eating and sleeping
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He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system. 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 (Bg. 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 which is 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. 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 Rūpa 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.
(More...) "He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system." To broadcast the cult of Krsna consciousness, one has to learn the possibility of renunciation in terms of country, time and candidate. A candidate for Krsna consciousness in the Western countries should be taught about the renunciation of material existence, but one would teach candidates from a country like India in a different way. The teacher (acarya) has to consider time, candidate and country. He must avoid the principle of niyamagraha-that is, he should not try to perform the impossible. What is possible in one country may not be possible in another. The acarya's duty is to accept the essence of devotional service. There may be a little change here and there as far as yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation) is concerned. Dry renunciation is forbidden by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and we have also learned this from our spiritual master, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja. The essence of devotional service must be taken into consideration, and not the outward paraphernalia.
(More...) Imported quote 16852 There are ten kinds of sanctifying process. Even when the father is going to give birth to the child, he has to undergo a ritualistic ceremony, which is called garbhadhana-samskara, seed-giving ceremony. That is the Vedic function, garbhadhana. But in the Kali-yuga all these samskaras are not followed strictly. Otherwise, according to sastra, if these garbhadhana-samskara is not done… Garbhadhana-samskara is especially recommended for the brahmanas, the ksatriyas and the vaisyas-especially the brahmanas. So now in this age no samskara is adopted; therefore he remains a sūdra, janmana jayate sūdraḥ, because the purificatory processes are not practised. Therefore, janmana jayate sūdraḥ. And in this age, Kali-yuga, the processes are not observed; therefore sastra says, kalau sūdra-sambhava. In this age, Kali-yuga, it is everyone is sūdra: kalau sūdra-sambhava. So this process of Krsna consciousness movement is making everyone a brahmana from the sūdra stage. This is a purificatory process. Just like you see these European and American boys, they are undergoing purificatory process. Purificatory process means to avoid sinful activities. That is purificatory. If you don't act sinfully, then you are pure. So the basic principles of sinful life are four: striya sūna pana dyūta yatra papas catur-vidha [Bhag. 1.17.38]. Catur-vidha means four kinds of sinful activities are… Striya means to have illicit sex life. According to Vedic principles, sex life cannot be performed without a married life that is sanctioned by religion. Therefore in human society there is system of marriage. Not that you keep a woman, you keep a man, like cats and dogs; no human society. May be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh-it doesn't matter-any civilized form of society has got this system of marriage, because without marriage sex life is irreligious. Therefore this is one of the sinful activities: to have illicit sex life. And sūna, sūna means killing of animals. Killing of animals… Even in Christian religion it is forbidden: "Thou shall not kill." Out of the Ten Commandments the first commandment is, "Thou shall not kill." In the Buddha religion there is also the same thing: ahimsa paramo dharmaḥ. So in other religions, Hindu religion, they are…, there are sometimes killing of animals in sacrifices. But that is not for eating purpose. The test of Vedic mantra was, I mean to say, verified how the mantras are being chanted. So sometimes the animals were put into the fire, and the animal would come out again with new life. That was the test of Vedic mantras. In this age, Kali-yuga, there is no such qualified brahmana to perform the sacrifices; therefore all kinds of animal sacrifices are forbidden. asvamedham gavalambham sannyasam pala-paitrkam devarena sutotpattim kalau panca vivarjayet [Brahma-vaivarta Purana] So sūna, sūna means unnecessary animal-killing. Unnecessary. Human society should be sober and continent. If I can…, I require to eat something, if I have got sufficient grains, fruits, milk, flour, vegetables, why should I kill unnecessarily a poor animal? So this is sinful. Striya sūna pana. Pana means intoxication. Therefore those… Of course, in this country, it is not very much so, but in India pan, betel, betel nut, and pan eating. The pana means drinking; pana means intoxication. So even drinking tea, chewing pan is also intoxication, what to speak of drinking wine and other things. Striya sūna pana dyūta. And dyūta means gambling. So if we want to be purified, then we must give up these four principles of sinful activities. So these boys are being trained up for their purification, and although from their birth they are habituated to all these habits, they have given up. They have no other bad habits. Nothing. They don't take even tea, and smoke. This is purificatory process. Janmana jayate sūdraḥ samskarad bhaved dvijaḥ. As mentioned before, there are four basic characteristics of an impure life-illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling. According to the Vedic principles, sex should not be indulged in outside of marriage. In human society there is therefore a system of marriage which distinguishes us from the cats and dogs. Whether we are Hindu, Moslem, or Christian, we acknowledge the system of marriage. The purpose of this system is to avoid illicit sex. According to the Vedic system, intoxication is also discouraged; nor is meat-eating advocated, for human beings should be nonviolent. We have been given sufficient grains, fruits, milk, and vegetables, and there is no necessity to kill poor animals. Some people argue that if we do not eat meat we will be undernourished, but we can see that the students of this Krsna consciousness movement have given up meat and are very healthy, whereas people who are eating meat are still, despite their meat-eating, subject to so many diseases and unhealthy conditions. Gambling is also discouraged because it simply agitates the mind. (More...) There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.
(More...) Regulation of diet and sleep is recommended herein for the yogis. Too much eating means eating more than is required to keep the body and soul together. There is no need for men to eat animals because there is an ample supply of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk. Such simple foodstuff is considered to be in the mode of goodness according to the Bhagavad-gita. Animal food is for those in the mode of ignorance. Therefore, those who indulge in animal food, drinking, smoking and eating food which is not first offered to Krsna will suffer sinful reactions because of eating only polluted things. Bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat. Anyone who eats for sense pleasure, or cooks for himself, not offering his food to Krsna, eats only sin. One who eats sin and eats more than is allotted to him cannot execute perfect yoga. It is best that one eat only the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna. A person in Krsna consciousness does not eat anything which is not first offered to Krsna. Therefore, only the Krsna conscious person can attain perfection in yoga practice. Nor can one who artificially abstains from eating, manufacturing his own personal process of fasting, practice yoga. The Krsna conscious person observes fasting as it is recommended in the scriptures. He does not fast or eat more than is required, and he is thus competent to perform yoga practice. One who eats more than required will dream very much while sleeping, and he must consequently sleep more than is required. One should not sleep more than six hours daily. One who sleeps more than six hours out of twenty-four is certainly influenced by the mode of ignorance. A person in the mode of ignorance is lazy and prone to sleep a great deal. Such a person cannot perform yoga.
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