FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.10.16

नित्यं क्षुत्क्षामदेहस्य दरिद्रस्यान्नकाङ्क्षिण: । इन्द्रियाण्यनुशुष्यन्ति हिंसापि विनिवर्तते ॥ १६ ॥
nityaṁ kṣut-kṣāma-dehasya
[nityam kshut-kshaama-dehasya]
daridrasyānna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
[daridrasyaanna-kaankshinah]
indriyāṇy anuśuṣyanti
[indriyaany anushushyanti]
hiṁsāpi vinivartate
[himsaapi vinivartate]
Word-for-word
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 .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
nityaṁ kṣut-kṣāma-dehasya
nityam
always
kṣut
with hunger
kṣāma
weak, without necessary strength
dehasya
of the body of a poor man
daridrasyānna-kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
daridrasya
poverty-stricken
anna - kāṅkṣiṇaḥ
always desiring to get sufficient food
indriyāṇi
the senses, which are compared to snakes
indriyāṇy anuśuṣyanti
anuśuṣyanti
gradually become weaker and weaker, with less potency
hiṁsāpi vinivartate
hiṁsā api
the tendency to be envious of others
vinivartate
reduces .
Important Words
  • kṣut — hunger
    Nominative of kṣudh. Treated here functionally — hunger as the senses' pacifier when there is nothing to feed them. Gauḍīya ascetic practice channels the same physiology by choice: light meals, simple food, prasāda only.
  • indriyāṇi — the senses
    Nominative plural of indriya, 'belonging to Indra' — the senses are Indra's domain, the gateway of enjoyment. Bhakti redirects indriyas to sevā; tapas (here forced) weakens them so they cannot lead the man astray.
  • anuśuṣyanti — become weaker
    Present plural from anu-√śuṣ, 'to dry up gradually.' The verb is metaphorically apt — senses 'dry' when not watered with viṣaya. Gauḍīya frame: the goal is not dried senses, but senses irrigated by Kṛṣṇa-sevā instead of viṣaya-rasa.
  • hiṁsā — envy, the tendency to harm
    From √hiṁs, 'to injure.' The verse traces a chain: weak body → quiet senses → reduced hiṁsā. Gauḍīya ahiṁsā ultimately rests not on physical weakness but on seeing every jīva as Kṛṣṇa's part — but this verse names the lower entry-point honestly.
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) : kāmasya nendriya-prītir lābho jīveta yāvatā jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ The real business of human life is to keep oneself fit for advancement in spiritual realization. Human life is not meant for making the senses unnecessarily strong so that one suffers from disease and one increases in an envious, fighting spirit. In this Age of Kali, however, human civilization is so misled that people are unnecessarily increasing in economic development, and as a result they are opening more and more slaughterhouses, liquor shops and brothels. In this way, the whole civilization is being spoiled.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
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.
Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

The result of his suffering is that he controls his senses. Desiring food, such persons completely dry up their senses. This means that they become disinterested in the taste of sense objects. Thus they give up violence to others for the purpose of enjoying the senses objects. By pride in wealth one loses control of the senses this leads to violence. When the opposite condition, poverty, occurs, violence disappears and one gains control of the senses.

Related values & verses
Related values
Discriminative WisdomNishkama Karma (Selfless Action)Yajña (Sacrifice / Spirit of Offering)Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Ahimsa (Non-violence / Compassion)Dhairya (Composure / Courage)
Related verses
SB 10.10.13 SB 10.10.14 SB 10.10.15 SB 10.10.17 SB 10.10.18 SB 10.10.19 BG 18.54 BG 5.8 BG 10.4 BG 3.21 BG 12.3 BG 3.19
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Voluntary frugality (yāvad artha-prayojanam) does for the body what poverty forces — quiets the senses and frees energy for Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Practical Applications
  • Eat one meal today at the threshold of sufficiency, not satisfaction — notice how your senses settle when the body is not overfed.
  • Refuse the next purchase or indulgence whose only purpose is to strengthen sense-enjoyment, and redirect that time to japa or śravaṇam.
  • Before each meal, ask whether this food is fueling tattva-jijñāsā or merely feeding indriya-prīti, and adjust the portion accordingly.
Analogy

An overfed horse paws and bolts; the same horse, fed only what the work requires, walks calmly under the rider. The senses are the same horse; portions decide whether they carry you to Kṛṣṇa or run you off the road. Yāvad-artha eating is the bridle.

Stories
Sanātana Gosvāmī's mādhukarī

Sanātana Gosvāmī, formerly prime minister of Bengal, lived in Vṛndāvana on alms collected like a bee — a little flour from one door, salt from another, never enough to fill the stomach. He survived on a single dry capātī cooked on a fragment of clay.

When a wealthy disciple offered him richer food, he refused. The body was kept exactly at sufficiency, no more — and the result was the immense literary corpus of Hari-bhakti-vilāsa and Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta. SB 10.10.16 names the principle; Sanātana writes the demonstration.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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