Prahlada Maharaja was a famous bhakti-yogi. Thinking that others who do have something are so much better off, the person lacking self-control feels intense hostility over something that isn’t very important in the grand scheme. Intense envy of the wealthy is due precisely to a lack of self-control. That moment that we have to do without, we will feel hostility towards those who do have. This means that we can’t always get what we want, even if someone else is providing things to us on a constant basis. If you are raising a child and you always give them what they want, how will they learn to deal with adversity? None of us is God.

If you go the other route, you have no choice but to have animosity. And from that self-control, one is able to steer clear of animosity. Just as in meditational yoga, in bhakti self-control is very important. Tulsidas says that by following this formula all auspiciousness and every perfection will arrive in the palm of your hand.” (Dohavali, 5) “Subsisting on fruits and milk, chant Shri Rama’s holy name for six months. Since bhakti-yoga is the highest form of yoga, the same benefits of meditational yoga arrive very easily. In bhakti-yoga, the reward is something that is beyond duality. The final transformation occurs at death, where the old body is replaced for a new one. Duality is the nature of the temporary world, where spirit souls who are eternal in their constitution remain in bodies that constantly change. The enhanced ability brings added pressures as well. “Hey, can you go here? Hey, can you go there for me? It shouldn’t be a problem since you can fly to wherever you want.” Then soon after people would expect things from you. If today you were given the ability to fly to wherever you wanted, what would it mean to you? Surely it would be pretty neat to just go wherever you want. Bhakti-yoga is more important because it provides a reward of far greater significance than the ability to fly or the ability to read minds. To the person who is truly knowledgeable, the siddhis of yoga aren’t very important. Therefore a yogi can extend their duration of life. The life breath, prana, is controlled in one of the methods of yoga. If you control your senses, you are in good health. Since the siddhis can only arrive after strict control of the senses, naturally there are many extra benefits that come along.

The perfections of yoga show exactly what the real limits are. We’ve often heard people describe an amazing accomplishment in their life by saying, “I don’t know how I was able to do that.” For whatever reason, they were able to stretch their abilities past whatever limits they thought existed. Sort of like the mother who miraculously lifts a car when her child is in danger, the living entity is capable of amazing things.

These successes hinge upon control of the senses. You can course through air, feeling freer than a bird. You can travel anywhere using just your soul. You can become very heavy in a matter of seconds. In Sanskrit the rewards of yoga are called siddhis, which means “perfections.” You can do amazing things as a yoga-siddha.

Real meditational yoga practice brings about tremendous abilities. The majority of the people of this world have done nothing to us, so why should our decision be cast in either direction, considering them friend or foe? With real yoga practice, animosity is eliminated, something that is beneficial. Certainly it is not beneficial to feel animosity towards man as a whole. Is it better to live with animosity or without? If the strong hostility is directed towards someone who is deserving of punishment, then perhaps the emotion is warranted. In the conditional state, every living being is envious of another living being, but in the liberated state there is an absence of animosity.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.14.46 Purport)ĭownload this episode (right click and save) Without self-control one cannot practice freedom from animosity. “Yoga practice, the process of purifying one’s existential identity, is based mainly on self-control.

Secret animosity means