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THE PATH OF PERECTION
After some time, however, the feasts came to an end. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu then inquired from His secretary, Svarūpa Dāmodara, “Nowadays I don’t receive any invitations from Raghunātha. What has happened?”
“That is because Raghunātha has stopped accepting his father’s money.”
“Oh, that’s very nice.” Caitanya Mahāprabhu said...
“Raghunātha was thinking, ‘Although I have renounced everything, I am still enjoying my father’s money. This is hypocritical.’ Therefore he has told the servants to go home and has refused the money.”
“‘So how is he living?’” Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired.
“Oh, he’s standing on the steps of the Jagannātha temple, and when the priests pass him on their way home, they offer him some  prasāda . In this way, he is satisfied.”
“‘This is very nice,’” Caitanya Mahāprabhu commented.
Regularly going to the Jagannātha temple, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu would see Raghunātha standing on the steps. After a few days, however, He no longer saw him there. Therefore the Lord commented to His secretary, “I no longer see Raghunātha standing on the temple steps.”
“He has given that up,” Svarūpa Dāmodara explained. “He was thinking, ‘Oh, I am standing here just like a prostitute, waiting for someone to come and give me food. No. I don’t like this at all.’”
“That is very nice,” Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “but how is he eating?”
“Every day he is collecting some rejected rice from the kitchen and is eating that.”
To encourage Raghunātha, Caitanya Mahāprabhu one day visited him. “Raghunātha,” the Lord said, “I hear that you are eating very palatable food. Why are you not inviting Me?”
Raghunātha did not reply, but the Lord quickly found the place where he kept the rice, and the Lord immediately took some and began to eat it.
“Dear Lord,” Raghunātha implored, “please do not eat this. It is not fit for You.”
Moderation in Yoga
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“Oh, no? Why do you say it’s not fit for Me? It’s Lord Jagannātha’s  prasāda! ”
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu enacted this pastime just to discourage Raghunātha from thinking, “I am eating this miserable, rejected rice.” Through the Lord’s encouragement, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī reduced his daily quantity of food until he was finally eating only one pat of butter every other day. And every day he was also bowing down hundreds of times and constantly chanting the holy names.  Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-krtau.
Although this is an excellent example of minimizing all material necessities, we should not try to imitate it. It is not possible for an ordinary man to imitate Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, who was one of the six Gosvāmīs, a highly elevated associate of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself. Each one of the six Gosvāmīs displayed a unique example of how one can advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but it is not our duty to imitate them. We should just try to follow, as far as possible, in their footsteps. If we immediately try to become like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī by imitating him, we are sure to fail, and whatever progress we have made will be defeated. Therefore the Lord says (Bg. 6.16) that there is no possibility of one's becoming a  yogī  if one eats too much or too little.
The same moderation applies to sleep. Presently I may be sleeping ten hours a day, but if I can keep myself fit by sleeping five hours, why sleep ten? As far as the body is concerned, there are four demands—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. The problem with modern civilization is that it is trying to increase these demands, but they should be decreased instead. Eat what we need, and sleep when we need, and our health will be excellent. There is no question of artificial imitation.
And what is the result obtained by one who is temperate in his habits?
yadā viniyataṁ cittam 
    ātmany evāvatiṣṭhate 
    nispṛhaḥ sarva-kāmebhyo 
    yukta ity ucyate tadā