Canto 3: The Status QuoChapter 24: The Renunciation of Kardama Muni

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.24.28

bahu-janma-vipakvena

samyag-yoga-samādhinā

draṣṭuḿ yatante yatayaḥ

śūnyāgāreṣu yat-padam

SYNONYMS

bahu — many; janma — after births; vipakvena — which is mature; samyak — perfect; yoga-samādhinā — by trance in yoga; draṣṭumto see; yatante — they endeavor; yatayaḥ — the yogīs; śūnya-agāreṣuin secluded places; yat — whose; padam — feet.

TRANSLATION

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

PURPORT

Some important things are mentioned here about yoga. The word bahu janma-vipakvena means "after many, many births of mature yoga practice." And another word, samyag-yoga-samādhinā, means "by complete practice of the yoga system." Complete practice of yoga means bhakti-yoga; unless one comes to the point of bhakti-yoga, or surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one's yoga practice is not complete. This same point is corroborated in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. Bahūnāḿ janmanām ante: [Bg. 7.19] after many, many births, the jñānī who has matured in transcendental knowledge surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kardama Muni repeats the same statement. After many, many years and many, many births of complete practice of yoga, one can see the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord in a secluded place. It is not that after one practices some sitting postures he immediately becomes perfect. One has to perform yoga a long time — "many, many births" — to become mature, and a yogī has to practice in a secluded place. One cannot practice yoga in a city or in a public park and declare that he has become God simply by some exchange of dollars. This is all bogus propaganda. Those who are actually yogīs practice in a secluded place, and after many, many births they become successful, provided they surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the completion of yoga.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness