Enticement as Test of Ones Progress in Yoga...

It should always be understood that we are weak and that the material energy is very strong. To adopt spiritual life is more or less to declare war against the material energy.

The material energy is trying to entrap the conditioned soul as much as possible, and when the conditioned soul tries to get out of her clutches by spiritual advancement of knowledge, material nature becomes more stringent and vigorous in her efforts to test how much the aspiring spiritualist is sincere. The material energy, or maya, will then offer more allurements.

In this regard, there is the story of Visvamitra Muni, a great king, a ksatriya, who renounced his kingdom and took to the yoga process in order to become more spiritually advanced.

At that time the meditational yoga process was possible to execute. Visvamitra Muni meditated so intently that Indra, the King of heaven, noticed him and thought, "This man is trying to occupy my post."

The heavenly planets are also material, and there is competition - no businessman wants another businessman to exceed him. fearing that Visvamitra Muni would actually depose him, Indra sent one heavenly society girl, named Menaka, to allure him sexually.

Menaka was naturally very beautiful, and she was intent on disrupting the muni's meditations. Indeed, he became aware of her feminine presence upon hearing the sound of her bangles, and he immediately looked up from his meditation, saw her, and became captivated by her beauty.

As a result, the beautiful girl Sakuntala was born by their conjugation. When Sakuntala was born, Visvamitra lamented: "Oh, I was just trying to cultivate spiritual knowledge, and again I have been entrapped." He was about to flee when Menaka brought his beautiful daughter before him and chastised him. Despite her pleading, Visvamitra resolved to leave anyway.

Thus there is every chance of failure on the yogic path; even a great sage like Visvamitra Muni can fall down due to material allurement. Although the muni fell for the time being, he again resolved to go on with the yoga process, and this should be our resolve.

Krishna informs us that such failures should not be cause for despair. There is the famous proverb that "failure is the pillar of success." In the spiritual life especially, failure is not discouraging. Krishna very clearly states that even if there is failure, there is no loss either in this world or in the next. One who takes to this auspicious line of spiritual culture is never completely vanquished.