SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 6 Text 11-12
sucau dese pratisthapya
sthiram asanam atmanah
naty-ucchritam nati-nicam
cailajina-kusottara m

tatraikagram manah krtva
yata-cittendriya- kriyah
upavisyasane yunjyad
yogam atma-visuddhaye

sucau--in a sanctified; dese--land; pratisthapya- -placing; sthiram--firm; asanam--seat; atmanah--his own; na--not; ati--too; ucchritam--high; na--nor; ati--too; nicam--low; caila-ajina- -of soft cloth and deerskin; kusa--and kusa grass; uttaram--covering; tatra--thereupon; eka-agram--with one attention; manah--mind; krtva--making; yata-citta-- controlling the mind; indriya--senses; kriyah--and activities; upavisya--sitting; asane--on the seat; yunjyat--should execute; yogam--yoga practice; atma--the 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 be neither too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and practice yoga to purify the heart by controlling his mind, senses and activities and fixing the mind on one point.

JOURNAL:

I live at the foot of a small extinct volcano. As a city park it is quite large and has always been a favorite place of mine to go. When I was first tried chanting the Maha-Mantra as a teenager this was where I went. I remember once, when I was young, going to the park and trying to meditate in the way the Gita mentions in these last few slokas.

I did not have a deerskin or kusa grass, which I understand are used in India to keep away the snakes, but I did spread my coat on the ground for my "soft cloth". I then sat with my legs crossed in the only yoga position I knew at the time, stared at the tip of my nose and tried to concentrate on my breathing. After a few minutes of this I gave up.

In his purport to this sloka Srila Prabhupada writes; One who is not self-controlled and whose mind is not undisturbed cannot practice meditation. I certainly found this to be true. He is also kind enough to give us the alternative when he writes; Therefore, in the Brhan-naradiya Purana it is said that in 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
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha

"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way."