As far as the body is concerned, there are four demands—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The problem with modern civilization is that it is trying to increase these demands, but they should be decreased instead. Eat what we need, and sleep when we need, and our health will be excellent.

Reducing Eating and Sleeping

Krishna prasadam, vegetarian food which has been offered to Krishna

Getting off the bodily conception

In this system of yoga, moderation is required; therefore it is stated that we should not eat too much or too little, sleep too much or too little, or work too much or too little. All these activities are there because we have to execute the yoga system with this material body. In other words, we have to make the best use of a bad bargain. The material body is a bad bargain in the sense that it is the source of all miseries. The spirit soul does not experience misery, and the normal condition of the living entity is his healthy, spiritual life. Misery and disease occur due to material contamination, disease, infection. So in a sense, material existence is a diseased condition of the soul. And what is that disease? The answer is not a great mystery. The disease is this body. This body is actually not meant for me. It may be "my" body, but it is a symptom of my diseased condition. In any case, I should identify with this body no more than I should identify with my clothes. In this world, we are all differently dressed. We are dressed as red men, brown men, white men, black men, yellow men, etc., or as Indians, Americans, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc. All these designations are not symptomatic of our actual position but of our diseased condition. The yoga system is meant to cure this disease by connecting us again with the Supreme.

We are meant to be connected with the Supreme just as our hand is meant to be connected to our body. We are part and parcel of the Supreme, just as the hand is part and parcel of the body. When the hand is severed from the body, it is valueless, but when it is joined to the body, it is invaluable. Similarly, in this material condition, we are disconnected from God. Actually, the word "disconnected" is not precise, because the connection is always there. God is always supplying all our necessities. Since nothing can exist without Krishna, we cannot be disconnected from Him. Rather, it is better to say that we have forgotten that we are connected to Krishna. Because of this forgetfulness, we have entered the criminal department of the universe. The government still takes care of its criminals, but they are legally disconnected from the civilian state. Our disconnection is a result of our engaging in so many nonsensical activities instead of utilizing our senses in the performance of our Krishna conscious duties.

Instead of thinking, "I am the eternal servant of God, or Krishna," we are thinking, "I am the servant of my society, my country, my husband, my wife, my dog, or whatever." This is called forgetfulness. How has this come about? All these misconceptions have arisen due to this body. Because I was born in America, I am thinking that I am an American. Each society teaches its citizens to think in this way. Because I am thinking that I am an American, the American government can tell me, "Come and fight. Give your life for your country." This is all due to the bodily conception; therefore an intelligent person should know that he is suffering miseries due to his body and that he should not act in such a way that he will continue to be imprisoned within a material body birth after birth. According to Padma Purana, there are 8,400,000 species of life, and all are but different forms of contamination—whether one has an American body, an Indian body, a dog's body, a hog's body, or whatever. Therefore the first instruction in yoga is, "I am not this body."

Attaining liberation from the contamination of the material body is the first teaching of Bhagavad-gita. In the Second Chapter, after Arjuna told Sri Krishna, "I shall not fight," the Lord said, "While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead." (Bg. 2.11) In other words, Arjuna was thinking on the bodily platform. He wanted to leave the battlefield because he did not want to fight with his relatives. All his conceptions were within the bodily atmosphere; therefore after Arjuna accepted Sri Krishna as his spiritual master, the Lord immediately chastised him, just as a master chastises his disciple in order to teach him. Essentially, Sri Krishna told Arjuna, "You are talking very wisely, as if you know so many things, but actually you are speaking nonsense, because you are speaking from the bodily position." Similarly, people throughout the world are posing themselves as highly advanced in education, science, philosophy, politics, etc., but their position is on the bodily platform.

A vulture may rise very high in the sky—seven or eight miles—and it is wonderful to see him fly in this way. He also has powerful eyes, for he can spot a carcass from a great distance. Yet what is the object of all these great qualifications? A dead body, a rotting carcass. His perfection is just to discover a dead piece of meat and eat it. That's all. Similarly, we may have a very high education, but what is our objective? Sense enjoyment, the enjoyment of this material body. We may rise very high with our spaceships, but what is the purpose? Sense gratification, that's all. This means that all the striving and all this high education are merely on the animal platform.

