Gita 06.10 – Popular yoga is not spiritual yoga

Audio Link: https://www.thespiritualscientist.com/gita-06-10-popular-yoga-is-not-spiritual-yoga/

yogī yuñjīta satatam
ātmānaṁ rahasi sthitaḥ
ekākī yata-cittātmā
nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ (Bg 6.10)

Word-for-word:
yogī — a transcendentalist; yuñjīta — must concentrate in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; satatam — constantly; ātmānam — himself (by body, mind and self); rahasi — in a secluded place; sthitaḥ — being situated; ekākī — alone; yata-citta-ātmā — always careful in mind; nirāśīḥ — without being attracted by anything else; aparigrahaḥ — free from the feeling of possessiveness.

Translation:
A transcendentalist should always engage his body, mind and self in relationship with the Supreme; he should live alone in a secluded place and should always carefully control his mind. He should be free from desires and feelings of possessiveness.

Explanation:
This verse describes how a yogī should practice the process of aṣṭāṅga-yoga.
yogī yuñjīta satatam: A yogī should constantly engage in yoga.
ātmānaṁ rahasi sthitaḥ: He should remain situated in a secluded place.
ekākī yata-cittātmā: Alone, bringing his consciousness under control.
nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ: Free from desires and possessiveness.

This verse explains how the process of aṣṭāṅga-yoga is to be practiced. In terms of location, it prescribes ekākī and rahasi sthitaḥ—one should be alone and situated in a secluded place.

Today, however, yoga as a physical exercise is often practiced in groups. In the media, we frequently see images of popular yoga teachers instructing thousands of people, where the teacher bends into a yogic posture and the students simultaneously follow. Such images are commonly presented as testimony to the enduring and widespread popularity of yoga—in countries like China, America, and Australia, countless people are shown engaging in it.

It is certainly good that people are developing an appreciation for more natural forms of living and exercising, and yoga is indeed a natural practice for the body. But yoga is far more than that. At its core, it is a path for the pursuit of self-realization—and that pursuit is an activity of consciousness, not of the body.

Therefore, it cannot be meaningfully practiced in a hall with hundreds of people all performing the same exercises. Rather, it is a process for realizing our higher spiritual identity and understanding what it truly takes to know that identity.

The contemporary popularity of yoga is, in fact, the popularity of a watered-down, initial stage of yoga—the practice of yogic exercises. In contrast, this verse states that the yogī must be constantly engaged in yoga (yogī yuñjīta satatam), not treating it as something to be done once a day for a few minutes merely to shape and tone the body.

For many, yoga has become just another workout. People may have a job, a career, and a family, and in the midst of pursuing a life of sense gratification, they also seek good health. Thus, yoga is often reduced to a means of maintaining health so that one can continue engaging in all these pursuits.

Such a pursuit of yoga is not very fruitful in spiritual terms—it does not lead to self-realization. In fact, it may end up fostering greater self-forgetfulness. People may feel that by practicing yoga they are becoming calmer and more self-aware, but true self-awareness is not possible without knowing who the self actually is.

At best, one may become more aware of the body and mind, which can make life in this world somewhat less conflict-filled and slightly more peaceful. But ultimately, that offers no lasting benefit.

If yoga is to be practiced as a means for self-realization, then one must first understand the self. In practice, this involves engaging the body, mind, and self (ātmānaṁ), while concentrating and bringing the mind under control (ekākī yata-cittātmā). Yoga, in essence, means the pursuit of higher spiritual truths.

When such higher truths are to be sought, the desire for lower worldly pleasures must be given up—nirāśīr. The word “nirāśīr” does not mean disappointment, as it does in some vernacular languages. In Sanskrit, it signifies freedom from desire. Thus, nirāśīr indicates not being bound by desires but rather being liberated from their bondage.

The word “aparigrahaḥ” means being free from a possessive mentality. It does not necessarily imply having no possessions, because as we see in the next verse, even the yogī has his deerskin and his sitting place. Thus, it does not mean the total absence of possessions, but rather the absence of possessiveness.

The common denominator in all these descriptions is that the yogī gives up the desire to enjoy the world and minimizes his connection with it. He remains constantly engaged in yoga, practicing in a secluded place and in solitude.

In this world, crowded places are filled with hustle and bustle, where people interact while pursuing sense gratification. Their discussions and activities revolve around such pursuits. The yogī, however, renounces all of this. The purpose of ekākī and rahasi sthitaḥ is to avoid the association of materialistic people who would otherwise fill the yogī’s mind with thoughts and schemes of sense gratification.

Thus, the yogī controls the mind—yata-cittātmā. Normally, it is the mind that drags us here and there, being filled with dreams and schemes for sense gratification and worldly enjoyment, and impelling us toward endless pursuits. Therefore, physically relocating oneself away from the clamor and passion of worldly life is helpful. But along with that, one must also mentally switch off from it, and this requires controlling the mind (yata-cittātmā).

This control has two components—nirāśīr and aparigrahaḥ: we do not desire things that we do not have, and we are not possessive about the things we do have. In this way, both desires and possessiveness are transcended, making them favorable for the pursuit of self-realization.

Thank you.