Chapter 6 · Verse 16·Spoken by Krishna
नात्यश्नतस्तु योगोऽस्ति न चैकान्तमनश्नतः। न चातिस्वप्नशीलस्य जाग्रतो नैव चार्जुन
nātyaśhnatastu yogo ’sti na chaikāntam anaśhnataḥ na chāti-svapna-śhīlasya jāgrato naiva chārjuna
Yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all. It is not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake too long, Arjuna.
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
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Convergence
rishna sets a rule of moderation as the doorway to yoga: there is no yoga for one who eats too much, and none for one who does not eat at all. 'Yoga' here is the disciplined practice of meditation that the chapter has been describing. The verse is stated negatively, ruling out both extremes, so that the middle path stands out by contrast. Eating beyond one's proper measure, often out of greed, harms the body and brings on disease such as indigestion; eating nothing, or far too little, starves the body of nourishment and makes it unfit for the work of practice. Either way the body becomes an obstacle rather than a support.
Braided from 17 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The same rule of moderation applies to sleep and waking: there is no yoga for one given to too much sleep, nor for one who keeps awake too much. Too much sleep makes the body heavy and the mind dull and forgetful, so meditation becomes impossible; too little sleep leaves one drowsy, so that one nods off during meditation itself. Several commentators extend the same balance to recreation, exertion, and movement, treating the verse as naming a few sample pairs rather than an exhaustive list. The single principle running through every pair is the same: avoid both the excess and the deficiency, and hold the middle.
Braided from 16 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
Many commentators ground the food-rule in scripture and give a concrete measure. They cite the Shatapatha teaching that food taken in proper proportion protects the eater and does no harm, while food in excess harms and food too scanty fails to protect. As a practical gauge several quote the yoga texts: fill half the stomach with food, a third with water, and leave the remaining fourth empty for the free movement of air (the breath). The aim is a body kept healthy and strong enough to sit long in meditation, neither overfed into drowsiness nor starved into weakness.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Swami Sivananda
The verse is read as practical preparation for yoga rather than yoga itself. Moderating food and sleep is an aid or apparatus that makes the body and mind ready, removing the disturbances of drowsiness and restlessness that would otherwise pull the mind off its object. The direct address to Arjuna is taken as a personal nudge to be watchful and to give up any excess, since otherwise the practice itself collapses. Having closed off the outer regulation of the body in this verse, Krishna will turn inward in what follows to describe how yoga actually comes about.
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama
Divergence
Dvaita
These commentators read the verse as a conditional prohibition rather than an absolute one. The ban on going without food and on keeping watch applies specifically to the person who is unable to bear such austerity; it is not a blanket prohibition for everyone. They cite the Naradiya, which says that the one who is able may put away sleep, eating, fear, and restless movement and, meditating with eyes slightly closed, become serene. So fasting and wakefulness are forbidden only to the unfit; for the capable practitioner they remain permitted. On this reading the verse states a purpose, guarding the weak, rather than condemning austerity as such.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators read the body as the vehicle of devotional service. One source frames abstaining from food as defective when it is undertaken merely as a fast 'without knowing the very form of Bhagavan,' and treats yoga here as union with the Lord himself; the body is to be neither indulged into thickness nor starved into weakness but held as 'the chariot of seva,' the service of God. The other source stresses that for the one of measured food and motion, yoga becomes the very remover of sorrow. Moderation is thus placed in service of loving union, not mere fitness.
Śrī Puruṣottama · Vallabhācārya
A Seeker Asks
Why would a spiritual path that aims beyond the body insist so plainly on regulating something as ordinary as how much I eat and sleep?
Because the body is the instrument through which meditation happens, and an instrument out of balance cannot do the work. Eating too much brings drowsiness, heaviness, and disease, so the mind cannot settle; eating too little leaves the body too weak to sit and hold attention. The same logic governs sleep: oversleeping dulls the mind into forgetfulness, while too little leaves you drowsy and nodding off in meditation. Regulating food and sleep is not the goal but the preparation that removes these disturbances.
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas · Vedānta Deśika
The point is not austerity for its own sake but the middle path. The verse rules out both extremes precisely so the seeker holds the balance: neither overfed nor fasting, neither oversleeping nor forcing wakefulness. Scripture gives a concrete gauge, that food in proper proportion protects while excess harms and too little fails to nourish, with the practical measure of filling half the stomach with food, a third with water, and leaving a fourth for the breath. When the body is held in this balance it stops being a hindrance and becomes a steady support.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Dhanapati Sūri · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīla Viśvanātha
Contemplation
Keep the golden medium in eating and in sleeping. Eat neither more nor less than what your body actually needs to stay healthy and strong. If you eat too much you grow drowsy and sleep overpowers you, and indigestion follows; if you eat too little you grow weak and cannot sit long for meditation. The same holds for rest: too much sleep leaves the mind dull and the body heavy, and too little leaves you nodding off in meditation itself. Watch the middle in both, and your progress in yoga will be rapid.
Sit with this · Swami Sivananda
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