Upanishads · Varāha 5.9
॥
Devanāgarī
न कार्या क्षुधि तेनापि नापि विण्मूत्रवेगिना । हितं मितं च भोक्तव्यं स्तोकं स्तोकमनेकधा
Transliteration (IAST)
na kāryā kṣudhi tenāpi nāpi viṇmūtraveginā | hitaṃ mitaṃ ca bhoktavyaṃ stokaṃ stokamanekadhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न कार्या क्षुधि तेन अपिna kāryā kṣudhi tena apiit should not be done when hungry
न अपि विट्-मूत्र-वेगिनाna api viṭ-mūtra-veginānor with an urge to relieve oneself
हितं मितं च भोक्तव्यंhitaṃ mitaṃ ca bhoktavyaṃwhat is wholesome and moderate should be eaten
स्तोकं स्तोकम् अनेकधाstokaṃ stokam anekadhālittle by little, many times
Translation
"It should not be done when hungry, nor with an urge to relieve oneself; what is wholesome and moderate should be eaten, little by little, many times."
Version
8ce9d784efeb · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Practical rules are given, and they are good: do not practice on an empty stomach or with an urge to relieve oneself, eat moderately and often, a little at a time. This counsel is true and has not aged; and worth noting is how down-to-earth it is amid a book that has discoursed on undivided consciousness. Such neighboring is usual in these books and speaks in their favor, in my view: they did not consider it beneath their dignity to say how to eat.
Let us add the word mitahara, "moderate food," which stands in the list of observances below (5.13). Its definition in books on yoga is precise: fill the stomach half with food, a quarter with water, leave a quarter empty. The Vaishnava side speaks much of food, and speaks differently; it is worth setting this out, for the difference here is telling.
For it, the chief rule is not quantitative, but relational: one eats prasada, "grace" — what has first been offered. The ground given is the Gita's verse 3.13: yajna-shishtashinah santo muchyante sarva-kilbishaih, "the honest, who eat what remains of the sacrifice, are freed from all sins"; while one who cooks for himself bhunjate te tv agham papa, "eats sin." That is, the change introduced is not in quantity, but in relation; and of the fact that what is offered changes the properties of food, discussed when reading the Pranagnihotra.
Let us add that it does not thereby cancel moderation, and counts overeating a hindrance too; but it places this second, not first.