The Fate of The Yogi Who Leaves the Path of Yoga...

It is not that Bhagavad-gita rejects the meditational yoga process; it recognizes it as a bona fide method, but it further indicates that it is not possible in this age. Thus the subject in the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita is quickly dropped by Sri Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna next asks,

"What is the destination of the man of faith who does not persevere, who in the beginning takes to the process of self-realization but who later desists due to worldly-mindedness and thus does not attain perfection in mysticism?" (Bg. 6.37)

In other words, he is asking what becomes of the unsuccessful yogi, or the person who attempts to perform yoga but somehow desists and does not succeed. It is something like a student who does not get his degree because he drops out of school.

Elsewhere in the Gita, Sri Krishna points out to Arjuna that out of many men, few strive for perfection, and out of those who strive for perfection, only a few succeed. So Arjuna is inquiring after the vast number of failures. Even if a man has faith and strives for perfection in the yoga system, Arjuna points out that he may not attain this perfection due to "worldly-mindedness."

"O mighty-armed Krishna," Arjuna continues, "does not such a man, being deviated from the path of Transcendence, perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere?" (Bg. 6.38)

When a cloud is torn apart by the wind, it does not mend back together again.

"This is my doubt, O Krishna, and I ask You to dispel it completely. But for Yourself, no one is to be found who can destroy this doubt." (Bg. 6.39)

Arjuna is asking this question about the fate of the unsuccessful yogi so that in the future people would not be discouraged. By a yogi, Arjuna is referring to the hatha-yogi, jnana-yogi and bhakti-yogi; it is not that meditation is the only form of yoga. The meditator, the philosopher and the devotee are all to be considered yogis. Arjuna is questioning for all those who are attempting to become successful transcendentalists. And how does Sri Krishna answer him?