Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 27

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

4.3 Do not beg for tasty food

One of the simple pleasures of life is to enjoy eating tasty food. Preference for tasty food is one of the strongest attachments which is common to all types of people. In worldly life, it is not considered a sin although there may be consequences for overeating or eating purely for pleasure unhealthy but tasty food. In worldly life people may eat food to satisfy their hunger or their desire for tasty food or just to show off. However, in spiritual life, you have to consider food a physical necessity to overcome hunger and survive.

Since yogis have to practice sameness and detachment and overcome attraction and aversion, they cannot have preferences choosing their food but accept what is given if it is acceptable. As a spiritual person, they cannot also store food for future use, but obtain it every day through begging. On a particular day if they do not get it, they have to remain hungry and calm.

This instruction rightly reminds the renunciants of the need to exercise restrain and not ask for tasty food. Doing so will be counterproductive since because of their vows they have to overcome attraction and aversion and remain contended in all situations. Their peace and happiness must arise from within, not from external objects. Different ascetic traditions may have different rules for begging. These are general rules which are common to all. For ascetic people, food is the means to overcome attachment to the sense of taste.

Therefore, they have to practice eating with indifference and without desires, solely to keep themselves alive and pursue liberation. In their case eating is a sacrifice just as begging is. It is because, in Hinduism everything is viewed as a sacrifice or the result of a sacrifice or the preparation for sacrifice. Life itself is a long sacrifice, which begins with the sacrifice of birth, and ends with the sacrifice of death. Hence ,all actions have to be performed with sacrificial attitude, as an offering to the self, and without any desire for their fruit.

Thus, renunciation is a sacrifice. Seeking food through begging is a sacrifice, and eating food with detachment is also a sacrifice. While begging, you sacrifice your ego and your desires in the fire of renunciation (sannyasa) and detachment (vairagya). While eating, you sacrifice the food you eat into the digestive fires of your body, as an offering to the divinities who reside in you and perform various functions to protect you from sickness, death and disease, etc. An ascetic person or a yogi continuously practices karma sannyasa yoga whether he is awake or asleep and whether he is walking, talking or eating.

The Bhagavadgita suggests that life is an offering to God, and food is an offering to the self and the divinities in the body. By that offering, the sacrificer is freed from the impurities in the food as well as from the consequences of sinful karma. In securing food and eating, no one can escape from sinful consequences, since the very act of food gathering and food preparation involves desire, some degree of selfishness, violence and possession. All the food belongs to God, and when we take it we all engage in the act of (aprigrha) taking what does not belong to us. Therefore, the scripture rightly advises people to eat food only after offering it God.

When an ascetic begs for food without desire and expectations, he is freed from all sinful consequences. Therefore, they are encouraged to set aside personal choices and preference in seeking food and depend solely upon what is given to them. They shall neither request specific food nor offer any enticement to secure it. The Dharma Shastras (law books) are very explicit about this. They suggest that an ascetic who has renounced worldly life shall secure food by begging only. While doing so, he must adhere to strict discipline and engage in righteous conduct with utmost humility and restraint.

His actions and approach shall not cause any inconvenience or disturbance to others, nor shall he entice others to give him food promising them any favors in return. When he is in the presence of women, he must address them with utmost respect, looking at their feet, avoiding eye contact and not taking pleasure in their beauty or appearance. Some lawbooks suggest that they shall go for begging only after household women completed their cooking for the day and put out kitchen fires. Gautama suggested that ascetics should beg late in the day, abandoning all desire for tasty food, after people finished eating so that they did not have to go out twice for begging.

The lawbooks further state that there is no salvation for a person, who is fond of good food. Hence, renunciants shall avoid tasty food, pungent food, unclean food, honey, meat, etc. They shall guard themselves against temptation, gluttony and overeating and always keep themselves a little hungry by not eating until they are fully satisfied. Some law books suggest additional rules to ensure it. For example, Vashista Dharmashastra states that ascetics shall not beg food from more than seven houses in day.

They shall not plan in advance where to go, or which places to visit. They shall avoid visiting the same places on consecutive days which they visited before. In the past, some renouncer traditions prohibited their followers from eating parts of plants and trees, unless they became naturally detached fell on the ground on their own. They were also advised not to be selfish or insensitive. When they found that others were hungry, they were expected to share their food with them and eat only what was left.

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