Verse 3.118

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

अघं स केवलं भुङ्क्ते यः पचत्यात्मकारणात् ।
यज्ञशिष्टाशनं ह्येतत् सतामन्नं विधीयते ॥ ११८ ॥

aghaṃ sa kevalaṃ bhuṅkte yaḥ pacatyātmakāraṇāt |
yajñaśiṣṭāśanaṃ hyetat satāmannaṃ vidhīyate || 118 ||

He who cooks for himself eats only sin; for the eating of good mem has been described as the eating of the remains of sacrifices.—(118).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘He eats only sin’—i.e., he accumulates sin in his heart; he places that in his stomach, and not even a morsel of food;—‘who cooks’—gets food prepared —‘for himself’—for his own eating; giving such directions as—‘I am hungry, and I prefer such and such food; hence cook these.’ Hence one should not have food cooked for himself, except when he is in distress. When, one is in distress, then it is incumbent upon him—in accordance with another injunction—to maintain his body, even at the risk of disobeying a certain injunction; specially in view of the law that ‘one should guard oneself against all.’

Such is the meaning attributed to this verse by some persons. But this is not right; being contrary to another Smṛti text, which says—‘whatever may be best, liked in this world, and whatever may be most loved in the house, that should be given to the qualified person, by one who wishes that thing to be inexhaustible.’ Now, if what is best liked by the householder were not cooked, how could it be given to others?

What the text means, therefore, is as follows:—So far as the daily cooking is concerned, it is not with special reference to any person; it is only when friends and relations turn up that special things are cooked for them. If it were not so, then there would be no force in the injunction of giving food to guests and others out of the food that has not been cooked for any person in particular. What is meant is that the evil mentioned in the verse attaches to one who eats food without offering it to the guest, &c.;—or that, in the event of all the food cooked being eaten up by the guest and others, the

Householder shall not have more food cooked only for himself. Vaśiṣṭha has declared—‘the Husband and wife should eat the remnant; if the whole has been eaten, cooking should not be done again.’ (11-11-12).

‘The eating of the remains of sacrifices;—this is only laudatory of the ‘eating of what is left,’ enjoined above (in 117).

‘Sacrifice’—the Jyotiṣṭoma and the rest.

‘Remains’—what is left after use.—The ‘eating’ of this is called ‘yajñaśiṣṭāśanam’. Equal to this in its effects has been described the eating—of what remains after the feeding of the guest and others,—of all good householders, who are intent upon the obeying of the scriptures.—(118)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 457) as deprecating the conduct of the man who does not entertain guests.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (67.43).—[Reproduces Manu.]

Baudhāyana (2.7.16).—‘He who eats alone is entirely sinful; the food he takes is futile.’

Yama (Vīramitrodaya-Āhnika, p. 457).—‘He who cooks for himself eats sin; one should always avoid that futile cooking which is intended only to please his own palate.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Vīramitrodaya-Āhnika).—‘One shall not cook for himself, nor shall he kill animals for himself; one who cooks for the sake of gods and for the sake of Brāhmaṇas does not become tainted with sin.’

Jābāla (Do.)—‘He who eats without bathing, eats dirt; he who eats without having repeated mantras, eats pus and blood; he who eats without having offered Homa, eats insects; and he who eats food without offering it to others, eats poison.’