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bhagwad gita
September 2009 
Is there a downfall for a yogi who can not attain perfection?
Posted on Dec 8th, 2008
by 
Eli
Eli
Introductory Notes:
The word 'Yoga" is popularly associated with the various "physical postures" (we go to the Yoga classes where we learn these "yoga asanas"). In Hindu scriptures, however, Yoga is uses in much broader sense. There are four kinds of Yoga, four primary ways of salvation in Hinduism, four possible paths to moksha or salvation. These are:
1. Bhakti Yoga, the way of devotion:
- It is the most popular road to salvation in India. Devotion and honor towards a god or gods
- It satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal approach to religion
- In the way of devotion, the focus is on obtaining the mercy and help of a god in finding release from the cycle of reincarnation. Some Hindus conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality, with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly existence in adoration of the personal God.
2. Karma Yoga, the way of good works:
To carry out good works, good deeds, give money to the temple or to people, attend festivals, pilgrimages... and do the work for God's sake instead of your own... whatever you do, do it for God... don't look for fruit or success, just do it because it is the will of God...
3. Jnana Yoga, the way of knowledge:
To explore the Sacred Scriptures, usually with the help of a guru or a sadhus. It usually has three steps: Hearing (or reading), thinking, and meditation.
4. Raja Yoga, the way of contemplation or meditation:
It is called the "royal road", and it is the one used by most Hindu and Buddhist Cults... "meditation", or better, "contemplation", with the 8 steps of Raja Yoga (ashtanga yoga).
Yoga is hard to practice for those who can not control their mind. The mind, by it's very nature is restless. In Bhagwad Gita, it is said : "asamsayam mahabaho mano durnigraham chalam", meaning - Doubtless, O mighty - armed (Arjuna), the mind is restless and hard to control.
In Katha Upanishad we find the following:
"The Self cannot be attained by the study of the Vedas, not by intelligence nor by much hearing. Only by him who seeks to know the Self can It be attained. To him the Self reveals Its own nature. None who has not refrained from bad conduct, whose senses are not under restraint, whose mind is not collected or who does not preserve a tranquil mind, can attain this Self through knowledge." (Katha Upanishad 1.2:23,24)
What happens if a yogi fails to attain perfection ( by perfection, we mean God-Realization which is also often called "self attainment" in Upanishads), is there a downfall? This is a very critical question for all seekers of truth.
The Bhagwad Gita gives a very clear answer in chapter 6.
Arjuna asks :
"Kachchinnobhayavibhrastaschinnabhramiva nasyati
apratisthomahabaho vimudho brahmanah pathi "
Bhagwad Gita 6:38
O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of God, without any hold, does he not perish like a rent cloud, deprived of both God-Realization and worldly enjoyment?
(Note: On one hand, the seeker renounced worldly pleasures, while on the other, because he was unable to control his restless mind, he failed in attaining the ultimate enlightenment ... thus, apparently he was like a rent cloud which did not descend on earth as rain, neither could this drift of cloud join the other ones).
To dispel this doubt, Lord Krishna says categorically:
"Partha naiveha namutra vinasastasya vidyate
na hi kalyankrtkaschiddurgatim tat gachchati"
Bhagwad Gita 6:40
O Partha, there is no fall for him either here or hereafter; for none who works for self-attainment meets with evil destiny.
in the next four verses of same chapter (verses 41,42,43, and 44), Bhagwad Gita explains what happens to such persons as follows:
Those persons who could not achieve self enlightenment, attain the "world of the righteous" (perhaps this is what might also be called Heaven). Having lived there for countless years, he who falls from Yoga, is reborn in the family of the pious and prosperous.
However, if such a person had already develoved dispassion, but was unable to attain the ultimate enlightenment, he would be reborn in a family of enlightened Yogis; but this kind of birth is very rare in this world. If he is reborn like this, he regains the knowledge of the previous birth and he strives more than before for self enlightenment.
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i love how all the faiths say the same thing with different words —
as the Christ said “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”
the overall system doesn’t allow us to cheat ourselves —
I saw a eastern movie where the criminal was punished by the God’s
to go through all of his incarnations again – he had to start as a lowly
worm and work his way back… to me that’s a pretty harsh punishment
next to what the Christians would consider hell – all very interesting.
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Congratulations to phoenix’s wordplay winner !!!
Jackie was the winner of this weeks wordplay. You could be next. The game is held
every friday right here.
Just to clarify:
By ‘downfall’ do we mean - - “Is there a lower rebirth assumed for a yogi whom fails to realize his true nature in this lifetime?”
Thanks.
Tharlam, the Sanskrit words used in verse 6:40 are “Vinasha” and “Durgati”. Literally translated, these two words mean “total annihilation” and “in a very poor state” respectively.
So many people have the notion as ‘Yoga’ simply means as ‘Yoga postures’, because mostly they do not know about ‘iyama’ and ‘niyama’.Yoga actually leads a yogi towards the most important goal. Bhagavad gita defines it well. Swami Vivekananda and several others wrote books to describe it well. I feel the bhakthi Yoga is the simplest to follow but most people think it is the hardest. Any one can select any way to reach the ultimate goal but on the way we may have to pass so many hurdles, just pass through them without any worries and you will acieve the goal.Down fall problem appears whenever there was a deviation from the path but that will not stop the path to the goal. Only thing it will be dealyed for some time. the yogi will catch on from where he deviated once again.This is due to the ego and other similar things we have with us. That is why our ancients insisted on good habits, good words etc. Once you have started there is no turn back. if you feel that some thing is wrong . it will be your own fault and nothing else. It is the proof that you have not started at all.
