice and realisation are explained. Krishna explains that yoga is one, but that there is a development within yoga. He explains that yoga, that is, buddhi-yoga, develops through different forms, beginning with karma-yoga, and goes up past jnana-yoga and astanga-yoga to bhakti-yoga.
Because it is so accommodating and broad in its discussion, Srimad Bhagavad-gita explains not only its primary subject, bhakti-yoga, but also explains all the levels of realisation that lead to bhakti-yoga: karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and so on. This is done through the idea of buddhi-yoga. In this way Krishna praises karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and astanga-yoga, but praises bhakti-yoga the most.
Bhakti-yoga is what is truly necessary for all jiva-souls eternally. The other yogas are only necessary for conditioned souls according to their relative stages of advancement. A primary school student will not understand the lessons taught in secondary school. A secondary school student will not understand the lessons taught in a Ph.D programme. Krishna explained different stages of development in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and in that way they are all important. But unless a yogi advances through the stages of yoga practice mentioned up to bhakti-yoga, he will not attain the ultimate goal of all yoga.
Each form of yoga practice has a specific destination. The destination of karma-yoga is Svargaloka [heaven]. The destination of jnana-yoga is Brahma, the nondifferentiated spiritual plane. The destination of hatha-yoga is Paramatma-tattva: vision of the Supreme Soul within all things.
All the forms of yoga practice do not lead to the same destination, and all the destinations are not the same. Heavenly enjoyment may be considered very desirable by materialistic persons, but not by spiritualists. Also, the spiritual destinations of Brahma and Paramatma are Absolute, but there is gradation amongst them. They are not of equal value, and someone travelling east cannot expect to attain something that is found only in the west.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate50
Beyond the temporary enjoyment of the heavenly plane within the mundane universe there are three primary spiritual destinations: Brahma, Paramatma, and Bhagavan. Through jnana-yoga one can go to Brahmaloka, through hatha-yoga one can realise the Paramatma, and through bhakti-yoga one can go to Bhagavatloka, the divine abode of the Supreme Lord, and serve there eternally. In Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna says:
yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama
«Through devotion (bhakti-yoga) you can come to My divine abode and play eternally with Me, the emporium of all rasa. From there the illusory environment will never attack you, and you will never have to return to the mundane world again.»
In this way we can understand the position of the Lord’s eternal abode as the supreme destination for all jiva-souls, and bhakti-yoga as the supreme form of yoga practice.
When any of the different types of yogis finally collect all of their energy and use it with concentration to serve and satisfy the Lord, they will truly receive their supreme benefit. They will enter the transcendental service world, become free of the influence of maya, and feel the supramundane joy of engaging in Krishna’s service. One who serves Krishna twenty-four hours a day is really the supreme yogi. Krishna Himself says this in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. It is His conclusive opinion.
What does a bhakti-yogi actually do? How does he engage in the Lord’s service? The natural property of jiva-souls is the capacity for thinking, feeling, and willing. A bhakti-yogi engages these facilities in Krishna’s service.
yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam
Krishna lovingly advises us how to practise bhakti-yoga: «Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give, whatever vow you keep — do it as an offering unto Me. That is your eternal duty and natural religion.»
This sort of bhakti-yoga is the ideal practice for all jiva-souls. When our practising life will advance to this stage we will be completely satisfied. When we can engage all of our activities in Krishna’s service we will receive His mercy and feel complete fulfilment.
Through bhakti-yoga, we can merge our account with Krishna’s account. If everything we do is for the service and satisfaction of Krishna then we will be established on the spiritual platform of existence. We will live in the transcendental service world and will not be further entangled in karma. This is the highest and best path, as well as the highest and best destination, for all jiva-souls.
Krishna gave His guidance to the conditioned souls in different stages throughout Srimad Bhagavad-gita. He presented the knowledge of karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and astanga-yoga to bring all the jiva-souls whose minds and mentalities are attracted in different ways to the devotional platform. Finally He showed His greatest mercy in His very happy conclusion:
Sarva-guhyatamam bhuyah srnu me paramam vachah
isto ’si me drdham iti tato vaksyami te hitam
«Because you are so dear to Me I will now tell you the most hidden treasure that I have to share with you. Hear My advice with full faith and you must be super-benefitted.»
