When these yoga exercises are practiced properly, they have the effect of increasing the duration of existence and granting mastery over one's own death. Thus, a perfect yogi can master his death and leave his body at the appropriate time, when he is able to ascend to the planet of his choice. However, devotional service offered to God is superior to any other yogi or practice, for by the power of his devotional service, he is promoted to the world beyond the material universe and transported to one of the planets of the spiritual world, by the supreme will of the Lord, who directs all things.
Virtue engenders the mind, which then manifests, and with it the ten celestial beings who all act under the authority of Krishna and direct the functions of the body: the lord of the directions, the lord of the air, the sun god, the father of Daksa Prajapati, the Asvinikumaras, the celestial being master of fire, the king of the celestial spheres, the sovereign deity of the heavenly spheres, the first of the Adityas, and Brahma, the demiurge and first of the ancestors.
The development of passion gives rise to the sense organs such as the nose, eyes, ears, tongue, skin, mouth, hands, legs, genitals, and anus, and with them, intelligence and vital energy.
The condition of a being within matter depends more or less on its intelligence and the strength of its vital energy. Thus, intelligence is assisted by the organs of perception in the struggle for existence, and the organs of action, such as the hands and legs, serve to maintain the energy necessary for life. From a global perspective, however, this struggle is a matter of passion. And this is why the sense organs, headed by intelligence and vital energy, represent various primary and secondary manifestations of passion, which is the second attribute and mode of influence of material nature. The latter stems from the element of air.
The Formation of the Body and Its Purpose.
Indeed, the body cannot be formed until the elements, the senses, the mind, and the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature: virtue, passion, and ignorance, are assembled.
The different kinds of bodies attributed to living beings—human, animal, and plant—are exactly like different models of cars made by assembling multiple parts together. When the assembly is complete, the driver takes his place at the wheel and drives the car wherever he wishes.
Each being is, as it were, within a machine, the machine called the material body, and the activities of this vehicle are directed by material nature, much as the driver of a locomotive would.