THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER NUMBER 06, DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION, VERSE NUMBER 16

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER NUMBER 06

DHYANA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF MEDITATION:

VERSE NUMBER 16

Text in Transliteration:

naa ‘tyasnatas tu yogo ‘sti na chai ‘kaantam anasnatah

na chaa ‘tisvapnaseelasya jaagrato nai ‘va chaa ‘rjuna

Text in English:

Yoga is not possible for him who eats too much or for him who abstains too much from eating; it is not for him, O Arjuna, who sleeps too much or too little.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

The wire of a vina (stringed instrument) snaps if tightened too much and become devoid of music if loosened too much. In the art of partaking of food, the yogi is to act like a properly tuned vina bringing out the best music. If he over-eats he becomes a dullard; if he under-eats he becomes weak. In regard to the quantity and sort of food one’s physique is not the standard for another’s. Each sadhaka (Practitioner) has to fix them for himself. Sleep brings rest and relaxation and tones the system; but over or under indulgence in it aggravates Tamas or inertia, which is a hindrance to the practice of meditation.

SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS QUOTED BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Eat sumptuously in the day time; but let your food at night be sparse and easily digestible.

A sadhaka or Practitioner ought to help himself to that food only which is not hearing to the body and exciting to the mind.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

We must be free from animal cravings. We must avoid excess in all things. Compare with this the middle path of the Buddhists, the golden mean of Aristotle.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

In this verse the Lord prescribes the diet for the students of Yoga. You must observe moderation in eating and sleeping. If you eat too much you will feel drowsy, and sleep will overpower you. You will get indigestion flatulence, diseases of the bowels and the liver. If you eat too little you will get weakness and you will not be able to sit for a long time in meditation. you should eat neither more nor less than what is actually necessary for maintaining the body in a healthy and strong state.

It may mean also that success in Yoga is not possible for him who eats more than the quantity prescribed in the text books on Yoga. They prescribe: “Half the stomach must be filled with food; a quarter with water and the remaining fourth must be empty for the free movement of air.” This is the Mitahara or moderate diet for a student of Yoga.

 If you sleep too much you will become lethargic. The mind will be dull and the body will be heavy. You cannot meditate. If you sleep too little you will experience drowsiness. You will sleep during meditation. Keep the golden medium. You will have rapid progress in Yoga.

Comments by the blogger:

Sri Krishna is a consummate dietician. Several thousand years ago He has laid down the normal sleep and diet for the Practitioner of Yoga. Gaudama, the Buddha before he became as such is said to have experimented with extreme dietetic measures; he is said to have gone without food for several days in the hope of blunting the onslaught of the five senses. When he had become too emaciated, he found that Yoga could not be practised on the empty stomach. Likewise, more than anything, a good and sound sleep for normal duration tones up our system, and thereby enables the practitioners able to meditate for long hours. At last, Buddha is said to have found out that the five senses should not be blunted in the bid to perform Yoga but they must be transcended. Swami Vivekananda says that even a famished man cannot eat his food like a dog eats its regular food with great gusto. It is in us. We have the biological clock. And likewise we have a self sustaining system. If we adhere to it we should be able to perform Yoga.