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Chapter 6: Sankhya-yoga

Bg 6.44
TEXT 44
purvabhyasena tenaiva
hriyate hy avaso 'pi sah
jijnasur api yogasya
sabda-brahmativartate
SYNONYMS
purva—previous; abhyasena—practice; tena—by the influence of that; eva—certainly; hriyate—is attracted; hi—surely; avasah—helpless; api—also; sah—he; jijnasuh—willing to know; api—so; yogasya—of yoga; sabda-brahma—ritualistic principles of scripture; ativartate—transcends.
TRANSLATION
By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles—even without seeking them. Such an inquisitive transcendentalist, striving for yoga, stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures.
PURPORT
Advanced yogis are not very much attracted to the rituals of the scriptures, but they automatically become attracted to the yoga principles, which can elevate them to complete Krsna consciousness, the highest yoga perfection. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.33.8), such disregard of Vedic rituals by the advanced transcendentalists is explained as follows:
aho bata svapaco 'to gariyan
yajjihvagre vartate nama tubhyam
tepus tapas te juhuvuh sasnur arya
brahmanucur nama grnanti ye te.
"O my Lord! Persons who chant the holy names of Your Lordship are far, far advanced in spiritual life, even if born in families of dog-eaters. Such chanters have undoubtedly performed all kinds of austerities and sacrifices, bathed in all sacred places, and finished all scriptural studies."
The famous example of this was presented by Lord Caitanya, who accepted Thakur Haridasa as one of His most important disciples. Although Thakur Haridasa happened to take his birth in a Moslem family, he was elevated to the post of namacarya by Lord Caitanya due to his rigidly attended principle of chanting three hundred thousand holy names of the Lord daily: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. And because he chanted the holy name of the Lord constantly, it is understood that in his previous life he must have passed through all the ritualistic methods of the Vedas, known as sabda-brahman. Unless, therefore, one is purified, one cannot take to the principle of Krsna consciousness nor become engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord, Hare Krsna.

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Copyright (c) 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada