“nāty-aśnatas tu yogo ’sti, na caikāntam anaśnataḥ
na cāti-svapna-śīlasya, jāgrato naiva cārjuna”
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.
– Bhagavad Gita 6.16
Kabir – The couplet
कामी लज्या न कराइ, मन माहे अहिलाद ।
नींद न मंगरी संतरा, भूखी न मांगे स्वाद ॥
Transliterated:
Kaami Lajja Na Karai, Man Mohe Ahilaad |
Neend Na Maangri Santara, Bhookhi Na Maange Swaad ||
Translation:
A person in the grips of passion has no shame, his mind is busy elsewhere|
The sleepy one is not looking for a feather bed, the hungry one cares little for taste ||
My understanding:
Moderation. What a beautiful concept – and so very easily forgotten. The enemy of relentless desire, the closest ally of the determined, moderation is one tool that can help us rapidly work our way closer to perfection.
Suppressing desire only makes it stronger. Denying ourselves of simple satisfaction or starving ourselves of anything only teaches us to wait for the opportune moment, and overindulge at the first presented opportunity.
In this way, we seem to expend a lot of the precious resource of time vacillating between two extremes, unable to stop or maintain steady state in the middle, even when we recognize it. One of the more subtle teachings of discipline and the art of control is to have just enough to stave of the need for more, without allowing it to develop into want or lust.
When we start listening to the subtle messages from the body and mind that help generate control, instead of the desire-driven senses that always end up pushing us over the cliff, we are no longer scrambling to find ways to break falls or clamber back to the place we had already arrived at earlier before the fall. Our energies can then be more calmly and purposefully used to help us climb higher always rather than running at full speed to just stay where we are.