The Real Aim of Yoga is to get rid of this material body – It’s aim is not to keep the body fit and young

By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda

SB verse 3.19.25-28

Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3, Chapter 19, Text 25

TRANSLATION

The demon now began to strike the Lord with his hard fists, but Lord Adhoksaja slapped him in the root of the ear, even as Indra, the lord of the Maruts, hit the demon Vrtra.

PURPORT

The Lord is explained here to be adhoksaja, beyond the reach of all material calculation. Aksaja means “the measurement of our senses,” and adhoksaja means “that which is beyond the measurement of our senses.”

boar-incarnation

SB 3.19.26

TEXT 26

TRANSLATION

Though struck indifferently by the Lord, the conqueror of all, the demon’s body began to wheel. His eyeballs bulged out of their sockets. His arms and legs broken and the hair on his head scattered, he fell down dead, like a gigantic tree uprooted by the wind.

PURPORT

It does not take even a moment for the Lord to kill any powerful demon, including Hiranyaksa. The Lord could have killed him long before, but He allowed the demon to display the full extent of his magical feats. One may know that by magical feats, by scientific advancement of knowledge or by material power one cannot become the equal of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His one signal is sufficient to destroy all our attempts. His inconceivable power, as displayed here, is so strong that the demon, despite all his demoniac maneuvers, was killed by the Lord when the Lord desired, simply by one slap.

SB 3.19.27

TEXT 27

TRANSLATION

Aja [Brahmā] and others arrived on the spot to see the fearfully tusked demon lying on the ground, biting his lip. The glow of his face was yet unfaded, and Brahmā admiringly said: Oh, who could meet such blessed death?

PURPORT

Although the demon was dead, his bodily luster was unfaded. This is very peculiar because when a man or animal is dead, the body immediately becomes pale, the luster gradually fades, and decomposition takes place. But here, although Hiranyaksa lay dead, his bodily luster was unfaded because the Lord, the Supreme Spirit, was touching his body. One’s bodily luster remains fresh only as long as the spirit soul is present. Although the demon’s soul had departed his body, the Supreme Spirit touched the body, and therefore his bodily luster did not fade. The individual soul is different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead when he quits his body is certainly very fortunate, and therefore personalities like Brahmā and the other demigods eulogized the death of the demon.

SB 3.19.28

TEXT 28

TRANSLATION

Brahmā continued: He was struck by a forefoot of the Lord, whom yogis, seeking freedom from their unreal material bodies, meditate upon in seclusion in mystic trance. While gazing on His countenance, this crest jewel of Diti’s sons has cast off his mortal coil.

PURPORT

The process of yoga is very clearly described in this verse of Srimad-Bhāgavatam. It is said here that the ultimate end of the yogis and mystics who perform meditation is to get rid of this material body. Therefore they meditate in secluded places to attain yogic trance. Yoga has to be performed in a secluded place, not in public or in a demonstration on stage, as nowadays practiced by many so-called yogis. Real yoga aims at ridding one of the material body. Yoga practice is not intended to keep the body fit and young. Such advertisements of so-called yoga are not approved by any standard method. Particularly mentioned in this verse is the word yam, or “unto whom,” indicating that meditation should be targeted on the Personality of Godhead. Even if one concentrates his mind on the boar form of the Lord, that is also yoga. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita, one who concentrates his mind constantly in meditation upon the Personality of Godhead in one of His many varieties of forms is the first-class yogi, and he can very easily attain trance simply by meditating upon the form of the Lord. If one is able to continue such meditation on the Lord’s form at the time of one’s death, one is liberated from this mortal body and is transferred to the kingdom of God. This opportunity was given to the demon by the Lord, and therefore Brahmā and other demigods were astonished. In other words, the perfection of yoga practice can be attained by a demon also if he is simply kicked by the Lord.

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[Bhaktivedanta Translation and Purports to Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3, Chapter 19, verses 25-28]

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