Therefore we should first of all know that our miserable material condition is due to this body. At the same time, we should know that this body is not permanent. Although I identify with my body, family, society, country, and so many other things, how long will these objects exist? They are not permanent. Asat is a word meaning that they will cease to exist. Asann api kleshada asa dehah: [Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.4] "The body is simply troublesome and impermanent."

Many people come to us saying, "Swamiji, my position is so troublesome," but as soon as we suggest the medicine, they will not accept it. This means that people want to manufacture their own medicine. Why do we go to a physician if we want to treat ourselves? People want to accept only what they think is palatable. Although we are suggesting that this body is useless and is a form of contamination, we are not recommending that it be abused. We may use a car to carry us to work, but this does not mean that we should not take care of the car. We should take care of the car for it to carry us to and fro, but we should not become so attached to it that we are polishing it every day. We must utilize this material body in order to execute Krishna consciousness, and to this end we should keep it fit and healthy, but we should not become too attached to it. That is called yukta-vairagya. The body should not be neglected. We should bathe regularly, eat regularly, sleep regularly in order to keep mind and body healthy. Some people say that the body should be renounced and that we should take some drugs and abandon ourselves to intoxication, but this is not a yoga process. Krishna has given us nice food—fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk—and we can prepare hundreds and thousands of nice preparations and offer them to the Lord. Our process is to eat krishna-prasada and to satisfy the tongue in that way. But we should not be greedy and eat dozens of samosas, sweetballs, and rasagullas. No. We should eat and sleep just enough to keep the body fit, and no more. It is stated,

yuktahara-viharasya
yukta-cheshtasya karmasu
yukta-svapnavabodhasya
yogo bhavati duhkha-ha

"He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working, and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system." (Bg. 6.17)

Although we should minimize our eating and sleeping, we should not attempt this too rapidly, at the risk of becoming sick. Because people are accustomed to eating voraciously, there are prescriptions for fasting. We can reduce our sleeping and eating, but we should remain in good health for spiritual purposes. We should not attempt to reduce eating and sleeping too rapidly or artificially; when we advance we will naturally not feel pain due to the reduction of these natural bodily processes. In this respect, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami offers a good example. Although a very rich man's son, Raghunatha dasa left his home to join Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because he was the only son, Raghunatha dasa was very beloved by his father. Understanding that his son had gone to Jagannatha Puri to join Lord Chaitanya, the father sent four servants with money to attend him. At first, Raghunatha accepted the money, thinking, "Oh, since my father has sent all this money, I will accept it and invite all the sannyasis to feast."

After some time, however, the feasts came to an end. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then inquired from His secretary, Svarupa Damodara, "Nowadays I don't receive any invitations from Raghunatha. What has happened?"

"That is because Raghunatha has stopped accepting his father's money."

"Oh, that's very nice," Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said.

"Raghunatha was thinking, 'Although I have renounced everything, I am still enjoying my father's money. This is hypocritical.' Therefore he has told the servants to go home and has refused the money."

"So how is he living?" Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inquired.

"Oh, he's standing on the steps of the Jagannatha temple, and when the priests pass him on their way home, they offer him some prasada. In this way, he is satisfied."

"This is very nice," Chaitanya Mahaprabhu commented.

Regularly going to the Jagannatha temple, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would see Raghunatha standing on the steps. After a few days, however, He no longer saw him there. Therefore the Lord commented to His secretary, "I no longer see Raghunatha standing on the temple steps."

"He has given that up," Svarupa Damodara explained. "He was thinking, 'Oh, I am standing here just like a prostitute, waiting for someone to come and give me food. No. I don't like this at all.' "

"That is very nice," Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, "but how is he eating?"

"Every day he is collecting some rejected rice from the kitchen and is eating that."

