नात्यश्नस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नतः ।
न चाति स्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन ।। ६.१६ ।।

युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दुःखहा ।। ६.१७ ।।

nāty-aśnatas-tu yogo’sti na caikāntam-anaśnataḥ |
na cāti-svapna-śīlasya jāgrato naiva cārjuna || 6.16 ||

yuktāhāra-vihārasya yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu |
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā || 6.17 ||

Audio-BG-6.16

Audio-BG-6.17

The Role of Moderation in Meditational Sadhana 

In dealing with the second aspect of meditation, which is solely a mind-intelligence-based pursuit, Krishna again stresses the importance of moderation. Spiritual meditation will become meaningful and fruitful only when samatva is ingrained in the sadhaka.

The yoga will be of no avail to one who eats too much or too little, or who sleeps too much or too little. For one who is moderate in taking food and recreations, in activities and rest, the yoga becomes means for removing pain or misery.

The practice of yoga and meditation will not be possible and fruitful if the sadhaka indulges either in excessive eating or in undue starvation. Likewise, it will not be effective in the case of one given to excessive sleep or wakefulness. The yoga practitioner has to be moderate and balanced both in enjoyment and self-denial. Only then the yoga practice will become effective and it will alleviate grief.

Meditation is not to be considered as an exclusive practice independent of other activities of life. It must be viewed as an integral part of one’s life. No part of seeker’s life or activity should be isolated from the sublimity and refinement that meditation aims at. The non-meditational life should become a supplement and complement to meditation, and vice versa.

In as much as gluttony is bad, Krishna says that any gross deprivation of the need to appease hunger by under-eating in the name of spirituality, is also harmful and unproductive. In fact, it is due to thorough misunderstanding and misinterpretation of facts and truths that undue fasting or starvation is considered by some as an essential limb of sadhana. Instead of resorting to any such excesses or denials in the name of yoga, what the true seeker must care for is to bring about a comprehensive discipline and moderation in all his activities and interactions.

Yoga-pursuit and discipline should not be an impulsive or a half-hearted effort. In eating, talking, thinking, feeling, evaluating – in every act, internal or external – the discipline and refinement should be one of moderation and sublimity. Only then yoga-pursuit will have a wholesome and lasting effect.

As about eating, there is a great deal of confusion about sleeping also. Sleep is a regular need of the body. It is in restful sleep that the body builds up its cells and energy. Krishna says that one should become moderate in sleeping as well as waking. Depriving oneself of essential sleep in the name of yoga and austerity, is neither necessary nor desirable. There are some who, misunderstanding the whole purport of yoga and the means of approaching the mind and Self, take to extreme austerities like abandoning sleep, lying on bare ground under scorching sun, or bearing the icy cold weather without covering the body.

Krishna says that true austerity consists in taming all these extreme traits, and cultivating a refined, moderate personality. Given to the practice of moderation, the mind will beget a note of sublimity, which in a way is the sole aim of all spiritual pursuits.

Krishna’s words should be taken as a timely guidance and clarification. Yoga-pursuit commences with the adoption of moderation, refinement and sublimation, and it courses only through greater and greater degrees of these virtues. Moderation alone will make yoga practice comfortable, delightful and fulfilling. Then the yoga will be the means to remove pain – “yogo bhavati duhkhaha”.