As we advance will our physical needs go down to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s level?

Answer Podcast

Like the great acharyas, the physical needs go down. I said Raghunatha Joswami won’t eat once in three days and be covered or something like that. So is it that our physical needs also should go down as we speak in advance? There are exceptions and the exceptions demonstrate something exceptional.
The exceptions don’t replace the standard. We have Raghunatha Joswami who ate very little but then we also have Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates. They would cook and they would have elaborate feasts and that is also celebrated as an integral part of Bhakti.
So it is that different great souls are used by the Lord to demonstrate different spiritual principles. So Raghunatha Joswami is used by Lord Chaitanya to demonstrate the principle of renunciation at an extraordinarily high level. But that does not mean that everybody has to be renounced at that level.
There was Advaitacharya, there was many other saints who were actually as spiritually advanced as Raghunatha Joswami. Maybe more also, we don’t know. But still they were not practicing that kind of renunciation.
So the point is that there are always exceptions which demonstrate an exceptional principle and we can take inspiration from that. But the exception doesn’t replace the rule. The rule is, Krishna says, one who eats too much or eats too little.
One who sleeps too much or sleeps too little. A person cannot become a yogi. In 6.16-17-18 Krishna talks about this quite elaborately.
So for us, see the important thing is that we don’t let anything become a distractor from Krishna. So it was not that Raghunatha Joswami was thinking, you know, I want future generations to remember how renounced I was and therefore I will take only this much. This much.
Once in three days I will eat something. It is not like that. He was so busy absorbing Krishna that he didn’t think about food.
On the other hand, we fasted nirjal once and we want everyone to know I fasted nirjal. So even when you are fasting nirjal, we are not thinking about Krishna, we are thinking about how many people will praise me for fasting I fasted nirjal. So we are not really thinking about Krishna at that time.
So the important thing is that in general, the material, if we go to either extreme, if I eat too much, if I become too attached to food and I am constantly thinking about food, then food can become a competitor to Krishna. Instead of thinking about Krishna, I am always thinking about food. But at the other side also, if I don’t take food at all, if I decide I want to fast nirjal, I am chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, chapati, dal, rice, Hare Krishna, chapati, dal, rice, Hare Krishna.
I am chanting Hare Krishna but I am thinking about food. Well, if that is happening, better take some food and come back and chant Hare Krishna with more focus. So if we go to either extremes, then what happens? Is it too much or too little? Then our consciousness gets consumed by that thing.
Attach, that’s why raag, dvesha, mukta is there. We want our emotions to be available, to be invested in Krishna. If there is material attachment, then our emotions get invested in that.
If there is material deprivation, then again our emotions get invested in that. Oh, I am not getting this, I am not getting this, I am not getting this. But it’s a fundamental biological need.
So the point is that we should learn to position our material life in such a way that it helps us focus on Krishna and we move forward. So now this has different people may need to eat different amounts of food. So most of us know that the Pandavas, when they were in the forest, whatever, they were living like brahmanas, so they would get food in charity.
Whatever food they would get, Kunti or Draupadi whoever was there, he would divide that food into two. One half would go to Bhima and the other half would be divided into five parts. The four Pandavas and Kunti or Draupadi whoever was in there.
I am saying you are eating so much. It’s interesting that Bhima who eats so much, there is a name for him for that. Now he is not called a glutton.
He is called vrkodara, one word, wolf-like belly. Now that was just his appetite and he would work that much also. And sometimes the Pandavas would get tired.
But actually Bhima would carry all the Pandavas and Kunti with him. He would run through the forest. He had so much energy.
So what happened, that was what he was eating. The important thing is that it was not that he was eating so much and going to sleep. He was eating and serving.
So different people will have different levels of requirement for eating, requirement for sleeping. The important thing is that we are in a state of consciousness where we can focus on serving Krishna constantly. So we can strive to decrease our biological needs.
But the decrease should be organic. It should be natural. It’s not that we focus too much of our energy in decreasing our eating.
The focus should be on serving Krishna. And as we keep serving Krishna, we get higher satisfaction in serving Krishna. Then the biological side will automatically increase.
Does that answer your question? Thank you very much. Vishwa Prabhupada ki Jai. Gaura Bhakta Vrinda ki Jai.
Jai.