Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 1.19
॥
Devanāgarī
अल्पमृष्टाशनाभ्यां च चतुर्थांशावशेषकम् । तस्माद्योगानुगुण्येन भोजनं मितभोजनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
alpamṛṣṭāśanābhyāṃ ca caturthāṃśāvaśeṣakam | tasmādyogānuguṇyena bhojanaṃ mitabhojanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अल्प-मृष्ट-अशनाभ्यां चalpa-mṛṣṭa-aśanābhyāṃ caby small and tasty eating
चतुर्थ-अंश-अवशेषकम्caturtha-aṃśa-avaśeṣakamleaving a fourth part [empty]
तस्मात् योग-अनुगुण्येनtasmāt yoga-anuguṇyenatherefore, in accordance with yoga
भोजनं मित-भोजनम्bhojanaṃ mita-bhojanameating is moderate eating
Translation
"By small and tasty eating, leaving a fourth part [of the stomach empty] — therefore, eating in accordance with yoga is moderate eating."
Version
0b14d5ef5f45 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The rule about food is given with an accountant's precision: to eat so much that a quarter remains empty. This rule is common in books on yoga, and is usually stated in greater detail: half the stomach with food, a quarter with water, and a quarter left for air and movement. Worth noting is the word mrishta, "tasty." It is not said "plain," "unpalatable," or "meager"; it is said — small and tasty.
This detail is, in my view, telling, and speaks to the compiler's good sense. Unpalatable food does not humble a person, it preoccupies him: one who eats against his liking thinks of food all day. A small amount of something tasty satisfies better than a large amount of something repugnant.
The Vaishnava side says the same here and rests on the Gita, where three kinds of food are listed by gunas, and where the sattvic kind is called tasty: "succulent, oily, firm, pleasing" — rasyah snigdhah sthirah hridyah (17.8). This point deserves attention, because it is constantly understood in reverse. Mortification of the flesh through unpalatable food is, by this reckoning, no virtue at all; and the Gita says directly of those who exhaust the body that they "torment Me, who dwell within the body" (17.6).
The rule about the quarter left empty has, besides, a simple explanation, accessible to anyone: one who has eaten his fill does not work or pray, but sleeps. Hence this measure is set not for the sake of austerity, but for the sake of fitness for the task — yoga-anugunyena, "in accordance with yoga."