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Theories about the origin of life come and go like fashion trends. India’s Vedic tradition, however, has always remained consistent on this point; “life” is the natural condition of everything; there has always been and always will be life, manifesting in infinite varieties.

Life Comes From Life is a collection of conversations between Srila Prabhupada and his disciple Thoudam D. Singh, Ph.D., an organic chemist, in Los Angeles during the mid-1970’s.

Srila Prabhupada encouraged his students to use logic, reason, and scientific methods to discredit atheistic, materialistic propaganda, such as the notion that life comes from nothing. Why should we believe something can come from nothing, when all around us, every day, we see life coming from other life?

Although there are many types of yoga practice, the Vedic literature explains that no matter which practice you choose, success is only achieved when bhakti is present.
What is bhakti-yoga, and how can you add it to your life or your current yoga practice? As bhakti is a pivotal element in any yogic or religious practice, it is known as the topmost yoga. In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna explains bhakti-yoga to his dear friend Arjuna, and here Srila Prabhupada expands these concepts in this introductory text. On July 29, 1971, Srila Prabhupada spoke at the University of Florida in Gainesville on the meaning and goal of yoga. The lecture was transcribed, edited, and later published as Krishna Consciousness, the Topmost Yoga System.

The Sanskrit word yoga, he told the students, originally meant much more than physical exercise; it referred to a lifestyle focused on achieving direct experience of God. Practitioners would live far away from mainstream society, restrain their senses, and perform austere meditation with the aim of transcending the physical body entirely.

Such a lifestyle isn’t so practical now; very few people these days are prepared to live a secluded, austere, or sense-controlled life. But anyone can still attain yoga’s ultimate goal via the practical, effective method of Krishna consciousness, bhakti-yoga, the system of devotional service to the Supreme Person.

In bhakti, the mind and senses are fully engaged in spiritual activity, rather than controlled by rigorous gymnastics. Every aspect of our lives—working, playing, walking, talking, thinking, feeling, willing—can be yoga, when done in the right consciousness. Sweat, spandex, and expensive mats are optional.