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TEXT 11-12 sucau dese pratisthapya
tatraikagram manah krtva
SYNONYMS  sucau--in
a sanctified; dese--in the land; pratisthapya--placing; sthiram--firm;
asanam--seat; atmanah--self-dependent; na--not; ati--too;
ucchritam--high; na--nor; ati--too; nicam--low;
caila-ajina--soft cloth and deerskin; kusottaram--kusa
grass; tatra--thereupon; eka-agram--one attention; manah--mind;
krtva--doing so; yata-citta--controlling the mind; indriya--senses;
kriyah--activities; upavisya--sitting on; asane--on
the seat; yunjyat--execute; yogam--yoga practice;
atma--heart; visuddhaye--for clarifying.
TRANSLATION To practice
yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusa-grass on the
ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should
neither be too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place.
The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and should practice yoga by
controlling the mind and the senses, purifying the heart and fixing the
mind on one point.
PURPORT "Sacred place"
refers to places of pilgrimage. In India the yogis, the transcendentalists
or the devotees all leave home and reside in sacred places such as Prayaga,
Mathura, Vrndavana, Hrsikesa and Hardwar and in solitude practice yoga
where the sacred rivers like the Yamuna and the Ganges flow. But often
this is not possible, especially for Westerners. The so-called yoga
societies in big cities may be successful in earning material benefit,
but they are not at all suitable for the actual practice of yoga.
One who is not self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot
practice meditation. Therefore, in the Brhan-naradiya Purana it
is said that in the Kali-yuga (the present yuga or age) when people
in general are short-lived, slow in spiritual realization and always disturbed
by various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting
the holy name of the Lord.
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
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