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyo ’si me
«I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whatever you do, do it for Me. Think of Me always, devote yourself to Me, worship Me, and bow to Me, and surely you will come to Me. Your whole account will come to Me. I promise you this because you are dear to Me. Other practices will not be truly fruitful for you. The practice of bhakti-yoga must be fully fruitful for you and will give you supreme benefit.»
Within bhakti-yoga all the rules and regulations of the various forms of yoga merge together for the satisfaction of Krishna. In bhakti-yoga all actions and their results go to Krishna. Here we find the full meaning of buddhi-yoga and yogah karmasu kausalam: «Yoga is the art of all activity.» That is, through bhakti-yoga, everything is perfectly adjusted for the satisfaction of Krishna.
When I translated Srimad Bhagavad-gita under the guidance of Srila Guru Maharaj I found that Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur, who was a very expert translator, put great emphasis on Krishna’s teaching of buddhi-yoga. He wrote that what is explained as buddhi-yoga in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavad-gita is actually a covered form of bhakti-yoga, and that Krishna actually begins teaching bhakti-yoga from the very beginning of Srimad Bhagavad-gita under the covering of buddhi-yoga.
There are eighteen chapters in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, and externally they are named Karma-yoga, Jnana-yoga, and so on. What is actually inside those chapters? We see that within all eighteen chapters of Srimad Bhagavad-gita the fully enlightened form of Krishna consciousness, expressed as bhakti-yoga, is present. All the other forms of yoga — karma, jnan, and so on — are actually dependent on bhakti-yoga.
ei saba sadhanera ati tuchchha bala
krsna-bhakti vina taha dite nare phala
«Without the presence of devotion, that is, Krishna-bhakti, the practices of karma, jnan, and so on will not be fruitful. They have no power on their own.»
In every chapter of Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna connects the jiva-souls’ activity within the different forms of yoga with bhakti. The results the jiva-souls may get from the various lower forms of yoga — karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and so on — are actually produced by the presence of bhakti within those practices. The practices of karma-yoga and jnana-yoga are actually mixed with bhakti-yoga.
The main heart of all the jiva-souls’ spiritual activity is always bhakti-yoga. Everything Krishna explained in Srimad Bhagavad-gita from beginning to end, is actually about bhakti-yoga. This means that nothing within Srimad Bhagavad-gita can be ignored: every chapter is important for everyone, including those who practise bhakti-yoga.
I have been reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita and practising bhakti-yoga all my life, and through that I have understood that everything within Srimad Bhagavad-gita is important for everyone. I have read Srimad Bhagavad-gita so many times, and every time I read it new meaning comes to me. But the general meanings of the verses do not become suppressed. Rather, more and more meanings continue to overflow. I am so satisfied with that. From deep to deeper to deepest, everything is presented in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. It is necessary for everyone to read Srimad Bhagavad-gita every day attentively. Day by day I am more and more enthusiastic to preach the conception taught in Srimad Bhagavad-gita because it is very essential for the primary religious education of all people.
Question: I read in Srimad Bhagavad-gita that Krishna says, «Abandon all religions and come to Me.» Can you clarify the meaning of this?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Yes. All religions are actually one: the jiva-souls must be attracted to their Lord, who is like an all-attractive magnet. The purpose of all the different kinds of religion practised within this material world is to give the jiva-souls consciousness about this, their main religion, their natural religion: divine attraction and service to their Lord.
We are not actually Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or anything. We are all actually jiva-souls who are covered by the illusory environment. As jiva-souls we have the capacity for thinking, feeling, and willing. And when our natural conscious capacity will come into its own clean, transcendental position, then we will automatically feel attracted by the Lord’s divine form and be inspired to engage in His service. That is the main and real religion of all jiva-souls, and in remembrance of that eternal, spiritual religion, Krishna said to Arjuna:
Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma suchah
«I shall give you the supreme in life if you take shelter at My lotus feet. Give up all other forms of religion and surrender exclusively to Me. I will liberate you from all sin. Have no fear.»
