Display
Devanagari is shown only when this page stored it. Harvard-Kyoto and ASCII are generated from the IAST verse.
Vanisource / Original texts
Bhagavad-gītā 6.11-12
DonateSave this passage to keep a private note on this device. Notes are not sent to Vedawiki.
Cite
Source navigation
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXTS 11-12
- शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य स्थिरमासनमात्मनः ।
- नात्युच्छ्रितं नातिनीचं चैलाजिनकुशोत्तरम् ॥११॥
- तत्रैकाग्रं मनः कृत्वा यतचित्तेन्द्रियक्रियः ।
- उपविश्यासने युञ्ज्याद्योगमात्मविशुद्धये ॥१२॥
- śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
- sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
- nāty-ucchritaṁ nāti-nīcaṁ
- cailājina-kuśottaram
- tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā
- yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ
- upaviśyāsane yuñjyād
- yogam ātma-viśuddhaye
śucauin a sanctified — in a sanctified; deśeland — land; pratiṣṭhāpyaplacing — placing; sthiramfirm — firm; āsanamseat — seat; ātmanaḥhis own — his own; nanot — not; atitoo — too; ucchritamhigh — high; nanor — nor; atitoo — too; nīcamlow — low; cailaof soft cloth and deerskin-ajinaof soft cloth and deerskin — of soft cloth and deerskin; kuśaand kuśa grass — and kuśa grass; uttaramcovering — covering; tatrathereupon — thereupon; ekawith one attention-agramwith one attention — with one attention; manaḥmind — mind; kṛtvāmaking — making; yatacontrolling the mind-cittacontrolling the mind — controlling the mind; indriyasenses — senses; kriyaḥand activities — and activities; upaviśyasitting — sitting; āsaneon the seat — on the seat; yuñjyātshould execute — should execute; yogamyoga practice — yoga practice; ātmathe heart — the heart; viśuddhayefor clarifying — for clarifying.
To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kuśa 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 yogī 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.
"Sacred place" refers to places of pilgrimage. In India the yogīs, the transcendentalists or the devotees, all leave home and reside in sacred places such as Prayāga, Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, Hṛṣīkeśa and Hardwar and in solitude practice yoga where the sacred rivers like the Yamunā and the Ganges flow. But often this is not possible, especially for Westerners. The so-called yoga societies in big cities may be successful in earning material benefit, but they are not at all suitable for the actual practice of yoga. One who is not self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot practice meditation. Therefore, in the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa it is said that in Kali-yuga (the present yuga, or age), when people in general are short-lived, slow in spiritual realization and always disturbed by various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting the holy name of the Lord.
- harer nāma harer nāma
- harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
- nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21, Not yet available in the library. Try the live source.)
"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way."