Bala, please accept my most humble and greateful thanks for these insightful comments. You have enriched the discussion vastly…
Pranams
Yoga is hard to practice for those who cannot control their mind. But what about the heart? Seems like the heart is far more powerful, can indeed override the mind. You know: the glow, the radiance, the exquisite sense of being connected to Love that flows from the heart.
What happens if we fail to realize perfection? How could there be downfall? How could a God Who is Love wish for anything except to continue to lure us, guide us, entice us forward (no matter how often how far we stumble) until we attain the highest consciousness – the ultimate enlightenment. Is that not the sweetest search possible?
This is the first time that I have seen the “4 paths” outlined (thank you, Eli!). I suspect that all four are necessary, or some sort of combination thereof. But wow, I adore Karma Yoga, the way of good works. It makes my heart sing with joy!
Eli, I always learn so much from you. This is glorious.
Reading this blog helped alleviate much of my worry tonight. Thank you Eli.
i just went through the comment and wish to say Bhakthi Yoga is highly connected with the heart. I like the comment about the heart.
Nicole, thank you very much for your warm and encouraging comments.
Kyle, I am glad that this blog helped … be at peace.
Bala…. PRANAMS !!!!
Jeannie, my dear sister, to elaborate on what Bala (sanmugan) has already pointed out, please read my next comment.
Jeannie, here are a few lines from Bhakti Yoga dissertation by Swami Vivekananda :
“Bhakti-Yoga is a real, genuine search after the Lord, a search beginning, continuing, and ending in love. One single moment of the madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom. “Bhakti”, says Nârada in his explanation of the Bhakti-aphorisms, “is intense love to God”; “When a man gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied for ever”; “This love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit”, because so long as worldly desires last, that kind of love does not come; “Bhakti is greater than karma, greater than Yoga (here yoga means Hatha yoga), because these are intended for an object in view, while Bhakti is its own fruition, its own means and its own end.”
Bhakti has been the one constant theme of our sages. Apart from the special writers on Bhakti, such as Shândilya or Narada, the great commentators on the Vyâsa-Sutras, evidently advocates of knowledge (Jnâna), have also something very suggestive to say about love. Even when the commentator is anxious to explain many, if not all, of the texts so as to make them import a sort of dry knowledge, the Sutras, in the chapter on worship especially, do not lend themselves to be easily manipulated in that fashion.
There is not really so much difference between knowledge (Jnana) and love (Bhakti) as people sometimes imagine. In the end they converge and meet at the same point. So also is it with Râja-Yoga, which when pursued as a means to attain liberation, and not (as unfortunately it frequently becomes in the hands of charlatans and mystery-mongers) as an instrument to hoodwink the unwary, leads us also to the same goal.
The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and the most natural way to reach the great divine end in view; its great disadvantage is that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism. But this danger exists only in that stage of Bhakti which is called the preparatory (Gauni). When Bhakti has become ripe and has passed into that form which is called the supreme (Parâ), no more is there any fear of these hideous manifestations of fanaticism; that soul which is overpowered by this higher form of Bhakti is too near the God of Love to become an instrument for the diffusion of hatred.
It is not given to all of us to be harmonious in the building up of our characters in this life: yet we know that that character is of the noblest type in which all these three — knowledge and love and Yoga — are harmoniously fused. Three things are necessary for a bird to fly — the two wings and the tail as a rudder for steering. Jnana (Knowledge) is the one wing, Bhakti (Love) is the other, and Yoga is the tail that keeps up the balance. For those who cannot pursue all these three forms of worship together in harmony and take up, therefore, Bhakti alone as their way, it is necessary always to remember that forms and ceremonials, though absolutely necessary for the progressive soul, have no other value than taking us on to that state in which we feel the most intense love to God. ”
That description is full of light, Eli, and very attractive, no wonder so many choose this path!
Thank you Nicole
I am speechless with joy at these words you have shared, brother Eli! I have been trying for hours to … what? … calm down enough to respond. My weeping eyes keep reading through the dissertation, but this explosion keeps occurring on the thought that One single moment of the madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom.
Yes! Three things are necessary for a bird to fly — the two wings and the tail as a rudder for steering. Jnana (Knowledge) is the one wing, Bhakti (Love) is the other, and Yoga is the tail that keeps up the balance. While the way of Love, alone, may be sufficient to take us to that state in which we feel the most intense love to God, oh how compelling and sweet is the thought of “balance.”
Eli, what wondrous things you share! My heart (and my mind :) explode with joy. Bless you.
It’s easy to have so much access to Truth-pointing fingers with the tek to read blogs like yours Eli…and, ironically, difficult to engage in a sadhana when the world is so full of such attention traps…..I think we need to look, as you do, to the essence of practice….which is, in the first instance, ekagrata, one-pointed attention.
Thanx for this. Sorry about the delay in reading it. jon xx
Thank you for sharing this wisdom,Eli. It is wonderful to read the comments that your blog has attracted.