Just see the yogī, yogic principle, for this age, how much it is difficult for us. If we want to perform real yoga system, then it is very difficult. Nobody . . . we are sitting here, so many ladies and gentlemen, is it possible for us to live alone in a secluded place in a mountain?
You have got in the, outside your New York City, there are so many mountains and jungles. Can you live there alone? Oh, no. At the present moment, the modern way of our civilization, mode of our life . . . just like I am a sannyāsī, I am renounced order of life, but still, I have come to a city, New York City, the largest city of the world. From Bombay city or Calcutta city I have come.
So life has become so changed that in this age actually what is called yogo, yoga, it is not possible. It is not . . . first condition is that ekākī yata-cittātmā: he should remain alone, he should perform yoga system alone, not in . . . with friends and many other yogīs. No. Yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ. And he should have no desire in his mind. And aparigraha: he does not want anything from anybody, anybody else. This is the first condition. Then next condition:
- śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
- sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
- nāty-ucchritaṁ nātinīcaṁ
- cailājina-kuśottaram
- (BG 6.11)
The yogī has to fix up his sitting place. What is that? Śucau deśe. He should select a place which is very, very pure. Now, that means a place like Haridwar. Our young friend, Mr. Howard, he had been to Haridwar. He has seen how nicely that place is. River Ganges is flowing, and very nice, calm, and quiet. You'll find three miles after, four miles after, one yogī is sitting nicely there and meditating. That is yoga system. You see? So śucau deśe, in a place where . . . the sanctified place.