Regulate Excess to achieve Success – Dhyana Yoga 17

The theme of moderation which was advocated in the previous sloka is now extended to this Sloka as well..

युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दुःखहा ॥६- १७॥

yuktaahaaravihaarasya yuktacheshhTasya karmasu .
yuktasvapnaavabodhasya yogo bhavati duHkhahaa .. 6.17..
Yoga, which removes sorrow is possible only for that person who is regulated in diet and recreation, regulated in performing actions and regulated in sleep and wakefulness

duHkhahaa yogaH - the yoga which removes sorrow : bhavati - is accomplished : yuktaahaaravihaarasya – by him who is regulated in diet and recreation: karmasu yuktacheshhTasya – by him who is regulated in performing actions : yuktasvapnaavabodhasya – by him who is regulated in sleep and wakefulness

Only a person who leads a life with moderation in all activities can practice meditation successfully. In this Sloka, moderation is discussed with respect to food and recreation, actions, sleep and wakefulness.

Once a woman was accused of poisoning her husband. In the court, the lawyer asked her, “Lady, you put poison in your husband’s coffee and watched him drink it. Did you not feel pity for him, even for a moment”. She said, “Yes, I did feel sorry for him for a moment, when he asked for a second cup”. Cruel jokes apart!, Moderation in food, is not asking for the second cup. Moderation is not filling our stomach till we feel that it will burst at the seams.

Moderation in food means that a yogi should eat the food which is of Sattvik nature. The food should be obtained in an honest manner, it should be pure, it should be easy to digest, light and only as much as is required.

Moderation in action means that all actions that are performed should be done happily and for the welfare of others. The yogi should not exert himself so much that he would be too tired. He should perform actions that are expected in the right manner.

The yogi should also be moderate in sleep and wakefulness. He should go to sleep early and rise early. Wakefulness also means that he should be awake and alert to the fact that the human life should be used to attain salvation. It is a special gift which needs to be utilized in the right manner and should not be wasted in pursuit of material objects.

Each of us, are given two sources of capital when we enter this world. We are given a certain amount of time to live in this world, which is our age and we are given a certain amount of wealth. We have income and expenditure of both of these. All that we spend on eating, recreation etc. are on the expenditure side of our material wealth. Our job and what we earn are on the income side. Similarly sleep or leisure activities are the expenditure side of our age and the time we spend thinking about God is on the income side.

A famous quotation goes..”Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess baggage, the shorter the trip..”

Of the 24 hours in a day, if we divide equally, we have 6 hours to spend on each of these four activities, namely eating, working, sleeping, and thinking of the Lord. On the wealth side, suppose a person spends more than he earns, his life will be ruined. If we were to spend 6 hours on eating and recreation, then we will have only 6 hours for working. So, we increase our work time and compensate by reducing the time on eating and recreation. Similarly we should also use more of our age for spiritual contemplation and less for sleep and other activities. Just as wealth will be wasted if we eat more and earn less, age is wasted when we sleep and spend our time in other activities, instead of thinking of God.

We can remember God during all our activities of the day and be thankful for all that we have been blessed with. Often, many of us have a tendency to complain about everything. When we are asked, Are you happy?, immediately people say, “No, there are so many problems that I have. Problems at work and home, health problems etc.” Instead of being worried about all the minor problems, we should be positive in our attitude and try and think of all the blessings that we have. All of us have so many things to be thankful for. Instead of thanking God for our general good health, we complain about head aches or minor health problems, instead of thanking Him for our good jobs, we start saying that it is boring or find some other problem to be unhappy about, instead of being thankful that we get a vacation at all, we complain that the vacation is too short or delayed. There are so many people who are less fortunate and we are indeed blessed. We have taken all these things so much for granted that we do not feel we need to be thankful for them. When we go to sleep in the night, there is no guarantee that we will wake up in the morning, or we can even walk or talk!! Even the smallest of our actions are gifts of God and it is only natural that we think of Him with gratitude in all our actions.

It is hence that the yogi is asked to regulate all activities such as eating, sleeping etc. and devote his time in contemplation of the Lord. When a yogi achieves moderation in all these activities then his yoga helps in removing all the sorrow. All of us know that sorrow is only caused by attachments to this world and when a person moderates all the worldly activities, then his attachment to them will be minimal and he will perform only what is absolutely necessary for him. He will not indulge excessively in such activities and hence he will be able gain happiness by concentrating and achieving his goal of God realization.

The Lord had given detailed instructions on how to meditate and even what precautions to follow in terms of food, actions and sleep. Now, how can a person know, if his meditation is progressing well? This is answered in the next Sloka.

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