“He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 6.17)

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युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्‍नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दु:खहा ॥

yuktāhāra-vihārasya
yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya
yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

1. Could not get my work done

“I ate very little yesterday. I needed a regulation day, as I call it. I was tired of my pants not fitting. The shirts were too tight. I looked in the mirror and saw someone resembling a bodybuilder, except I never go to the gym.

“The problem is that today I could not get my work done. It was more than a basic lack of energy. It felt like my stomach was ready to eat itself. I was starving. I don’t think a single meal will solve the issue.”

2. Too tired to drive

“I have to drive a long distance today, but I am too tired. I barely slept last night. I was so wired by the excitement of the upcoming adventure that I could not fall asleep. I figured that it would be no big deal, that I could easily overcome the fatigue today, but that is not the case.”

3. No motivation to do anything

“I have been sedentary for a while. I had a week of vacation time and I did absolutely nothing. I laid down on the couch, without a care in the world. The problem now is getting restarted. I have no motivation. It is like my body has grown accustomed to the resting state.”

4. Struggling with disease

“They say that what I am suffering from is due to high blood pressure. I have been indulging the highest quality food preparations. Instead of enjoying for a rare exception, it has turned into the regular fare. I should have implemented some controls. I would have been okay. It is not like I would have starved.”

5. Depression

“I have no work. I am no longer in school. I have nothing to do. Life is pointless. I am without direction. This is the worst I have ever felt. How do others not feel the same? Why are they not as depressed as I am?”

…

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gives the recommendation for control in eating. The point of reference, the fact-check, if you will, is a verse from Bhagavad-gita. The Sanskrit words are yuktahara and vihara.

This refers to regulation in eating and relaxation. Though the principle descends from a tradition of teachers beginning thousands of years in the past, we can reach the same general conclusion through proper consideration and deliberation.

Eating too much causes a host of problems. Instead of undergoing expensive surgery or taking experimental medication, prevent the issue in the first place. Do not eat too much. It is simply not necessary, but when there is overabundance, when it is so easy to reach for more, the proper controls are difficult to implement.

If we are too busy in our work, in the manner that we neglect proper rest and timely consumption, we will also have problems. We look in the mirror one day and our face shows visible signs of exhaustion. We don’t understand what is wrong, but we have forgotten that our sleep has been diminished for over a week.

We are starving ourselves because there is no time to sit down quietly and eat. There is no peace in life, based on the many impositions from job, family, and home. It seems like we are constantly toggling between acceptance and rejection, in the manner of a pendulum, corresponding to the endpoints described in Sanskrit as bhoga and tyaga.

The formal acceptance of the Krishna consciousness discipline is for settling such issues without extra effort. A person sleeps as much as is necessary. They want to stay awake while chanting the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

They want to be alert when they wake up the next morning for offering items to the deity, reciting prayers, and reading transcendental literature. They know that the best way to regulate consumption is to offer everything to the Supreme Lord first. They try to please Krishna in the way directly recommended, with some fruit or water, at a bare minimum.

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं
यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति
तद् अहं भक्त्य्-उपहृतम्
अश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.26)

When following this discipline, there is no question of scarcity. There is no fear that enough food won’t be available. There is sufficient time for rest, as even inaction becomes an integral aspect of building a connection in consciousness, yoga.

Whatever a person is able to manage, if they eat simply to keep fit, if they sleep so that there is sufficient energy throughout the day, if they relax so that they are not overburdened by responsibility, then there is every chance to make this single birth successful, for reaching the highest destination, the lotus feet of the source of everything.

In Closing:

Possible with regulation,
And fixed determination.

Towards the highest goal to meet,
Attachment to His lotus feet.

Sufficient energy supplying there,
That in chanting and hearing aware.

And enough work for life to maintain,
Surely the goal to attain.

Categories: the five

Tags: eating, god, hare krishna, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry, religion, sleeping, yoga