To encourage Raghunatha, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu one day visited him. "Raghunatha," the Lord said, "I hear that you are eating very palatable food. Why are you not inviting Me?"

Raghunatha did not reply, but the Lord quickly found the place where he kept the rice, and the Lord immediately took some and began to eat it.

"Dear Lord," Raghunatha implored, "please do not eat this. It is not fit for You."

"Oh, no? Why do you say it's not fit for Me? It's Lord Jagannatha's prasada!"

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu enacted this pastime just to discourage Raghunatha from thinking, "I am eating this miserable, rejected rice." Through the Lord's encouragement, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami reduced his daily quantity of food until he was finally eating only one pat of butter every other day. And every day he was also bowing down hundreds of times and constantly chanting the holy names. Sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-kritau.

Although this is an excellent example of minimizing all material necessities, we should not try to imitate it. It is not possible for an ordinary man to imitate Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, who was one of the six Gosvamis, a highly elevated associate of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Each one of the six Gosvamis displayed a unique example of how one can advance in Krishna consciousness, but it is not our duty to imitate them. We should just try to follow, as far as possible, in their footsteps. If we immediately try to become like Raghunatha dasa Gosvami by imitating him, we are sure to fail, and whatever progress we have made will be defeated. Therefore the Lord says (Bg. 6.16) that there is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi if one eats too much or too little. The same moderation applies to sleep. Presently I may be sleeping ten hours a day, but if I can keep myself fit by sleeping five hours, why sleep ten? As far as the body is concerned, there are four demands—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The problem with modern civilization is that it is trying to increase these demands, but they should be decreased instead. Eat what we need, and sleep when we need, and our health will be excellent. There is no question of artificial imitation.

And what is the result obtained by one who is temperate in his habits?

yada viniyatam chittam
atmany evavatishthate
nisprihah sarva-kamebhyo
yukta ity uchyate tada

"When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in Transcendence—devoid of all material desires—he is said to have attained yoga." (Bg. 6.18)

The perfection of yoga means keeping the mind in a state of equilibrium. Materially speaking, this is impossible. After reading a mundane novel once, you will not want to read it again, but you can read Bhagavad-gita four times a day and still not tire of it. You may chant someone's name a half an hour, or sing a mundane song three or four times, but before long this becomes tiresome. Hare Krishna, however, can be chanted day and night, and one will never tire of it. Therefore it is only through transcendental vibration that the mind can be kept in a state of equilibrium. When one's mental activities are thus stabilized, one is said to have attained yoga.

The perfectional stage of yoga was exhibited by King Ambarish, who utilized all his senses in the service of the Lord. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (9.4.18-20),

sa vai manah krishna-padaravindayor
vachamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane
karau harer mandira-marjanadishu
shrutim chakarachyuta-sat-kathodaye
mukunda-lingalaya-darshane drishau
tad-bhritya-gatra-sparshe 'nga-sangamam
ghranam cha tat-pada-saroja-saurabhe
shrimat-tulasya rasanam tad-arpite
padau hareh kshetra-padanusarpane
shiro hrishikesha-padabhivandane
kamam cha dasye na tu kama-kamyaya
yathottamashloka-janashraya ratih

"King Ambarish first of all engaged his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Krishna; then, one after another, he engaged his words in describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord, his hands in mopping the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing of the activities of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the transcendental forms of the Lord, his body in touching the bodies of the devotees, his sense of smell in smelling the scents of the lotus flowers offered to the Lord, his tongue in tasting the tulasi leaf offered at the temple of the Lord, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord, and his desires in executing the mission of the Lord. All these transcendental activities are quite befitting a pure devotee."

This, then, is the perfection of yoga devoid of all material desire. If all our desires are for Krishna, there is no scope for material desire. All material desire is automatically finished. We don't have to try to concentrate artificially. All perfection is there in Krishna consciousness because it is on the spiritual platform. Being on the spiritual platform, this supreme yoga is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. Therefore there are no misgivings or material impediments.