इन्द्रियाण्यनुशुष्यन्ति हिंसापि विनिवर्तते ॥ १६ ॥
daridrasyānna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
indriyāṇy anuśuṣyanti
hiṁsāpi vinivartate
lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ
SYNONYMS
nityam—always; kṣut—with hunger; kṣāma—weak, without necessary strength; dehasya—of the body of a poor man; daridrasya—poverty-stricken; anna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ—always desiring to get sufficient food; indriyāṇi—the senses, which are compared to snakes; anuśuṣyanti—gradually become weaker and weaker, with less potency; hiṁsā api—the tendency to be envious of others; vinivartate—reduces.
TRANSLATION
Always hungry, longing for sufficient food, a poverty-stricken man gradually becomes weaker and weaker. Having no extra potency, his senses are automatically pacified. A poverty-stricken man, therefore, is unable to perform harmful, envious activities. In other words, such a man automatically gains the results of the austerities and penances adopted voluntarily by saintly persons.
PURPORT
According to the opinion of experienced medical practitioners, diabetes is a result of voracious eating, and tuberculosis is a disease of undereating. We should desire neither to be diabetic nor to be tubercular. Yāvad artha-prayojanam. We should eat frugally and keep the body fit for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As recommended elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.10):
lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