Hatha yoga ethics, diet, cleansing, pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation and a system for spiritual development of the yogi. The Hatha yoga texts place major emphasis on "mitahara", which connotes "measured diet" or "moderate eating". For example, sections 1.58 to 1.63 and 2.14 of the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" and sections 5.16 to 5.32 of "Gheranda samhita" discuss the importance of proper diet to the body. They link the food one eats and one's eating habits to balancing the body and to gaining most benefits from the practice of Hatha yoga. Eating, states "Gheranda samhita", is a form of a devotional act to the
Bhagavad Gita that "when one sees the entire universe as pervaded by the single Universal Spirit [Krishna], one contemplates, marvels, and falls in love with its amazing glory. [...] Having experienced that Truth oneself, all doubts are dispelled. This is how the flower of devotion evolves into the fruit of knowledge." The "Gita" teaches several spiritual paths – jnana, bhakti and karma – to the divine. However, states Fowler, it "does not raise any of these to a status that excludes the others". The theme that unites these paths in the "Gita" is "inner renunciation" where one is unattached to personal rewards