Sri Krishna Yoga

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From the Back of the Book:

I am Lost. I am bewildered and confused. I do not know where I am or what to do. I am your disciple and you are my guide. Please tell me for certain what should I do. The question is concerned with the issue of duty conscience and obligation. Sri Krishna consoles Arjuna with the knowledge of the soul the body that of life and death.

D id Sri Krishna teach a doctrine in the Bhagavad Gita? Swami Sarvagatananda discovers and analyses Sri Krishna's powerful message of harmonious living and spiritual awakening. Sri Krishna Yoga is a synthesis of paths that complement each other with a goal towards human perfection.

'This book Sri Krishna Yoga was read to me by a monastic brother. I suggest that the book be published and then sent to all the American centres, as also to London, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo centres ...
'I say, "Go onward."'
Swami Ranganathananda
13th President
Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission

Y oga is the means and the end, the way and the goal. The sage Patanjali defines it as cittavrttinirodhah, 'It is the control of all the tendencies that arise from the subconscious mind' (Yoga Sutras, 1. 2). A human being is a beautiful blending of three elements (the animal, the human and the divine) and is endowed with many faculties. In all the three dimensions, the individual is struggling to grow and evolve. The right way to evolve is yoga. Yoga teaches us how to control all sides of ourselves: the physical, the mental, the moral, the intellectual, and the spiritual. All these realms must be properly balanced and controlled. Any spiritual discipline that helps us to evolve and gain an element of spiritual perception has been called a yoga.

Next, we have to consider yoga as the goal and as the end. Patanjali has mentioned that yoga is unity with the ultimate ground. In the last chapter, he describes the sixth dimension of samadhi, called nirbijasamiidhi, I seedless samadhi'. Samadhi comes from Sanskrit words sarna and adhi. Adhi means' the highest', sama means' equal'. Samadhi means equating ourselves with the highest. When the individual consciousness, having evolved slowly, enters into the cosmic realm and becomes one with it, the individual is totally lost in the cosmic. Sri Ramakrishna used to give a beautiful example: 'The salt doll wanted to measure the depth of the sea. It entered into the sea and melted away. There was no trace of it. The doll became one with the sea.' Such is the case with our individual consciousness. When it is purified, it becomes one with the cosmic conscious realm. Yoga as the end has the ultimate goal of achieving oneness with the Divine Ground.

All saints and sages, both in the East and in the West, ancient and modern, are yogis. Two elements exist in all of them. The first is controlling the mundane sense per- ceptions and evolving to the higher realm. The second is turning the mind to something spiritual. Let us take the case of Moses. What did Moses do? He moved to the mountain and entered his spiritual search. He moved from the sensual realm to the transcendental realm. He moved up. He saw a vision, and heard a voice. The same conditions were repeated with Mohammed. He moved away from society, fasted and prayed. He received the awareness of the Cosmic Being whom he called Allah. He also heard a voice. Similarly, Jesus Christ retreated to the wilderness. He struggled hard, contemplated and prayed. He received a similar awareness. Not only did he hear the voice, he received a revelation. He said, 'I and my Father are One' (John, 10:30). That unity of the individual and the cosmic is the end of yoga. Zarathustra, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu - all these great souls are yogis. They controlled and conquered their minds. They received revelations.

Everywhere now, the word 'stress' is commonly used. Stress is due to many factors: pressure from work and pressure from various life situations - failing to cope with society. All these pile up. The individual loses his ground. Doctors and therapists are recommending yoga and meditation as a remedy. Slowly yoga is entering everyday life.

Three thousand years ago, on the eleventh day of the bright fortnight in the month of Margasirsa (November- December), Sri Krishna started giving instructions to Arjuna. Those instructions fortunately have been well recorded and have come down to us in the form of the Gita. The Gita presents to us a beautiful concept of yoga. Sri Krishna is yogesvara - the master of yoga. The Gita is called yogasastra. Sri Krishna is the best example in practice from the point of view of the teachings of yoga. He is well balanced, well integrated and completely identified with the highest.

The Gita is spiritual dynamics. The whole Gita is nothing but yoga and a discourse on yoga. Sri Krishna calls yoga a discipline, a process that can help us gain depth. Then he gives us his own doctrine which is a synthesis of all the processes. As for the means to the end, or the way to the goal, we need guidance. In all the chapters of the Gita we find this guidance, and Sri Krishna is the guide.