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The Importance of Giving Food and Other Donations to Shramanopasakas (Jain Ascetics)
Yoga Shastra, Third Light, Verse 87: It is said that for Shramanopasakas, only those things that are suitable for Sadhus and Sadhvis and that are helpful for Dharma, restraint, and self-control should be given as donations, such as food, clothing, and water. Gold, silver, and other things that are not helpful for Dharma, which increase lust, anger, greed, ego, and destroy character, should never be given to Sadhus and Sadhvis. Compassionate people do not praise the donation of land that results in the destruction of many living beings. Why would a Shravak donate iron in the form of weapons that cause great violence? Who would be happy with the donation of sesame seeds, in which countless unconscious and suffering living beings are constantly born and die? Alas, on the occasion of worldly festivals, those who donate a pregnant cow that is about to die, seeking to earn merit, are called religious. Those who consider the cow, whose anus is considered to be a place of pilgrimage and who eats impure substances from her mouth, to be supremely holy, donate cows for the sake of religion. What merit will be gained by donating a cow whose calf suffers greatly when she is milked and who destroys animals with her hooves? What fruit will be obtained by those who donate golden, silver, sesame, and ghee cows? A daughter, who is like a fire that burns the tree of brotherly love, which creates attachment, is like the key to the door of hell, like the bolt on the door of liberation, who steals religious wealth and brings misfortune, is given in marriage, and it is said that this daughter donation is for the sake of welfare. Is this a scripture? At the time of marriage, foolish people give clothes, ornaments, etc., as donations to the bride and groom, not from the perspective of worldly love, but from the perspective of Dharma. Should these be considered to be Dharma-enhancing? In reality, such a donation made with Dharma-consciousness should be considered like pouring ghee into ashes. Those who, on the occasion of festivals like Sankranti, Vyatipat, Vaidhriti, Purnima, Amavasya, etc., fill their stomachs and are greedy, and who extort donations from their emotional patrons, are simply engaged in a business of cheating innocent people. Those who, with a dull mind, donate in the name of their deceased relatives, seeking to satisfy them, are like watering a dry tree with the hope that new leaves will sprout. If feeding Brahmanas in this world satisfies the ancestors in the afterlife, then why doesn't eating one person's food satisfy or nourish another? If the donation given by a son liberates his deceased father, then the son should perform austerities, and as a result, his father should also be liberated. If donating to the Ganges River or Gaya and other pilgrimage sites liberates ancestors, then one should water a withered tree to make green leaves sprout. In this world, one should not give anything to a beggar, who is a slave to his past karma, with the idea of Dharma or merit. In reality, merit or Dharma comes from donating things that are character-enhancing and conducive to self-control to such a renunciant.
And merit or fortune must be strong, only then will someone receive something. If there is no merit, then asking or begging from anyone is in vain. It is a great wonder that by making an idol of gold or silver and making a vow, that deity will protect you. Because when the moments of life are complete, no deity can protect anyone. Whether it is a big bull or a big goat, if you give it to a meat-eating Shrotriya Brahmana, then both the giver and the receiver will fall into the hellish abyss. A donor who gives with Dharma-consciousness, not knowing, may not be entangled in that sin, but the meat-eating receiver, knowing the fault, is certainly entangled in that sin. He who nourishes the worthy by killing the unworthy is like one who pleases a serpent by killing many frogs. The Jineshwars say that one should not give gold, etc., to renunciant men. Therefore, a wise and intelligent person should give only the appropriate food, etc., as a donation to the worthy.
Those who are adorned with the three jewels of knowledge, vision, and character, who are the guardians of the five committees and the three secrets, who are capable of bearing the burden of the great vow, who have conquered the enemy forces of the obstacles and the hardships, who are great warriors, Sadhus and Sadhvis, who do not even have attachment to their own bodies, how can they have attachment to other things? Renouncing all possessions except those that are helpful for Dharma, living on alms, free from the 42 faults, taking food only to sustain the body for the journey of Dharma, practicing celibacy, these are the ones who are worthy of receiving donations.