simple

Another feature of the devotee is nirihaya, simple living. Niriha means gentle, meek or simple. A devotee should not live very gorgeously and imitate a materialistic person. Plain living and high thinking are recommended for a devotee. He should accept only so much as he needs to keep the material body fit for the execution of devotional service. He should not eat or sleep more than is required. Simply eating for living, and not living for eating, and sleeping only six to seven hours a day are principles to be followed by devotees. As long as the body is there it is subjected to the influence of climatic changes, disease and natural disturbances, the threefold miseries of material existence. We cannot avoid them. Sometimes we receive letters from neophyte devotees questioning why they have fallen sick, although pursuing Krsna consciousness. They should learn from this verse that they have to become tolerant (dvandva-titiksaya). This is the world of duality. Because he has fallen sick, one should not think that he has fallen from Krsna consciousness. One should not think that Krsna consciousness can continue without impediment from any material opposition. Lord Sri Krsna therefore advises in Bhagavad-gita, tams titiksasva bharata: "My dear Arjuna, please try to tolerate all these disturbances. Be fixed in your Krsna conscious activities." (Bg. 2.14)    (More...)