(From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji)

Compiled by Swami Datta Pada Renu

The Lord says that the Yogi who has slipped from Yoga is never lost. Prompted by the Yogic discipline of his previous life, he takes birth in a pure and prosperous home. Such a home is best suited for a Yogi for doing his spiritual practises. A prosperous house is rich in resources and therefore the spiritual seeker need not spend his time in activities connected with earning his livelihood. He can devote himself solely to spiritual practises. And apart from being wealthy the house where he is born is also pure. It is a house where piety, moral values and religion dominate. Such a house is very congenial to do one's Sadhana.

"Or, he is born in a family of wise Yogis. This sort of birth, however, is very rare to obtain in this world." (42-VI)

Among the fallen Yogis there may be a few advanced Yogis who have earned lot of merit by their Sadhana. If such a Yogi dies he is reborn in the family of wise Yogis only. This birth is superior to the birth in pure and prosperous houses. The atmosphere in the houses of wise Yogis is surcharged with divinity as they are all self-realised souls or souls nearing realisation. Those who are born in such houses find their parents doing daily meditation and regularly holding discourses on Brahman, the supreme Godhead. They automatically follow their parents' example. Their mind gets easily concentrated on God and thus they attain the highest spiritual eminence.

"There he acquires memory of his previous body and strives, more than before, for perfection, O! Son of the Kurus." (43-VI)

"By the force of practice in the previous birth alone, he is drawn to Yoga, in spite of himself. Even the enquirer after Yoga rises superior to the performer of Vedic rites." (44-VI)

The Yogi who is reborn in the family of wise Yogis will regain the spiritual discernment of his previous birth and he easily gets united with the wisdom acquired in his former body. And then, he continues his efforts in Yoga with greater force and stronger will power.

That means, the actions that a man does follow him like his shadow from birth to birth. They are not lost in death. The soul continues to live from one body to another till liberation is achieved. When the soul takes a new body, the previous life's mental make-up also accompanies it. And by the force of a man's mental culture and its tendencies, though he may be unconscious of them, he is drawn to Yoga, the course which he marked out for himself in his last incarnation. Or in other words, propelled by his previous life's tendencies he is forced into the practice of Yoga. He then starts his practises exactly from the point where it came to an end in his last incarnation.

This theory of rebirth is the only answer for the disparity that we find in the mental make-up of different individuals. The noble and selfless actions done in the past life create a natural propensity for good conditions in this life. In the same way, the evil actions done in the past create evil tendencies in one's mind, which lead him to a life of wickedness and miseries. Thus if a man is born in bad conditions, there is no point in blaming others or the surroundings or God. He is the maker of his own destiny. He reaps what he sows.

In the second line of the verse, the greatness of Yoga is declared. The Lord says that a person who makes sincere efforts to master the Yoga discipline and realise the Highest Truth is undoubtedly far superior to those who perform ritualistic works in order to enjoy the results.