Category:Maintaining the Body
Theme Analysis
The concept of maintaining the body is explored deeply by Śrīla Prabhupāda through the principle of yukta-vairāgya, which teaches that one must use whatever is necessary for spiritual advancement without forming false attachments. Because the soul resides within a physical vessel, the body must be kept healthy and fit, not for the sake of sense gratification, but strictly to execute devotional service.
- The Proper Utility of the Body: The material body is a temporary vehicle, yet it is essential for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that one should not artificially neglect the body's basic needs like eating and sleeping, but rather regulate them to keep the physical form capable of performing spiritual duties.
- Earning Only for Necessities: Economic development and labor are meant solely to keep body and soul together. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that accumulating more wealth than required simply to maintain one's existence is a form of theft according to the laws of nature, and one should work honestly only to meet minimum requirements.
- The Trap of Animalistic Life: Those who mistakenly identify the self with the body waste their entire lives securing food, sleep, and defense. Śrīla Prabhupāda warns that a society exclusively focused on bodily maintenance operates on the level of animals and śūdras, completely forgetting the higher purpose of human life.
- Sensory Discipline and Diet: Eating is strictly for the maintenance of the body, not for the luxury of satisfying the tongue. Śrīla Prabhupāda strongly condemns committing sinful activities, such as animal slaughter, simply to maintain a physical form that is ultimately perishable, advocating instead for the consumption of pure, offered foods.
- The Inevitable Destruction: No matter how much energy is invested in protecting and nourishing the physical form, it is destined to perish. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that recognizing the perishable nature of the body helps one detach from superficial anxieties regarding its upkeep.
- The Soul as the Maintainer: The material elements do not maintain themselves; it is the spiritual spark within that keeps the body functioning and intact. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that once the soul departs, the body immediately begins to decompose, proving that the soul is the true maintainer of the physical shell.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: The Principle of Yukta-vairāgya in Maintaining the Body.
Subcategories
This category has only the following subcategory.
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Pages in category "Maintaining the Body"
The following 104 pages are in this category, out of 104 total.
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- A conditioned soul works in the service of his temporary body, bodily relatives like the wife and children, and the necessary paraphernalia for maintaining the body and bodily relations, such as the house, land, wealth, society and country
- A devotee is not interested in unnecessarily increasing the demands of the senses for gratification. Of course, as long as one is in this material world, one must have a material body, and it must be maintained for executing devotional service
- A devotee should not associate with such people (who are always busy trying to maintain the body very nicely). Nor should he be overly attached to his family members, knowing that he has been accidentally thrown together with his wife, children, & so on
- A foolish person indulges in killing animals to maintain the body, but he does not consider whether the body belongs to him or to his father or mother or maternal grandfather
- A Krsna conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. BG 1972 purports
- According to these leaders, the material body is the actual self, understanding everything that pertains to the body constitutes self-realization, and we have no more duty than satisfying the senses of the body and maintaining it by all means
- After leaving this body, the man who maintained himself and his family members by sinful activities suffers a hellish life
- Although animals are certainly in the bodily concept of life, they do not commit any sins to maintain their bodies, mates or offspring
- Although they are situated for executing different function, the whole aim is targeted to maintenance of this body. Similarly, whatever you may be, you do not require to change your position
- Among the many possible claimants, who is the rightful claimant (of the body)? Not to ascertain this but instead to maintain the body by sinful activities is not good - SB 10.10.11
- Anything artificial we may be habituated, but you can give it up. Therefore here it is said, kamasya nendriya pritih. You should not introduce sense gratification for maintaining your body
- As long as we have the body, we must eat to maintain it, and we must sleep in order to give it rest. We cannot expect to negate these activities, but the Vedic literatures do give us guidelines for regulation in eating, sleeping, mating, etc
- As long as we maintain the bodily conception of life, we have to abide by the laws of material nature as well as the laws of the state and all other laws. Thus this body is called conditional, because it is subject to different conditions
