Chapter 6, Verse 41
prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān
uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
śucināṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe
yoga-bhraṣṭo ‘bhijāyate
Having attained the realms of the righteous and dwelt there for many long years, one who has fallen from yoga is born again in the house of the pure and prosperous.
The devotees, the bhaktas who received the Grace to follow the path of devotion, meditation, and Atma Kriya Yoga, but whose minds are still restless, go away. What will happen to them? Here again Lord Krishna says that if people have received the Grace and have let go of that Grace, if they have let go of their spiritual path for any reason and have fallen, they will incarnate many times into this plane so that they can cleanse themselves. Many people who start on the spiritual path are still so attached to the outside world, that they find it difficult to follow a Guru. At the beginning they say, “Yes, yes, yes!” Later, they run away, quietly, they leave and then it’s finished! Or even more terrible than that – they go and say many bad things about the Guru. Krishna says, “It doesn’t matter.”
“… attained to the realms of the righteous and dwelt there for many years...” Krishna says that the one who has advanced towards God Consciousness, who has prayed to the Lord, who has loved the Lord, yet has not achieved the oneness, has not seen the oneness with Him, has not realised the Absolute Self within his own Self, he will enjoy in another higher state. He will dwell in other lokas and enjoy many long years there.
Let’s say a bhakta came here on Earth in this life and tried his best to sing the glory of the Lord, but his voice was not nice! So he is born in another higher rhythm and there Goddess Saraswati will teach him how to train his voice, and then he is reborn with a special gift which will enable him to sing beautifully. Why do you see people born with certain gifts in life? Because of their past life. They are sent back again, not to entertain human ears, but to praise the Lord, to sing the glory of the Lord. And in this life, if they do not do this, they will be born again and in their next life, they will have the Grace to praise the Lord, to achieve Him. Here I have taken one example, but there are so many examples of realised souls.
Krishna says that the surroundings, the environment are very important! The surroundings create an effect on people. Even if one has Grace, it can stay dormant inside one’s heart. Deep inside one has the feeling, “I am incomplete.” However, due to the environment, due to the surroundings, due to the mind’s activities, they only get drawn to the outside reality. They get tempted and controlled by the outside reality, and then they don’t have the Grace to find their path in this lifetime. However, through the Grace that they received, through the punya that they accumulated, they are born again on this Earth in spiritual families which will contribute to their spiritual growth. They are “born again in the house of the pure and prosperous.” Nothing will be lacking for them. So from this it shows that even if they had fallen from yoga, they don’t go to Hell, nor do they take birth in a lower species, because they tried their best. This means that the ones who try their best, never lose. They enjoy celestial regions for long years and are born again on Earth to continue their spiritual advancement.
Bhagavad Gita
