6.16 Not too much, not none Krishna speaks
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; not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake.
Explanation
The least quoted and most useful verse in the chapter.
Yoga is not for one who eats too much — nor for one who does not eat at all. Not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake.
Every ascetic excess is ruled out as firmly as every indulgence. Whatever the tradition did with this text afterwards, the text itself declines heroics.
Going further
Word by word
- na
- not
- ati
- too much
- aśhnataḥ
- of one who eats
- tu
- however
- yogaḥ
- Yog
- asti
- there is
- na
- not
- cha
- and
- ekāntam
- at all
- anaśhnataḥ
- abstaining from eating
- na
- not
- cha
- and
- ati
- too much
- svapna-śhīlasya
- of one who sleeps
- jāgrataḥ
- of one who does not sleep enough
- na
- not
- eva
- certainly
- cha
- and
- arjuna
- Arjun
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Not for one who eats too much, nor one who does not eat at all; not for one who sleeps too much, nor one who stays awake.
The least quoted verse in the chapter and arguably the most useful. It rules out asceticism as a shortcut in the same breath as indulgence, and the following verse calls moderation duḥkha-hā — the slayer of sorrow. Sometimes the answer really is sleep.