Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

So now let us look at these five stages of astang yoga:

Let us discuss next verse now:

10-32: From practice to perfection in yoga

  • 10-32 defines how one will achieve perfection when one is practicing yoga.
  • 10-15: Realisation of brahman

Bg 6.11-12

śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
nāty-ucchritaṁ nāti-nīcaṁ
cailājina-kuśottaram

tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā
yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ
upaviśyāsane yuñjyād
yogam ātma-viśuddhaye

Word for word: 

śucau — in a sanctified; deśe — land; pratiṣṭhāpya — placing; sthiram — firm; āsanam — seat; ātmanaḥ — his own; na — not; ati — too; ucchritam — high; na — nor; ati — too; nīcam — low; caila–ajina — of soft cloth and deerskin; kuśa — and kuśa grass; uttaram — covering; tatra — thereupon; eka–agram — with one attention; manaḥ — mind; kṛtvā — making; yata–citta — controlling the mind; indriya — senses; kriyaḥ — and activities; upaviśya — sitting; āsane — on the seat; yuñjyāt — should execute; yogam — yoga practice; ātma — the heart; viśuddhaye — for clarifying.

Translation: 

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.

 

śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya, śucau, sacred place, Suchi means pure, sucau means pure sanctified place, deśe pratiṣṭhāpya, in such a place one situate himself.
sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ, one situate oneself in a Sthir asana, steady asan
nāty-ucchritaṁ nāti-nīcaṁ, one shouldn’t sit on a place that is too high or too low. What happens is if one is on mountain top it will be more of sightseeing than inward meditation, what is here, what is here, if it is too low like in a ditch something may come and fall and something may attack it may not be very secure.
cailājina-kuśottaram, one usages Kusha is Kusha grass, cailājin is tiger skin, so there are certain materials which are recommended and these have specific purposes, cailājin, tiger skin is recommended because it keeps snakes away, it is not that the yogi has to kill a tiger to get tiger skin, those tigers who dies in a natural death that skin can be taken, dear skin is also used by some people. One of the principles of yoga is ahimsa if one has to practice ahimsa how can he kill a tiger definitely not. Srila Prabhupada says if people wanted to eat meat let animals died naturally then they can eat meat, killing animals and eating meat is quite detrimental to one’s spiritual practices, so dear skin or lion skin both are used at different times

tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā, then fixed the mind steadily, aikāgraṁ, with one attention.
yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ, and the action of chita the mind and the kriya one should bring it under control.
upaviśyāsane yuñjyād, upaviśyāsane, means situating in the asana seating in the asana. One engages in yoga. What is the purpose of Yoga? ātma-viśuddhaye, for the sake of purification, this line can be meditated while doing japa also.
yogam ātma-viśuddhaye

upaviśyāsane yuñjyād
yogam ātma-viśuddhaye -> In morning when we sit for chanting we should thinking now let us put everything aside tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā
yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ. This verse is a good verse for preparing our consciousness for meditation tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā, I have many other things to do in life but this is NOT the time, this is the time for fixing mind on Krishna āgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā, and the mind is going here and there senses wanted to do this or that, yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ, let all of these under my control. upaviśyāsane yuñjyād, let me sit down and do yogam, Hare Krishna….for what ātma-viśuddhaye.

This chapter talks about sadhana for astang yoga but the principles are applicable to all paths of yoga. Of 18 chapters in BG the first 6 chapters provides maximum guidelines for the practice of Sadhana more than any other chapters. 9th Chapter talks about Raja Vidhaya there it is talking about glories of Bhakti. Glories of Bhagvan, Glories of Bhakti, similarly Chapter 12 talks about the qualities of Bhakta, so various chapters talk about different subject matters and they all give some hints about how devotees are and what is the glories of devotees. But in terms of practice of Sadhana, this is the chapter that gives us most direct instructions, and these chapters are directly applicable to sadhana bhakti. So many verses in this chapters are used as guides in our sadhana one of them is this verse we will not go to the forest we may not sit on dear skin when we have to chant Hare Krishna we may sit on a simple mat or a chair if we have some back problem, wherever we are sitting but the point is we have to become upaviśyāsane yuñjyād, we sit in one place and yogam ātma-viśuddhaye. So in some cases some of us may not sit they can stand also some of us may walk while chanting but inner way the point is yogam ātma-viśuddhaye. Some devotees wanted to combine walking and chanting but they have to ensure that they are not distracted while walking it is better to walk over a small area and not go for a walk because when we go for walk, we keep on seeing new-new scenario that means new-new distractions, if we are walking on a small place back and forth and nothing new to see outside then because no distraction is there is no impetus to focus the mind on Krishna or there is less things which takes away our mind from Sri Krishna, when mind has nothing to do mind thinks ok let us hear name of Krishna which is fruitful.

End of transcription.