Radha Krishna - Chapter 28: Kapila's Instructions on the Execution of Devotional Service

(1) The Supreme Lord said: 'Oh royal daughter, I will now describe the characteristics of the yoga system, the object of which is to restrain the mind in following the regulative principles and thus filled with joy be successful on the path of the Absolute Truth. (2) One must perform one's duties to the best of one's ability and avoid everything in the way of this. One should be satisfied with that what was achieved by the grace of the Lord and worship the feet of a self-realized soul [a spiritual master]. (3) One should put an end to conventional religious practices and be attracted to religious practices that lead to salvation. Eating little and pure [vegetarian food], one should always live in seclusion and thus dwell in peace. (4) Nonviolent, truthful, free from unrighteous acquisition and not possessing more than one needs, one should in celibacy, austerity and cleanliness studying the Vedas exercise respect for the appearance of the Original Personality. (5) Observing silence and acquiring steadiness in control of yoga postures and one's breath, one should gradually withdraw from the objects of the senses and direct one's mind to the heart. (6) With either fixing one's mind and prâna upon one of the [six] cakras [or energy nodes *] or when one one-pointed focusses one's mind upon the pastimes of [the Lord of] Vaikunthha, one finds oneself absorbed [or in samâdhi]. (7) With these and other methods of yoga engaging one's intelligence and controlling one's breathing the mind that is contaminated by material enjoyment must be gradually subdued. (8) After exercising one's body postures one should do this when one has taken place in a sanctified spot where one sitting in an easy posture keeps one's body erect. (9) For the mind to become steady and free from fluctuations one should clear the passage of the life breath or prâna by inhaling, holding one's breath and exhaling again - or the other way around. (10) The mind of the yogi in such a self-control is soon free from disturbances, just like gold put in fire fanned with air quickly is freed from contaminations. (11) By means of breath control [prânâyâma] one eradicates contaminations, by turning inward [pratyâhâra] material association recedes, by focussing the mind [dhâranâ] sin is overcome and by meditation [dhyâna] one rises above the power of the modes of nature.

(12) When one's thinking by the practice of yoga is purified and controlled, one should looking at the tip of one's nose meditate upon the Supreme Lord's form and measure of time [a mechanical clock or water clock fixed on the sun's summit with the division of time according to the Bhâgavatam]. (13) With His club, conch and discus in His hands, with ruddy eyes resembling the interior of a lotus and a dark complexion like the petals of a blue lotus, He has a cheerful lotuslike countenance. (14) Clad in silk garments as yellow as the filaments of a lotus, He has the mark of S'rîvatsa [a few white hairs] on His chest and wears the brilliant Kaustubha jewel around His neck. (15-16) There is a garland of forest flowers humming with intoxicated bees, a priceless necklace and also bracelets, a crown, armlets, anklets and a girdle of the finest quality around His waist. He who has His seat in the lotus of the heart is most charming to behold, a feast to the eyes with a serenity which gladdens the mind and the heart. (17) He is always very beautiful to see, worshipable for all people of all places, as youthful as a boy and eager to bestow His blessings upon those who serve Him. (18) His fame adding to the repute of the devotees is worth singing. One should meditate on the godhead and all His limbs until one's mind stops wandering. (19) One should visualize the beneficial acts of the beautiful pastimes of Him standing, moving, sitting and lying down or dwelling in the heart. (20) The one contemplating should, when he with his mind fixed on the one form distinguishes all His limbs, in his concentration attend to each and every part of the Lord separately [see also S.B. 2.2: 13]. (21) One should meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord that are adorned with the marks of the thunderbolt, the goad, the banner and the lotus, as also on the prominence of the brilliant red nails with the splendor of the crescent moon which dispel the thick darkness of the heart. (22) One should meditate on the Lord's lotus feet for a long time for the holy water of the Ganges that washed down from His feet blessed Lord S'iva who bore it on his head. They became a thunderbolt that was hurled at the mountain of sin present in the mind of the meditator.

