Acharanga Bhasyam: Verses 3-6

9.4.3 virae gāmadhammehiṃ, rīyati māhaṇe abahuvāῑ.
sisiraṃmi egadā bhagavaṃ, chāyāe jhāi āsī ya..

9.4.4 āyāvaīya gimhāṇaṃ, acchai ukkuḍue abhivāte.
adu jāvaittha lūheṇaṃ, oyaṇa-maṃthu-kummāseṇaṃ..

9.4.5 eyāṇi tiṇṇi paḍiseve, aṭṭha māseya jāvae bhagavaṃ.
apiittha egayā bhagavaṃ, addhamāsaṃ aduvā māsaṃ pi..

9.4.6 avi sāhie duve māse, chappi māse aduvā apivittā.
rāyovarāyaṃ apaḍiṇṇe, annagilāyamegayā bhuṃje..

Being averse from the impressions of the senses, the Lord rambled about, speaking but little. Even in the cold season, the Lord meditated sitting in the shade.

The Lord exposed himself to heat in summer. He would squat in the 'ukkuḍu' posture facing hot winds. He lived on sapless meals like course rice, pounded barley and beans.

The Lord lived on these three varieties of grains for eight months. Sometimes, he would go without water for a half month or for a whole month at a stretch.

He would go without water sometimes over two months or as long as six months. He did not even think of taking sleep, keeping himself awake for the whole night. Sometimes, he would take stale food sought by a food-sick person.

Bhāṣyaṃ Verses 3-6

The Lord did not care for the treatment of the body, but he took great care for treatment of spiritual delusion. And, therefore, it has been said that he was averse to sensual delights.^[1] The first factor of the treatment of spiritual delusion is refraining from talkativeness. A self-absorbed person does not speak much; so the Lord spoke little.

The second factor is physical hardship, which is twofold, namely, tolerance of cold and tolerance of heat. As tolerance of cold, the Lord meditated under shade in the winter season. As tolerance of the solar heat, the Lord tolerated the heat facing the hot breeze, on the expiring of the winter season, seated in the 'ukkaḍu' -posture. ^[2]

The third factor of the treatment of the spiritual delusion is the abstinence from delicacy and maintenance of life by consuming sapless food. During the eight months, practice, the Lord lived on meals of coarse-rice, pounded barley and beans (uraḍa). ^[3]

Sometimes, the Lord did not drink water for a fort-night or a month. As, according to the tradition, all the penances of the Lord were without water, the Lord did not drink^[4]  water for more then four months or six months even at a stretch. The 'first part of the night' (rātriḥ) stands for the first two quarters, and the 'last part' (uparatraṃ) stands for the last two. The Lord kept awake in all the four quarters of the night, never thinking of sleep. Here the practice of wakefulness has been shown in the wake of the practice of abstinence from food and drink. Then, again the practice of diet is pointed out. The Lord, sometimes, ate stale food sought by a food-sick person (annagilāya). ^[5]