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Our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthah

Expressions researched:
"our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthah"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthaḥ.
Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

Now here, the yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. In India there are many families still. At least in my family, when I was family man, I was also doing this, that the Deity, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the mūrti... Mūrti means Deity or the idol of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, established in a room. That is called the God's room. The God's room. So our duty is to rise early in the morning and open the door of the God's room, offer Him some prayers and some kīrtana, and then cleanse the room and then begin our daily duty, take our breakfast and... The whole idea is that "The proprietor of this house is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers." The whole idea is "The proprietor is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers." Now, I am going to my office, to my work, to earn some money, because without money my household affairs cannot be run. So I am thinking that "This money is required; otherwise God's service will be stopped." So in earning that money in my office or in my workshop, my God consciousness is there. Therefore, even in earning, whatever may be the process, you are yoga-sthaḥ; you are situated in yoga. Now, you get your money. Then you go to the market. You are thinking, "Oh, this is a very nice thing. Oh, it can be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. It can be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa." Just like sometimes you bring some fruits for me, thinking, out of your love, "Oh, Swamiji will take this and he will like it." So the consciousness is love. Out of love, you think of Swamiji. Similarly, Swamiji is thought because he is in relation with God. So similarly, we can think of also God. God or anything, relation with God, that is God consciousness. Just like electric charge. Anything connected with the powerhouse and anything later on connected with that powerhouse link—everything is surcharged with electricity.

So our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthaḥ. You haven't got to separately being seated in meditation as yoga, generally as we understand. Now, how much you can devote your time to meditation? Suppose one hour in the morning or one hour in the evening you can devote. But if you mold your life in such a way that always, twenty-four hours, you are in meditation, that is the platform of yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. I am earning for the Supreme Lord. Then, when I earn, I bring things for cooking, I am thinking, "Oh, this thing will be cooked for Lord." Now, your wife cooks, and she is also very clean because it is being cooked for Lord Kṛṣṇa. You see? Now, as far as I am concerned here, I also cook myself my food and offer to Kṛṣṇa, and therefore I ask my friends that unless it is offered to Kṛṣṇa, you please do not take it. You see? Sometimes I see that in your country, while cooking, they taste. They taste. But I request them that don't taste before the cooking is finished. After cooking is finished and when it is offered to the Deity, then you take as much as you like, as much as you like. So that means there is God consciousness, that "This thing is being cooked for the Lord." The cooking will go on. If you don't think of God, you require cooking because you want to eat. The cooking is there in the program. But if you think that this cooking is done for God, then your God consciousness is there. The cooking you cannot avoid. As a householder you have to cook for yourself, you have to cook for your children, you have to cook for somebody else or for your own self. Just like I am cooking. I have no here family or children, but I am cooking for myself. So cooking you cannot stop. But if you cook with the understanding that "This foodstuff is being cooked for the Lord. The Lord may be offered first; then we shall take," this is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. But is it very difficult thing? Anyone can accept this. Anyone can do it. It is not... Because your cooking business is not stopped. Simply the mode of thinking has to be changed. That's all. A small technique, that "I am earning for God. I am cooking for God. I am eating also for God. I am eating also for God." How is that eating you are...? "Now, because my body is dedicated to the service of the Lord, if I don't eat sufficiently to keep my body fit, then how can I work?" So your eating is also God consciousness. Your sleeping is also God consciousness. So that is the way. We have to mold our life's activities. Now, when I think that "I have to keep this body fit for working for God," so then that is not, I mean to... That is not bodily conception of life. Just like when you think that "My car has to be kept very nicely so that I can take nice work for it," then you are not identified with your car; you simply want to take some service of the car. Similarly, if you think that "This body is required for acting, for working on behalf of the Supreme Lord; therefore I must keep the body fit to work," so that is not your identification with the body. But if I use this body for sense gratification and therefore I make my body stout and strong to enjoy sense enjoyment, that is the cause of my bondage.

So it is a simple technique, and we have to understand it and we have to act it on the program as they have been made by experienced devotees, experienced devotees. Now, another thing. Take this... See the advantage of God consciousness. Now, if you have got determination that "I shall not take anything which is not offered to God," because your life is meant for God's service... You earn for God; you cook for God; you eat for God. Therefore the whole life is like that. Now, if you are cooking for God, if you are purchasing stores for God, then you have to know what sort of things can be offered to God because... Always remember that you are going to the store not for your own purpose. You will find in later chapters that pacanti te aghaṁ pāpāḥ... Er, no. The idea is that anyone who is doing everything for the sake of the Lord, he is freed from the reaction, but anyone who is doing anything on his own account, he is being entangled in that action and reaction. So that is the technique of becoming yoga-sthaḥ. Yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi.

Page Title:Our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthah
Compiler:Labangalatika
Created:09 of May, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1