(23) In relation to His knees one should meditate on the Goddess of Fortune, Lakshmî, the lotus-eyed mother of the entire universe that was created by Brahmâ. She who with her caring fingers massages the lower legs of the Almighty Lord transcendental to material existence, is worshiped by all the God-conscious ones. (24) One has to meditate on His two beautiful legs standing on the shoulders of Garuda which, extending down with the luster of the [whitish blue] linseed flower, are the storehouse of all energy. One should also meditate on His round hips in the exquisite yellow cloth that are encircled by the girdle. (25) Next one meditates on the expanse of His navel, which is the foundation of all the worlds situated in His abdomen. From that navel the lotus, the residence of the self-born one [Lord Brahmâ], sprang up containing all the planetary systems. One should meditate on the two most delicate nipples of the Lord that are like emeralds in the whitish light of the pearls from His necklace. (26) The chest of the Lord of Wisdom which is the abode of Mahâ-Lakshmî, bestows on the minds and eyes of persons all the transcendental pleasure. One should also direct one's mind to meditate on the neck of the One who is adored throughout the universe which enhances the beauty of the Kaustubha jewel. (27) On His arms, from which the controllers of the universe originated and of which the ornaments were polished by the revolving of Mount Mandara, one should also meditate, as also on the dazzling luster of the Sudarshana discus [with its thousand spokes] and the swanlike conch in the lotus hand of the Lord. (28) One should remember the Supreme Lord's mace that is named Kaumodakî and is very dear to Him, smeared as it is with the bloodstains of the soldiers of the enemy. And also attention should be paid to the garland humming with the sound of the bumblebees around it and the necklace of pearls about His neck which represents the principle of the pure living entity [see B.G. 7: 7]. (29) One should meditate on the lotuslike countenance of the Supreme Lord who assumed His different forms in this world out of compassion for the devotees and on His glittering alligator-shaped earrings that oscillating crystal clear illumine His prominent nose and His cheeks. (30) Then one should attentively meditate in one's mind's eye the elegance of His face adorned with an abundance of curly hair and His lotus eyes and dancing eyebrows that would put to shame a lotus surrounded by bees and a pair of swimming fish. (31) He who has a heart full of devotion for long should meditate upon the frequent, compassionate glances of His eyes, for these glances that are accompanied by the abundance of His graceful, loving smiles, soothe the three fearful agonies [as caused by oneself, by others and by material nature]. (32) The most benevolent smile of the Lord that dries up the ocean of tears of all persons who in their grief bowed before Him must be meditated as also His arched eyebrows that by His internal, creative potency were manifested to bewilder the god of sexuality for the sake of all sages. (33) Easy to meditate is the generous laughter of His lips that reveals the splendor of His small teeth that are like a row of jasmine buds. With devotion steeped in love for Him fixing one's mind and not wishing to see anyone else, one should meditate upon Him, Lord Vishnu who resides in the core of one's heart.

(34) Because of the pure love one thus through devotion has developed towards Hari, the Supreme Lord, one's heart melts and therefrom one constantly experiences that one's hairs stand on end out of extreme joy and that there is a flow of tears out of intense love. In that state the mind like [a fish] on a hook gradually gives up. (35) The moment the mind is in the liberated position, it immediately turns indifferent and dies away with one's detachment from the sense objects. The person of such a mind at that time like a flame is no longer separated [from the 'big fire' of the Supersoul] and experiences oneness being freed from the flow of the operating modes of nature. (36) When he is situated in his ultimate glory because of the cessation of the mind that responds to material impulses, he on top of that in his position of transcendence above happiness and distress, sees that indeed the cause of pleasure and pain is found in the ignorance of falsely identifying oneself in ego. In that ego he attributed to himself [viz. the control, that] what now is realized by the form and measure of time [the kâshthhâ] of the Supersoul [the localized aspect of the Lord]. (37) As for the body the perfected soul has, because he achieved his predestined real identity [svarûpa], no notion of not continuing physically, or that he would remain or again take birth. Just as it is with someone who blinded by intoxication fails to realize whether he has any clothes on or not. (38) Thus one is faced with the activities one undertook with one's body that by divine ordinance will continue for as long as it takes. One is then because of one's yoga situated in self-absorption, the state of consciousness in which he who awakened to his constitutional position, no longer accepts as his own the body with its sensuality and 'by-products' that was born as in a dream. (39) The way a mortal man is understood as being different from his son and wealth, irrespective his natural inclination for them, the person in his original nature the same way differs from his body, senses, mind and such, [irrespective his identification with them]. (40) Even though a fire through its flames, sparks and smoke is intimately connected with itself, it differs from itself in the way it blazes. (41) The elements, the senses, the mind and the primary nature [see 3.26: 10] of the individual soul even so differ from the seer, who is the Supreme Lord we know as the spiritual complete [Brahman]. (42) The way one with an equal mind sees all creatures as being part of the same natural order one should also see the soul as being present in all manifestations and all manifestations in the soul. (43) The way the oneness of fire manifests itself in different types of wood, so too the one spiritual soul in its position in material nature knows different births under different natural conditions. (44) When one thus has conquered the difficult to comprehend operation of the cause and effect of one's own, God-given material energy, one is situated in the position of self-realization [in one's svarûpa].'