- nirāśīr yata-cittātmā
- tyakta-sarva-parigrahaḥ
- śārīraṁ kevalaṁ karma
- kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣam
- (BG 4.21)
This is required in human life. It is not forbidden that, "You starve." No. That is not stated in the śāstra. Yāvad artha-vinirṇayam. To keep your health and body, and the body and the soul together, you must live very nicely so that you may not be diseased. Because this human form of life is meant for making progress so that the, all the problems of life may be solved. It is required. Yukta. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya, in another place. Yuktāhāra-vihārasya yogo bhavati siddhi-hā (BG 6.17). When one becomes yogī . . . our real purpose of life is to become yogī.
Yogī means to reestablish our connection, our lost connection, with God. At the present moment, in our material condition, we have forgotten our relationship, our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God.
- nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya
- śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
The kṛṣṇa-bhakti, our love for Kṛṣṇa, is there eternally. But on account of our contamination with this material world, we have forgotten our relationship. Just like a madman, he forgets his relationship with the family. He loiters in the street. He eats anywhere and everywhere, and all rubbish thing. Although he may have very rich father, well-to-do family, but forgetting . . . madness means forgetfulness of his real life.
So we are now forgetful of our real life. This has been also exemplified by a Vaiṣṇava poet:
- piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya
- māyār grasta jīvera haya se dāsa udaya
- (Prema-vivarta)
Piśācī. When a man is haunted by ghosts, as he speaks all nonsense, he cannot recognize his father, mother or relative . . . sometimes he calls them by ill names, on account of being ghostly haunted. Piśācī pāile. Similarly, in the conditioned state, under the influence of māyā, we are also talking so many nonsense things, "I belong to this family," "I belong to this nation," "I belong to this community," "My business is this," simply forgetting Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All other business he will remember, but when he is requested to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, to understand Kṛṣṇa, he doesn't like it. Except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he will take all responsibility and work hard for that purpose. This is called māyā-grasta jīva.