- As soon as spirit soul is out of the body, the material body immediately begins to decompose. Any spiritual process keeps the body fit without separate endeavor, but if one takes it that ultimate aim of yoga is to maintain the body, then he is mistaken
- As soon as the spirit soul is out of this material body, the body begins to decompose; therefore it is the spirit soul which maintains this body. The body itself is unimportant. BG 1972 purports
- As the individual living entity maintains his particular body, the Supreme Personality of Godhead maintains the whole cosmic creation, entering within it
- At the present moment there is a great necessity for brahmanas, because almost everyone is a sudra, for almost everyone is wholly engaged in maintaining the body, eating, sleeping, mating and defending - all symptoms of animals and sudras
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- Before committing all kinds of sins to maintain the body, one should understand to whom the body belongs
- Brahmanas go to marketplaces where grains are purchased and sold wholesale, and there they collect grains left by the merchants. In this way, such exalted brahmanas maintain their bodies and families
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- Especially if a sannyasi not only maintains the body by ordinary means but does everything to maintain the body, including even eating meat and other abominable things, he must be a lampatah, a greedy person simply engaged in sense gratification
- Even if one does not work for the sake of God, one must work, for without work one cannot even maintain one's body. This material world, therefore, is meant for parisrama, hard labor
- Everyone is engaged in maintaining the body, home and family. Consequently everyone becomes confused at the end of life, not knowing what spiritual life and the goal of human life are
- Everyone who has accepted a material body must maintain the necessities of the body by acting or earning some livelihood. A devotee should only work for such income as is absolutely necessary
- Everything that is created, that must be destroyed. Your body is created from the father and mother. Now it is being maintained. So creation and maintenance, and then the time will come - it will be destroyed
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- First-class, brahmanas, second-class, the ksatriyas, and the third-class, the vaisyas, who maintain the society for economic condition, development of economic condition, because we require things to consume to maintain this body
- For economic development one does not need to get money by hook or by crook; one needs only sufficient money to maintain his body and soul
- For the maintenance of their bodies and the satisfaction of their tongues, cruel persons cook poor animals and birds alive. Such persons are condemned even by man-eaters
- Forgetting that however one may try to maintain the body, the body is subject to birth, death, old age and disease, such foolish rascals (influenced by passion and ignorance) engage in sinful activities, one after another
- Free from all anxieties, chant Hare Krsna. Life is meant for simply chanting. This should be the motto. But because we have got this body, we have to maintain it
- From Vedic literatures we can understand that we don't have to work hard all day simply to maintain this body. We are working very hard because we are trying to control material nature for the purposes of sense gratification
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- He (a person of Kali-yuga) has no other interest. & in the daytime, what is his concern? "Where is money? Where is money? I must maintain this body." & when he has money: "Now let me spend for my wife and children." So where is his spiritual realization
- However you may go on making this body very strong and stout, still, you cannot maintain it. It will be finished today or tomorrow or a hundred years after. You cannot protect it. This is material nature
I
- I am cooking my foodstuff, and I am offering to Krsna, and I am taking, and as far as possible, some of the remnants is distributed to the devotees. So this process we can adopt, everyone, because we have to maintain this body
- I am giving an example. I am creating some energy by digesting the food, and that is maintaining my body. If your energy supply is not proper, then your body becomes weak or unhealthy. Your body is made out of your own energy
- If a man is offered the dead body of a beautiful woman, will he accept it? No, because the spiritual spark has moved out of the body. Not only was it enjoying within the body, but it was maintaining the body
- If one simply considers his body to be his self, as do the animals, he is not very sinful. If one needlessly commits sins to maintain his body, he is put into the hell known as Raurava. This is the opinion of Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura
- If one's body requires more food for maintaining it, that he should imitate someone who requires less food. The real point is that eating is for maintaining the body, not for luxury or for satisfying the demands of the tongue