What Krishna means is that the different kinds of religion practised in this material world are not perfect forms of religion’s actual nature, and that actual religion is to surrender to the Lord’s lotus feet and engage eternally in His service. Krishna is teaching the conditioned souls: «You are nonsense. You are tiny, insignificant souls. You cannot understand what is what, what is good, what is bad, and so on. You should always avoid irreligion — that is never worshippable. But not only that, you should also leave behind even your good knowledge, even your understanding of religion, even your idea of proper religious life for peace and harmony in this world.
«Just surrender to Me. I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and I control everything. I will take care of everything for you as well as everyone else. I will take care of the results of all your activities whether they are religious or irreligious, good or bad. You have nothing to fear. I give you this assurance. Do not be fearful. Just surrender to Me. Because you are very dear to Me I am advising you in this way. I am the only Person who can give everything to you. Surrender to Me and act according to My direction. By serving Me you will be fully satisfied.»
Only the Lord, Krishna, can say this, and it is a very serious matter. When Krishna says, «Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: I will liberate you from all sin», He means that He will take full charge of a surrendered soul. It is actually the Lord’s duty to mercifully accept the surrendered souls who fully realise their eternal spiritual position and offer themselves to Him. He must say to them, «Yes, I am your Lord, and I am taking your whole charge.» Krishna promises the jiva-souls:
Samo ’ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo ’sti na priyah
ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya mayi te tesu chapy aham
«I do not interfere with the freedom of any jiva-soul, but if any jiva-soul surrenders to Me and worships Me, then I will take special interest in him. I will take his charge. I will look after everything for him and satisfy him.»
ananyas chintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam vahamy aham
«If any jiva-soul fully surrenders to Me and serves Me with all his energy, then I will give full satisfaction to him and I Myself will supply him with food, lodging, and all his necessities (yoga-ksemam). It will not be necessary for him to think about his material life. He will only need to engage in My service.»
The Lord knows how He will take the surrendered souls back to the transcendental world. He knows how He will promote them from the material world to the spiritual world, and the surrendered souls feel that; they feel the Lord’s guardianship.
When Krishna tells the conditioned souls, «Leave not only your irreligion but your religion also», then a conditioned soul may ask, «If I leave behind my pious activities, which are good for everyone in this world, then only my sinful activities will remain. So will I be left in a sinful position with nothing good to show for myself?»
This question can be answered by understanding that the whole material world, where the conditioned souls live, is actually an ocean of sin. It is a world constructed for the sinful souls who are averse to the Lord (Krsna bhuli’ sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha). Generally we know what sin is. It is a very simple thing: a sin is something unlawful in this world. But here in Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna teaches a deeper idea. Krishna teaches that sin actually means anything not done for the Lord’s satisfaction. He teaches that even pious activity is actually sinful if it is not done for the Lord’s satisfaction.
What the jiva-souls do in the material world is very simple: they eat, sleep, fear, and enjoy (ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam cha). This is the simple summary of all the conditioned souls’ activity. These activities may be done very piously by conditioned souls, but Krishna’s final teaching in Srimad Bhagavad-gita is that if these activities are not done with Krishna consciousness, if they are not done for the satisfaction of Krishna, then they are actually sin. Although they may be done in a way that is harmonious externally within the material world, they are actually the cause of bondage in the illusory environment if they are not dedicated to Krishna.
It is written in the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads, and so on that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna Himself says this. Many times in Srimad Bhagavad-gita Krishna identifies Himself as the Lord. He declares:
aham hi sarva-yajnanam bhokta cha prabhur eva cha
na tu mam abhijananti tattvenatas chyavanti te
«I am the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the rightful enjoyer of everything. The conditioned souls who do not recognise Me fall into the bondage of maya.»
