BHAGAVAD-GITA 6:17

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 6:17

 

yuktahara-viharasya

yukta-cestasya karmasu

yukta-svapnavabodhasya

yogo bhavati duhkha-ha

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

yukta--regulated; ahara--eating; viharasya--recreation;

yukta--regulated; cestasya--of one who works for maintenance;

karmasu--in discharging duties; yukta--regulated;

svapna-avabodhasya--sleep and wakefulness; yogah--practice of yoga;

bhavati--becomes; duhkha-ha--diminishing pains.

 

TRANSLATION

 

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and

work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

 

PURPORT

 

Extravagance in the matter of eating, sleeping, defending and

mating--which are demands of the body--can block advancement in the

practice of yoga. As far as eating is concerned, it can be regulated

only when one is practiced to take and accept prasadam, sanctified

food. Lord Krsna is offered, according to the Bhagavad-gita (9.26),

vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains, milk, etc. In this way, a person

in Krsna consciousness becomes automatically trained not to accept

food not meant for human consumption, or not in the category of

goodness. As far as sleeping is concerned, a Krsna conscious person is

always alert in the discharge of his duties in Krsna consciousness,

and therefore any unnecessary time spent sleeping is considered a

great loss. Avyartha-kalatvam: a Krsna conscious person cannot bear to

pass a minute of his life without being engaged in the service of the

Lord. Therefore, his sleeping is kept to a minimum. His ideal in this

respect is Srila Rupa Gosvami, who was always engaged in the service

of Krsna and who could not sleep more than two hours a day, and

sometimes not even that. Thakura Haridasa would not even accept

prasadam nor even sleep for a moment without finishing his daily

routine of chanting with his beads three hundred thousand names. As

far as work is concerned, a Krsna conscious person does not do

anything which is not connected with Krsna's interest, and thus his

work is always regulated and is untainted by sense gratification.

Since there is no question of sense gratification, there is no

material leisure for a person in Krsna consciousness. And because he

is regulated in all his work, speech, sleep, wakefulness and all other

bodily activities, there is no material misery for him.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.