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A Unique Chance to Attain the Perfection of Yoga...
Regarding the birth of someone, who swerved from the path of yoga, Krishna further indicates that of all good families to be born into - families of successful merchants, philosophers or meditators - the best is the family of yogis...
One who takes birth in a very rich family may be misled. It is normal for a man who is given great riches to try to enjoy those riches; thus rich men's sons often become drunkards or prostitute hunters. Similarly, one who takes birth in a pious family or in a brahminical family often becomes very puffed up and proud, thinking, "I am a brahmana; I am a pious man." There is chance of degradation in both rich and pious families, but one who takes birth in a family of yogis or of devotees has a much better chance of cultivating again that spiritual life from which he has fallen. Krishna tells Arjuna,
tatra tam buddhi-samyogam
labhate paurva-dehikam
yatate ca tato bhuyah
samsiddhau kuru-nandana
"On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru." (Bg. 6.43)
Being born in a family of those who execute yoga or devotional service, one remembers his spiritual activities executed in his previous life. Anyone who takes to Krishna consciousness seriously is not an ordinary person; he must have taken to the same process in his previous life. Why is this?
purvabhyasena tenaiva
hriyate hy avaso 'pi sah
"By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles - even without seeking them." (Bg. 6.44)
In the material world, we have experience that we do not carry our assets from one life to another. I may have millions of dollars in the bank, but as soon as my body is finished, my bank balance is also. At death, the bank balance does not go with me; it remains in the bank to be enjoyed by somebody else. This is not the case with spiritual culture.
Even if one enacts a very small amount on the spiritual platform, he takes that with him to his next life, and he picks up again from that point.
When one picks up this knowledge that was interrupted, he should know that he should now finish the balance and complete the yogic process. One should not take the chance of finishing up the process in another birth but should resolve to finish it in this life. We should be determined in this way:
"Somehow or other in my last life, I did not finish my spiritual cultivation. Now Krishna has given me another opportunity, so let me finish it up in this life."
Thus after leaving this body one will not again take birth in this material world, where birth, old age, disease and death are omnipresent, but will return to Krishna. One who takes shelter under the lotus feet of Krishna sees this material world simply as a place of danger. For one who takes to spiritual culture, this material world is actually unfit. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati used to say, "This place is not fit for a gentleman."
Once one has approached Krishna and has attempted to make spiritual progress, Krishna, who is situated within the heart, begins to give directions. In the Gita, Sri Krishna says that for one who wants to remember Him, He gives remembrance, and for one who wants to forget Him, He allows him to forget.
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