- If the body is not properly maintained, it falls down and dries up like an uprooted tree, from which flowers and fruit can no longer be obtained
- If you are a ksatriya, you have to work in that way. But don't stop working. Krsna says that, - A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work
- In Bhagavad-gita (3.8) it is said, sarira-yatrapi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmanah: "one cannot even maintain one's own body without work." Krsna never advised Arjuna, - I am your friend, and I shall do everything. You just sit down and smoke ganja
- It is said in the sastras: kalau sudra-sambhavah. In this age of Kali, everyone is dependent on another's mercy for the maintenance of the body; therefore everyone is classified as a sudra
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- Nanda said to Yasoda, "Krsna has gone deep into the water, so there is no need to maintain our bodies, which are so full of sinful activities! Let us also enter into the poisonous water of the Yamuna and compensate for the sinful activities of our lives"
- Narada said to Yudhisthira: "One may claim proprietorship to as much wealth as required to maintain body & soul together, but one who desires proprietorship over more than that is considered a thief, and he deserves to be punished by the laws of nature"
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- Of course we have to maintain the body; it is not that we should neglect it. But we should not unnecessarily engage in the maintenance of the body
- Of course, everyone in this material world is interested in maintaining the body for sense gratification, but by cultivating knowledge one should gradually understand that the body is not the self
- One who cooks foodstuffs for maintenance of his body takes in all kinds of sins, which lead only to suffering. foodstuffs prepared by the Yadus at the Prabhasa pilgrimage site to offer to the bona fide brahmanas there were all offered to the PG, Visnu
- Our physical necessity is that we want to eat. That is necessary to maintain this body, ahara. Nidra, rest. We must have some rest also. So ahara-nidra-bhaya. Bhaya means "to become afraid of." That is material nature
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- Sastra says. . . visayah khalu sarvatah syat (SB 11.9.29): "In any form of life you'll get full facilities for the bodily necessities of life." Just see the birds & bees. They have no anxiety for maintaining the body or fulfilling the necessities of life
- Seeking such elevation (back home, back to Godhead) is one's duty in the human form of life. Unless one performs this duty, why should one maintain the body?
- Simply on the strength of grammatical knowledge and word jugglery, professional reciters maintain their bodies and their desires for sense gratification by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam
- Since one has to work even for the simple maintenance of the body, the prescribed duties for a particular social position and quality are so made that that purpose can be fulfilled
- Since one has to work even for the simple maintenance of the body, the prescribed duties for a particular social position and quality are so made that that purpose can be fulfilled. BG 1972 purports
- Since the body is the external feature of the soul, the soul is not dependent on the body; rather, the body is dependent on the soul. One who understands this truth should not be very much anxious about the maintenance of his body
- So there may not be bodily disturbance it is necessary to maintain a regulated life and easily prosecute our Krishna Consciousness. I shall pray to Krishna for your quick recovery
- Soul maintains the body
- Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has sung: deha-smrti nahi yara, samsara-bandhana kahan tara. One who has no desire to maintain the body or who is not anxious to keep the body in order and who is satisfied in any condition must be either mad or liberated
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- Tapasya means denying all these things, denying. Eating as much as I require to maintain my body - this is tapasya, not that voraciously eating. Tapasya means practically not eating. That is tapasya: not eating
- The body can be maintained by any kind of foodstuff, but cow's milk is particularly essential for developing the finer tissues of the human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental knowledge
- The body can be maintained very easily by eating krsna-prasada
- The demigods are empowered administrators of material affairs. The supply of air, light, water and all other benedictions for maintaining the body and soul of every living entity are entrusted to the demigods. BG 1972 purports
- The duty of those advanced in knowledge in human society is to study the constitutional position of the imperishable soul and not waste the valuable time of human life in merely maintaining the body and not considering life's real responsibility
- The general mass of people mistake the body for the self, and therefore they are always busy trying to maintain the body very nicely. A devotee should not associate with such people
- The intelligent men, or the brahmanas specifically engaged in the service of the Lord, were properly maintained without anxiety for the needs of the body, and the King and other householders gladly looked after all their comforts