When Krishna says, «Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: I will liberate you from all sin», He means that He will liberate you from the sinful world of maya, from the world where it is a sin just to exist. In this way Krishna shows the conditioned souls that all of their activity, even pious or general religious activity, is actually sinful if it is not done as surrendered service to His lotus feet. He also shows the conditioned souls that if they consciously enter the platform of transcendental service, then they can play there happily with no fear (ma suchah). Only when the jiva-souls surrender to Krishna and serve Him with their full energy — Man-mana bhava Mad-bhakto, Mad-yaji Mam namaskuru — will they find proper adjustment in life, that is, true yoga.
Srila Guru Maharaj also explained that after Krishna declared, «Sarva-dharman parityajya Mam ekam saranam vraja: abandon all varieties of religion and surrender unto Me», His battlefield mentality was curtailed, and He needed to end His conversation with Arjuna.
When the word vraja came from His mouth, His mood softened. The sound of the word vraja brought Krishna’s consciousness to Vraja Dham, Sri Vrndavan Dham. If anyone says, «Vraja, vraja, vraja», their mind will think of Vraja Dham. So why would Krishna not also think of Vrndavan when He said, «Mam ekam saranam vraja»? When Krishna remembered Vraja Dham at this time He thought, «What is saranagati? What is surrender? That exists in its supreme form only in Vraja Dham.»
The word vraja actually means gaman kora, gachchha [‘move’, ‘go’]. Srila Guru Maharaj explained that vraja means, «Dive deep into Reality. Dive deep into the reality of saranagati.» When Krishna remembered Vraja Dham and the surrendered devotees of Vraja Dham in this way, His mood changed, and He ended His conversation with Arjuna. He forgot Arjuna actually.
After His verse sarva-dharman parityajya Mam ekam saranam vraja He thought, «Enough! What I have explained is sufficient, and it is not necessary for Me to explain anything more at this time.» He concluded by telling Arjuna:
idam te natapaskaya nabhaktaya kadachana
na chasusrusave vachyam na cha mam yo ’bhyasuyati
«Do not give this consciousness I have given to somone who is devoid of self-sacrifice, to someone who is not My devotee, to someone who does not engage in My service, or to someone who is envious of Me.»
Krishna told Arjuna, «Yathechchhasi tatha kuru: now you can do as you like. I have told you enough of what is necessary for you. It is not necessary for Me to say anything more. I am finishing our conversation. You can now do as you like.»
Arjuna was Krishna’s intimate friend, and he understood that if he said anything more, it would give pain to Krishna. So Arjuna immediately surrendered and said:
nasto mohah smrtir labdha tvat-prasadan mayachyuta
sthito ’smi gata-sandehah karisye vachanam tava
«You have undoubtedly been so merciful to me, and my illusion is now gone. I am now firmly situated in my real consciousness, and all my doubts are gone. I shall follow Your instructions and do my duty.»
Then Krishna said, «Start the fighting!» Arjuna said, «Yes. This is my job, as You have given it to me, so I shall finish it as soon as possible. Then You will get some relief.»
This is Krishna consciousness: acting fearlessly for the satisfaction of Krishna. Krishna is so beautiful and so merciful. We can see that all charm, ecstasy, love, and harmony exist within the Krishna conception. Kam va dayalum saranam vrajema (SB: 3.2.23): who shall we surrender to other than Krishna? Everything is present wherever Krishna is. In the final verse of Srimad Bhagavad-gita Sanjaya said to Dhrtarastra:
yatra yogesvarah krsno yatra partho dhanur-dharah
tatra srir vijayo bhutir dhruva nitir matir mama
«O foolish King, you are asking me so many things. How can you again ask me who will be victorious in the battle of Kuruksetra? You must understand that victory will always be wherever Krishna is.»
What can I say more than, «Take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna!»
48 «Karma is far inferior to buddhi-yoga. Take refuge in buddhi-yoga; those who seek the fruits of their actions are misers.»
49 «A yogi is superior to persons engaged in austerities (tapasvis), superior to persons of knowledge (jnanis), and superior to persons of action (karmis). Therefore, one should be a yogi. A faithful soul who serves Me with his heart dedicated to Me is the best of all yogis. He is most intimately united with Me.»
50 «Those who know the Absolute Truth say that it is non-dual knowledge and that it is known as Brahma, Paramatma, and Bhagavan.»