Srimad Bhagavatam — Navama Skandha, Shloka 15
Mahārāja Sagara, Kapila Muni, and the Deliverance of the Sixty Thousand Sons
असमञ्जस आत्मानं दर्शयन्नसमञ्जसम् । जातिस्मर: पुरा सङ्गाद् योगी योगाद् विचालित: ॥ १५ ॥ आचरन् गर्हितं लोके ज्ञातीनां कर्म विप्रियम् । सरय्वां क्रीडतो बालान्प्रास्यदुद्वेजयञ्जनम् ॥ १६ ॥
asamañjasa ātmānaṁ darśayann asamañjasam jāti-smaraḥ purā saṅgād yogī yogād vicālitaḥ
In einem früheren Leben war Asamañjasa ein großer Yogī gewesen, doch durch schlechte Gesellschaft fiel er von seiner erhabenen Stellung. Nun, obwohl er in einer Königsfamilie geboren wurde und als jāti-smara sein früheres Leben erinnerte, wollte er sich als Übeltäter darstellen und tat Dinge, die in den Augen der Welt verwerflich und seinen Verwandten unerquicklich waren.
FAQs
This verse states that even a yogī can become deviated from yoga due to saṅga (association), showing how companionship strongly shapes one’s spiritual steadiness.
Śukadeva explains that Asamañjasa presented himself through confusing, socially condemned behavior, linked to his earlier deviation from yoga because of harmful association.
Choose uplifting company and environments; even sincere spiritual practice can weaken if one repeatedly keeps degrading influences.