- The legs may be placed in a lower position than the head ephemerally, but actually the legs are as important as the head for maintaining the body as it is. It is not that the legs should not be taken care of and just the head should be cared for
- The living entity lives by means of fire, water and food grains. It is through the combination of these three that the body is maintained. Consequently the body is called prakrti, material creation
- The Lord never suggests anything impractical. In this material world, in order to maintain the body one has to work. Human society is divided, according to work, into 4 divisions of social order - brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. BG 1972 Introduction
- The material body is perishable by nature. It may perish immediately, or it may do so after a hundred years. It is a question of time only. There is no chance of maintaining it indefinitely. BG 1972 purports
- The mouth is meant for speaking and eating, the arms are meant for the protection of the body, the legs are meant for carrying the body, and the waist of the body is meant for maintaining the body
- The path of religion is actually meant for self-realization, and economic development is required just to maintain the body in a sound, healthy condition. A man should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize vidya, true knowledge
- The person in the second class not only thinks his material body to be his self, but also commits all kinds of sinful activities to maintain his body
- The purpose of maintaining the human body is different from that of the animals
- The Vaisnava philosophy recommends yukta-vairagya. It is not that all attention should be diverted for the maintenance of the body, but at the same time one's bodily maintenance should not be neglected
- There are different kinds of duties for the human being, such as political obligations, performance of Vedic rituals, obligations for maintaining the body but all such activities are directed toward satisfying one's own senses
- There are two kinds of knowledges: mundane knowledge and transcendental knowledge. Mundane knowledge means how to maintain this body, ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam, to meet the demands of this body
- There is no possibility of maintaining the body permanently or eternally. Antavanta ime deha nityasyoktah saririnah. This is the statement of Bhagavad-gita (BG 2.18). The material body is antavat (perishable), but the soul within the body is eternal
- These brahmanas take to education, austerity and vows only for the purpose of maintaining the body. They shall be devoid of discrimination between what to eat and what not to eat
- This is exactly the position of present civilization. Everyone is engaged in maintaining the body, home and family. Consequently everyone becomes confused at the end of life, not knowing what spiritual life and the goal of human life are
- Those who are interested in reviving Krsna consciousness and increasing their love of Godhead do not like to do anything that is not related to Krsna. They are not interested in mingling with people who are busy maintaining their bodies
- To maintain the body, we require shelter, food, water and clothing, and all these necessities can be obtained without approaching puffed-up rich men. One can collect old garments that have been thrown out, one can eat fruits offered by the trees
- To maintain their perishable bodies, which they (those falsely proud their birth in aristocratic families) think will never grow old or die, they kill poor animals without mercy. Sometimes they kill animals merely to enjoy an excursion - SB 10.10.9
- Today all facets of human society are thinking that their self-interest is in maintaining this body. Consequently today's society is simply a society of cats, dogs and hogs
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- We do not say that you remain very weak and lean and thin. No. You should maintain this body properly, but not that that is my only business, how to maintain this body. That is pramatta, madness
- We should eat frugally and keep the body fit for advancing in Krsna consciousness
- We should not worry about eating and sleeping, for the needs of the body are already arranged. We do not have to work independently to maintain the body
- What is the interest of maintaining body and soul together? One earns money for maintenance of the body - personal or social
- When that (spiritual) spark (which was enjoying within the body and maintaining the body) leaves, the body simply deteriorates
- When we compare the laborer class of men with intellect, intellectual class of men, there is difference. But both of them are important factors to maintain this body. That is called varnasrama-dharma
- Whether he is an impersonalist or a devotee, one who is actually interested in advancing spiritually should not mingle with those who are simply interested in maintaining the body by means of the so-called advancement of civilization
- Who but a rascal claims this property (the body) as his own and while maintaining it commits such sinful activities as killing animals just to satisfy his whims? Unless one is a rascal, one cannot commit such sinful activities - SB 10.10.12