Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Now Krishna will talk about means by which we can come out of entangled of matter. 

So in this verse He has talked about three means and in next verse He will talk about one more method:

Bg 13.25

dhyānenātmani paśyanti
kecid ātmānam ātmanā
anye sāṅkhyena yogena
karma-yogena cāpare

Synonyms: 

dhyānena — by meditation; ātmani — within the self; paśyanti — see; kecit — some; ātmānam — the Supersoul; ātmanā — by the mind; anye — others; sāṅkhyena — of philosophical discussion; yogena — by the yoga system; karma–yogena — by activities without fruitive desire; ca — also; apare — others.

Translation: 

Some perceive the Supersoul within themselves through meditation, others through the cultivation of knowledge, and still others through working without fruitive desires.

 

dhyānenātmani paśyanti, dhyānena, by meditation 

atmani paśyanti, one pursue the inner reality, the self

kecid ātmānam ātmanā, 

kecid, some people

ātmānam ātmanā, so here the word atma comes thrice atmani, ātmānam and ātmanā

so all these three atama refers to three different things so first atma refers to self, second refers to Super Soul, and third atma refers to the mind, SP doesn’t use the word mind directly but use the word meditation. 

So it is saying…through meditation (dhyānena) by concentrating and  directing the mind (ātmanā) inwards, kecid some people paśyanti, what they will able to see ātmani, within the soul, one’s inner world, what they will see ātmānam, the Super Soul. 

So the point is one way of illuminating the inner word is dhyānena, by meditation, in meditation we turn the mind inwards, and we observe the reality and we will see the atma and we will see the parmatma.

This meditation talks about what is talked in 6th chapter in Dhyana Yoga and it culminated on Yogi Nap Apa Servesham…

There are others who do this by Shankya Yoga, so by analysis of 24 elements and consciousness in not present in any of them so I am none of them, then one goes beyond 24 element to 25th element and finally comes to 26th element.  

karma-yogena cāpare, and some people use Karma Yoga, so Krishna is saying these are the methods by which people can perceive the Super Soul. 

SP Purport: and there are others who cultivate the haṭha-yoga system and who try to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by childish activities.

So why hatha-yoga is called as childish activity. 

We have discussed earlier that astanga yoga process, in the initial stage where yoga focuses on physical gymnastics it is often referred to as hatha-yoga when it is focused more on inner exploration it is called as Dhyan Yoga.

But overall the three things Astanga Yoga, DhyanYoga and Hatha-yoga is referred to as process of yoga. 

So here Srila Prabhupada referred to the initial process as Hatha-Yoga. So children sometimes play and they say I can do something which you can’t do, say one child does Sirshashan I can balance myself on the head … others say Oh I can’t do that how do you do that? So like that many people see yogis when they do physical gymnastics or some other mystic things producing some ash or something like that, people generally become impressed by that. But this getting over impressed by seeing something which others can do but they can’t do is ultimately childish. But we cannot satisfy the Lord by Childish activities. But one has to goes beyond Siddhi and all and searches for God. In all paths there are distractions and in yoga path it is Siddhis. 

This verse is in a general informational sense after describing this Krishna will recommend Bhakti process by hearing.

End of transcription.