"The bogus yoga practice going on in your country is simply cheating people." Srila Prabhupada

The following is a short collection of instructions that Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, gave regarding the modern cheating system of gymnastics that goes by the ficticious name, "yoga". He never wanted his discipes to involve themselves in this, so why is it being promoted??

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"We do not recognize any method for spiritual realization other than Krishna consciousness, devotional service. Sometimes we are criticized by groups following jnana, yoga, tapas or dharma, but fortunately we are unable to make any compromises with them. We simply stand on the platform of devotional service and preach the same principles all over the world."

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“At the present moment, who will be successful in the rigid performance of the many yoga rules and regulations? Moreover, perfection is attained only by those who are surrendered souls. Where there is no mention of the Personality of Godhead, where is there surrender? And where there is no meditation upon the Personality of Godhead, where is the yoga practice? Unfortunately, people in this age, especially persons who are of a demoniac nature, want to be cheated. Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead sends great cheaters who mislead them in the name of yoga and render their lives useless and doomed.”

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“They have been cheated by some cheaters, that this practice, gymnastic practice, is yoga. That's all. They do not know what is yoga. Yoga indriya-samyama. Even... All yoga system, Pataïjali's system. So indriya... Where is indriya-samyama? They are gratifying their senses to the fullest extent. And where is their yoga? That is described... You do not read the Sixth Chapter, Bhagavad-gitä? Why don't you explain them, that "You are yogis... You are not yogis. You only making some farce. Where is your yoga? Are you going to a solitary place? Are you practicing alone, sitting on your seat like as they are described, and looking on the point of the nose? Are you doing this? You are not yogis. You are simply a caricature. You are not yogis." Don't accept them as yogis.”

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“Yoga is not so easy. Many so-called yoga teachers are simply exploiting people. I say frankly that they and their students are a society of the cheaters and the cheated.”

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“But even if yoga is done very nicely and perfectly, it cannot take you to the Supreme Lord. That is stated here in this verse. What to speak of pseudo yoga, even if you perform yoga perfectly, still you cannot reach God.”

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“Another step in the eightfold yoga system is dharana concentration of the mind. What is the purpose of concentrating the mind? To find my self within the body and then find the Lord there. That is the perfection of yoga. Not that I do nonsense day and night but then attend a yoga class, pay five dollars, and think, "Oh, I am a great yogi." That is all nonsense.”

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“Yoga does not mean going to some class, paying some money, engaging in gymnastics, and then returning home to drink, smoke, and engage in sex. Such yoga is practiced by societies of the cheaters and the cheated.”

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“The members of the Krishna consciousness movement are not at all interested in so-called meditation in the Himalayas or the forest, where one will only make a show of meditation, nor are they interested in opening many schools for yoga and meditation in the cities. Rather, every member of the Krishna consciousness movement is interested in going door to door to try to convince people about the teachings of Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the teachings of Lord Chaitanya. That is the purpose of the Hare Krishna movement.”

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So, although uneducated persons that have not grasped the actual purpose of yoga, sometimes promote Prabhupada Village as a, "Yoga Community", we are only interested in Krishna Bhakti. Because Bhakti Yoga is the only yoga that can deliver the desired result, love of God. Therefore the devotees at Prabhupada Village advise you to chant:

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Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

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Gymnastic exercise of your body, twisting and turning or standing on your head may provide a little health benefit, and impersonal meditation may calm the ever restless mind, but all of these ill-conceived attempts at self realization will never give anyone access to the prime necessity of life, love of God, in millions of years.