Verse 6.55

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

एककालं चरेद् भैक्षं न प्रसज्जेत विस्तरे ।
भैक्षे प्रसक्तो हि यतिर्विषयेष्वपि सज्जति ॥ ५५ ॥

ekakālaṃ cared bhaikṣaṃ na prasajjeta vistare |
bhaikṣe prasakto hi yatirviṣayeṣvapi sajjati || 55 ||

He shall go for alms only once, and shall not seek for a large quantity; because the renunciate who becomes addicted to collecting alms becomes attached to sensual objects also.—(55)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

What is laid down here is that the man shall eat once, this being the purpose of the alms; it does not mean that he shall go to beg only once. What is intended here is the prohibition of eating twice; that is, the man, having gone for alms once, shall not save out of it for eating again. It is with a view to this that we have the prohibition of eating. It is for this reason that the text adds ‘he shall not seek for a large quantity;’ Seeking for a large quantity can only be for the purpose of eating again and again; specially because for one who delights in solitude, large quantities of food would not be wanted for the sake of servants and other dependents. By supplying a reason for what is laid down, the text implies that even at a single meal the man shall not eat too much.—(55)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 3.59);—in Parāśaramādhava, (Ācāra, p. 562);—in Madanapārijāta, p. 375);—and in Yatidharmasaṅgraha (p. 85).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.18.12, 13).—‘He shall eat food given without asking, regarding which nothing has been stipulated beforehand, and which has reached him accidentally; so much only as is sufficient to sustain life.’ They quote also—“Eight mouthfuls make the meal of a Renunciate, etc.”

Vaśiṣṭha (10.7).—‘He shall heg food at seven houses which he has not selected beforehand.’

Vaśiṣṭha (10.24, 25).—‘In the morning and in the evening, he may eat as much as he obtains from the house of one Brāhmaṇa,—excepting honey and meat; and he shall never eat to satiation.’

Viṣṇu (96.3).—‘He should beg food at seven houses.’ Yājñavalkya (3.59).—‘In the evening he shall beg alms, unrecognised and with due respect, in a village where there are no mendicants,—only so much as may suffice for sustaining life, and he shall never hanker after it.’

Saṃvarta (Aparārka, p. 963).—‘Having obtained eight alms, or seven, or ñve,—he shall wash it all with water and then eat it.’

Yama (Do.)—‘Living on alms, celibate, he shall not confine his food-begging to any single house.’